A Toronto university student is out $3,000 after falling for a text-message scam that perfectly mimicked her bank’s online platform, a cautionary tale CTV News Toronto’s consumer team featured in its latest alert.
Elisha Manila told CTV’s Pat Foran she clicked a link in a text message that appeared to be a notice from CIBC asking her to check her online banking. “They redirected me to a website that looked identical to CIBC’s online banking platform,” she said. After she signed in, scammers slipped into her account and sent themselves an e-transfer of $3,000.
“Next thing you know, one or two hours later I get an email from CIBC saying I successfully e-transferred these people $3,000,” Manila said. “I was dumbfounded. I didn’t think I would fall victim to one of these things.”
CIBC told CTV it worked with its client to resolve the matter “given the unique and extenuating circumstances involved,” while warning that impersonation scams are on the rise. The bank says it will never ask a client in a text or email to click a link to confirm personal information, complete a transaction or resolve a security issue. The story lands in October, recognized for 20 years as Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
