Local woman says bank will not reimburse stolen money
By Justin Sibbet - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on June 21, 2023.
A Lethbridge woman whose bank account was fraudulently drained of more than $10,000 last year, says she still hasn’t been reimbursed from her bank, despite following all of the bank’s policies and procedures.Last year, Chantal Parkinson was at work, which involves helping drug-addicted pregnant women, when her cellphone was stolen from her vehicle.
After discovering the theft, Parkinson called her service provider and had them disconnect her phone from the network.
“They said it was a brick,” Parkinson said in a phone interview on Friday.
Parkinson didn’t know her phone was still semi-operational, however, and the individual with her phone gained access to her banking app.
Parkinson was a client of RBC at the time, and she didn’t think to immediately check her bank account following the theft of her phone. Five days after the theft, Parkinson realized her bank account was being drained daily in increments of $2,000.
By the time she noticed, $8,000 had already been e-transferred directly to the account of Benson Robert Nitsiza with an additional $2,000 going to a known drug-dealer in the area.
Nitsiza was sentenced last week to 90 days in jail for the theft while the other individual has yet to appear.
“As I was trying to get this stuff sorted with the bank, another $800 went to (Nitsiza),” said Parkinson.
She said an additional $1,000 was also stolen while she dealt with police, but that money was returned by the bank. She has been unable to collect the other $10,800 directly from Nitsiza.
“I talked to the Crown (prosecutor)…they can’t make (Nitsiza) pay restitution because he is a houseless individual who uses drugs. So, he has no way of paying those funds back.”
She expected RBC to cover her losses, and noted some RBC employees even told her they were shocked to see this happening.
“That’s why you pay your bank fees, you pay your bank fees to protect your money,” said Parkinson. “(Local RBC employees) agreed with me, they said ‘you’ve never made transactions like these before.'”
Following the loss of her money, Parkinson struggled to continue managing her daily life.
“Our mortgage bounced, our property taxes bounced, like everything bounced. We had zero dollars.”
She said problems continued to build and even created major hurdles for her children.
“We had significant late fees. I took my one child to gymnastics and they turned her away. They said, ‘she can’t participate because you can’t pay’. It’s been a devastating year.”
Thankfully, Parkinson said her friends and family stepped up to help her during this troubling time.
“There have been times where our family has brought groceries over for us.”
Even a year later, the financial struggles persist.
“We’re still playing catch-up, we’re still trying to mitigate some of these things.”
Parkinson asked the bank why she has not been reimbursed, but the answers have been inconclusive, and whenever she asked what she could have done differently, there has been no answer.
RBC released a statement to the Lethbridge Herald on Monday, and said they have communicated all information to Parkinson.
“We have shared our findings on this matter with Ms. Parkinson, and explained the reasons for our decision, based on a careful review of the relevant facts,” the statement says. It also states the bank has not seen any court filings on the case and it awaits Parkinson’s next move if she wishes to continue pressing the matter.
“RBC does not have details on the outcome of any court proceeding commenced in this matter. If Ms. Parkinson has obtained details in that process that she believes would be relevant to her concerns with RBC, we would encourage her to contact us directly to discuss this further.”
RBC also said they understand the struggles faced by victims of crime and review all cases individually.
“We realize that any time a client is impacted by fraud or scams, it can be a difficult and stressful situation for them. We remind clients of the importance of protecting their banking passwords and provide guidance on how to do that. Clients also have a responsibility to take all other reasonable precautions to maintain the security of their account to prevent the possibility of fraudulent transactions. Clients should immediately contact us if they become aware of any unauthorized transactions. We review client complaints regarding unauthorized transactions on a case-by-case basis. In all instances, we work with the client throughout the process and keep them informed, as we did in this case.”
However, Parkinson said her password was protected and she followed all RBC guidelines.
“I did not share my password with anyone, it was not a password that was related to anything,” said Parkinson. “It was the typical numbers, symbols, all of that.”
She said despite her security precautions, Nitsiza was still able to access her account.
“I’ve gone through all the steps with RBC, and RBC is saying that because there is no way somebody could’ve gotten into my account, without me telling them the password, that they are not liable.”
Parkinson has since switched banks. 2
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