Gerry Wheaton says he’s still in shock over how someone was able to steal personal cheques from his office, forge his signature, and successfully cash them at a bank.
“If you look at these cheques you are going to find that the criminals don’t have to work very hard,” Wheaton told Consumer Matters.
The TD customer says back in November 2023, he made an alarming discovery in his bank account when he realized a $31,870 cheque had been cashed along with a second one for $1,270.
“What I found is three cheques had been stolen from my office desk,” he said.
“Of those three cheques, two cheques had been written by somebody else and not only written by somebody else but cashed at two different banks.”
Wheaton says he contacted TD immediately where he was instructed to close his account and open another one. However, for months he says he’s been left in the dark unable to get answers from TD about how the fraud happened in the first place and what safeguards were put in place, especially since the signature on the cheques was not his.
“I expected they (the bank) wouldn’t cash a cheque that doesn’t have my signature on it and that is just not the case, “ Wheaton said.
The B.C. resident filed a claim with TD over the fraudulent transactions, but the claim was denied.
In a letter, TD stated to Wheaton in part “…you are responsible for exercising due diligence in protecting your card, account information (including cheques) and the confidentiality of your PIN, as well as any devices and credentials you may use to access electronic financial services.”
However, in March, Wheaton says he made a a stunning discovery.
The $31,870 he had lost to fraud was mysteriously returned to his original account.
“TD Bank told me that money came from National Bank. They had cashed the larger cheque. Bank of Montreal had cashed the smaller cheque,” said Wheaton
Consumer Matters reached out to National Bank of Canada for answers where a spokesperson stated in an email: “No comment.”
BMO told Consumer Matters in part: “As this does not involve our customer, we encourage the individual get in touch with their bank (TD) for an update on their investigation.”
TD stated the matter was investigated by its team and said “We’re committed to supporting our customers and continue to work directly with Mr. Wheaton towards a resolution.”
However, Wheaton says he’s not surprised by the bank’s response.
“The recovery process is a very difficult one to navigate and it is clouded in secrecy,” he said.
Cybersecurity expert Claudiu Popa says personal cheques should be treated like passwords.
“They need to be locked away,” he said.
“They only need to be available when they are written out by authorized individuals and people need to be told to check on those cheques from time to time.”
Still, Wheaton is out $1,270 and says banks should do more to protect consumers.
“The fraud issue is growing and I think the criminals are working harder at defrauding people than the banks are at protecting people,” he said.
In the meantime, Richmond RCMP told Consumer Matters Wheaton’s file remains active and open.