When Rick Corridor found most of his life financial savings had been drained from his checking account, he suspected he had been hacked.
The primary clue got here when his password did not work. Then, as soon as he regained entry, he noticed that on Feb. 17 a complete of $28,710 had been transferred to an unknown bank card account.
“There was $249 left within the checking account,” Corridor stated. “It is fairly surprising when you could have payments to pay.”
The 66-year-old Halifax, N.S., man stated the theft amounted to greater than his associate makes in a yr working at McDonald’s.
Cybersecurity skilled Claudiu Popa stated it is a basic case of id fraud.
“We name these account takeovers,” he stated.

Popa, who’s the CEO of Datarisk Canada and the founding father of KnowledgeFlow, a cyber security basis, stated account takeovers have a twin goal.
“One is to steal the funds which can be within the checking account,” he stated. “And the second is to steal extra info as a result of info is effective. Data can be a forex.”
A few month after Corridor reported the lacking cash, he stated an investigator along with his financial institution Simplii Monetary decided he had been the sufferer of fraud. On April 2, he was reimbursed the complete quantity. Throughout your entire investigation interval in March, he was unable to withdraw his pension funds as a result of the account was frozen.
“We now have resolved this matter for our shopper, and acknowledge the size of the method on this case brought on added inconvenience, which we’ll evaluate as we work to assist our shoppers in conditions like this one,” stated Benjamin Wylie, spokesperson for Simplii, in an announcement.
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Based on information from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, id fraud had the very best variety of studies amongst all forms of fraud in 2024 with 9,487 victims throughout the nation. Amongst these instances, 106 had been in Nova Scotia.
The anti-fraud centre stated it does not observe how a lot cash individuals lose in id fraud instances as a result of it is normally too difficult.
“In lots of instances, the monetary establishment or the affected enterprise might soak up the losses,” stated Jeff Horncastle, shopper and communications outreach officer.
“It is onerous to know precisely who’s absorbing losses, who’s accountable.”
Corridor stated he reported his case to Halifax Regional Police however the file was closed after his cash was returned.
He stated what frustrates him extra is that he hasn’t obtained particular particulars from the financial institution about how somebody gained management of his checking account. CBC’s inquiries to Simplii about how Corridor’s account was accessed additionally went unanswered.
“They’re making an attempt to say it was my laptop,” stated Corridor. “I’ve all the antiviruses, I’ve malware, all that on there, and my laptop is clear.”
Throughout a busy season of on-line buying, cyber criminals could also be seeking to get your info. The CBC’s Angela MacIvor spoke to specialists about how you can preserve your self, your info and your cash secure this vacation season.
However Popa stated these types of on-line safety aren’t sufficient.
“Nobody releases a brand new virus to the web with out truly testing that it might probably bypass antivirus,” he stated. “So chances are high, if all you rely upon is antivirus, you don’t have any assure that your laptop is clear.”
Popa stated there’s a type of malware referred to as a keylogger that installs itself secretly when somebody clicks a malicious electronic mail hyperlink or opens an contaminated file.
“A keylogger or an information stealer is one thing that watches your keyboard and, and as quickly as you sort in your password and your username, it emails it to its proprietor, to the cyber criminals, they usually can use it to attempt to get into the account,” he stated.
Based on Popa, one other vulnerability is merely having a weak password or utilizing the identical one for a number of accounts.
Corridor insists his password was authentic and contained no private particulars. However now he is scared to proceed banking on-line.
“It simply occurs so usually and no person can carry on high of it. And the individuals which can be doing it, they’ve higher expertise at stealing than we’ve got at stopping,” he stated.
Within the assertion from Simplii, Wylie stated the financial institution works actively to maintain shoppers knowledgeable about secure banking practices and forms of fraud they need to be looking out for.
“Defending shoppers towards fraud is a high precedence for our staff which incorporates partaking and educating our shoppers on the position they play in recognizing scams and defending themselves towards them — protecting private or banking info secure and safe, and being cautious of emails, textual content messages or calls requesting private info,” he stated.
Horncastle with the anti-fraud centre says there’s “no magic method” to make sure that banking info is secure.
“One of the best we are able to do is stay proactive, confirm your credit score report, regulate your financial institution accounts or your bank card statements,” he stated.
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