He managed to convince BMO to withdraw and received $42,000: 'They gave it to me as a gift'

A Bank of Montreal (BMO) customer who said $42,000 was stolen from his account learned he would be reimbursed by his bank, three days after he walked out. Newspaper.

• Read also: BMO defends the use of confidentiality agreements with deceptive customers

“They called me and said, ‘You’re going to have a great day.’ “They gave it to me as a gift,” Pierre Lequin says patiently down the line.

“They compensated me for the missing $42,000, which is just over $4,000 in interest taken on my margin. They also gave me $2,000 in compensation, but that's not enough, because it doesn't cover the interest on my margin.

“They wanted to make me sign a confidentiality agreement, but I refused. There is no question of remaining silent,” he added.

beginning of may, Newspaper It tells the story of the 66-year-old businessman, who has been a BMO customer for nearly thirty years.

“In addition to the benefits that BMO receives directly from my account, there are my credit ratings that have been affected by this fraud,” denounced Pierre Lequin, president of an import SME.

Halloween nightmare

In his case, his nightmare began on Halloween when he saw $24,500 disappear from his account and another $17,000 to companies he had never dealt with in his life.

Asked before Newspaper, BMO has incorporated security rules for the banking sector.

The banking institution, which kept its word, said: “We are always ready to re-examine the files when new information becomes available, and we have contacted our client to discuss this issue.”

Four times as many complaints

Furthermore, the Ombudsman for Banking and Investments (OSBI) noted Newspaper BMO “opened 1,190 consumer complaint files, compared to 256 in 2022,” or four times that in just one year.

“The unprecedented growth in the volume of complaints related to banking services is largely due to changes to the consumer protection framework in the Banking Law,” OBSI said in its explanation.

At BMO, they answer that this phenomenon “affects the entire sector.”

“Reported complaints reflect different processes and methods from one organization to another, and the level varies from sector and organization to another, and from year to year,” the BOM analyzes.