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North Van teen’s savings lost in cyber attack

A North Vancouver teen and his family are out $1,400 after an apparent case of bank fraud. But, Logan and Susi Hill say Coast Capital Savings has been too slow in responding to the theft.
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A North Vancouver teen and his family are out $1,400 after an apparent case of bank fraud. But, Logan and Susi Hill say Coast Capital Savings has been too slow in responding to the theft.

In December, Hill went to deposit some Christmas cheques into her son’s account, which she opened jointly with him, but found the $1,400 in savings he’d earned delivering the North Shore News nearly depleted.

When she asked a teller inside to explain what happened, she learned someone else had accessed the account.

“He showed me the withdrawal and said ‘You did a telephone banking withdrawal on Dec. 11.’ I said, ‘No, we don’t do telephone banking and we’ve never done telephone banking, and I don’t know why we would take $1,400 out,’” Hill said.

The clerk told her the money had apparently been moved to another account belonging to a woman named Letisha, though the Hills say they don’t know anyone by that name. A review of Logan’s spending habits showed only the usual purchases at 7-Eleven or video game stores.

They went back the next day to file paperwork to start an investigation and changed all their PIN codes, just to be safe. Now, more than a month later, they can’t get answers as to what happened to Logan’s savings. At the very least, Coast Capital should put the money back into Logan’s account while their investigation goes on, Hill said.

“We’re not just a victim of this fraud. We are a victim of Coast Capital,” she said. “They should just give us the money. They should return it to the 14-year-old boy who earned it.”

Now Logan said he’s left frustrated at all the hours he spent earning his savings only to see the bank he entrusted for safe keeping let it slip away.

“The fact they were able to let that happen is really surprising and really angering, especially considering how much of my money I lost and how much of my time I wasted to get that money,” he said.

According to the bank, Logan appears to be one of many victims of a mass cyber fraud attack targeting Coast Capital customers that happened in late 2018. Fraudsters used “phishing” – sending real looking emails and texts designed to dupe customers into handing over sensitive information like passwords, as well as more blunt attempts like simply guessing at overly simplistic passwords.

“When we became aware of an increase of phishing sites and emails/texts targeting our members, we immediately took action, including alerting our members to the fraud and locking down any accounts identified as being at risk. We also worked to shut down the fraudulent sites as we became aware of them,” said Dave Cunningham, vice-president of public affairs for Coast Capital, in a statement. “We understand that the time these investigations take can be unsettling and frustrating for our members. However, it is essential that we take the time to fully investigate and understand what has happened in every case. We did reach out to members to offer a zero interest loan as an interim measure to alleviate any undue financial hardship that resulted from this situation.”

According to the statement, the investigations are expected to be completed by next week.

In an age of increasing online commerce, cyber security is a shared responsibility, Cunningham added.

“People who conduct business online need to be aware of these fraud techniques and protect themselves from falling victim. We encourage members to use strong passwords, never click on links asking you to provide personal information, monitor your accounts regularly and ensure that you have the most up-to-date anti-malware and anti-virus programs on all of you devices.”