Calgary's McKnight Hockey Association had nearly $100K stolen in email scam

[GP_Matt]

Outside of verbal communication the easiest way to spot it is that the reply email goes to the scammer, not the person you think you are talking to. Incoming email look like they come from the president but outgoing will be to a gmail account.

Wouldn't this large a wife transfer cause flags with money laundering type rules?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Mistakes happen.

My wife was treasurer for a team last year. The manager and herself signed papers to make the account require 2 signatures. Despite this, the account was setup incorrectly and they only realized this when the cheques came in and there was only one signing line.

You quoted me, including my edit, but responded as if you only read the first part of my post. I originally responded thinking it was a one to sign account but the article clearly states it was two to sign. If it was set up wrong by the bank but was supposed to be two to sign I'd think this wouldn't be a news story because rbc would have just given them back the money since it would have been pretty clearly their fault. But it does not appear to be the case.

Second, while a mistake may have been made in the account set up, the number of signature lines on a cheque has nothing to do with whether or not an account is two to sign.

On a related note, due to how clearing works, there may as well only be one signature line. It's not like it matters. You could sign all your cheques with one signature and neither the clearing company nor the bank would ever notice unless you told them.

Originally Posted by fredr123

With respect to the size of the wire... I can't remember if it was something I read or something I heard when they were talking about this on the Fan, but the association apparently put a bunch of their money in a GIC or some other interest bearing account for most of the season to earn a bit of interest until expenses were due. This, to me, helps explain why the Treasurer might have thought it made sense to be transferring such a large sum.

But even in a gic or interest bearing account there would never, ever be a reason to send a wire. You would just tell your bank to cash the gic and move it back to the main deposit account. There would be no wire. It would all be under the same general account number.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Outside of verbal communication the easiest way to spot it is that the reply email goes to the scammer, not the person you think you are talking to. Incoming email look like they come from the president but outgoing will be to a gmail account.

Wouldn't this large a wife transfer cause flags with money laundering type rules?

Not really. As long as the sender provided the proper information it wouldn't likely flag as suspicious or break any fintrac rules. I'm not an expert on wires but a single large wire wouldn't raise too many red flags unless the person sending it was suspicious. It especially wouldn't be too big a deal because the source of the money was not in question.


I still think something is odd about this whole thing in general though. There should be no way a bank would authorize a wire without signatures from two signers on the account. Even if the treasurer had the email and showed it to the bank or emailed it directly to the account manager, this never should have happened. Someone at RBC should be getting fired.

The only explanation, short of bank incompetence, is this was a pre authorized debit because the treasurer provided their banking info to someone and the news is calling it a wire because they are stupid. Again, I'm not an expert on the back end of PADs or clearing systems at rbc but I'm not sure if the bank would have a review system for PADs of that size. There are just too many, too often, and I'm not sure it would get flagged for review by fintrac. Or maybe they had some sort of online banking system that allows for electronic approvals, those types of systems do exist. But that assumes the treasurer knew some else's login and broke the rules and purpose of that type of set up.

Lastly I guess it is possible they had given the bank special instructions that only the treasurer could act as the sole signer but again this would be highly unusual.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by fredr123

With respect to the size of the wire... I can't remember if it was something I read or something I heard when they were talking about this on the Fan, but the association apparently put a bunch of their money in a GIC or some other interest bearing account for most of the season to earn a bit of interest until expenses were due. This, to me, helps explain why the Treasurer might have thought it made sense to be transferring such a large sum.

Its not uncommon for community organizations to have GIC or other investments to earn a little interest on balances above and beyond their immediate cash needs. This can be broken down in 1 GIC investment or multiple.

It's a sad situation but I am still convinced that commons sense should have prevailed due to the weirdness of the request.

There is another ongoing scam that occurs with business and community organizations. The scammers will call or email you and say that your utility bill hasn't been paid and you only have 2 hours before they cut off your power.

People will of course protest and say they have paid, meanwhile the scammers insist that no payment occurred and they issue can be resolved be wiring money via Western Union or Pay Pal etc. Others request pre-paid Visa cards or Apple iTunes cards and such.

The logic of wiring money via Western Union to the UK or by paying your Enmax bill with Apple iTunes is absurd but people would be amazed at how often this happens.

When I was in banking I literally had to prevent a client from wiring $2000 to France for some fraudster who was apparently was interested in purchasing some furniture from a Calgary based client. I told him flat out that his garbage Ikea furniture for sale has zero value to anybody in Calgary let alone somebody in Paris who was "willing to pay shipping and custom fee's but wanted to confirm banking details first"

Some people

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Just to add another thought, I don't really blame the treasurer too much. This kind of stuff happens on a daily basis.

I'm not joking when I say it is a real thing that an elderly person who was promised millions in payouts from a Nigerian Prince went to their bank to send a wire and was warned by their bank, the police called, they show up and explain to the greedy old person it is a scam...and the person sends it anyway thinking their internet boyfriend just needs some cash to get his kingdom in order and release the rest of his riches. I'm serious. That's a real thing that happened. (Or close enough, I didn't physically witness it)

So by comparison this lady is just a regular victim, not a uniquely greedy or stupid one.

[Amethyst]

Yeah, those gift cards scams seem so weird to me. Even if you don't keep good track of your finances and think you might owe Revenue Canada or a utility company, why would you possibly think they want i-tunes cards to cover the shortfall?

[Jbo]

As someone who works in Commercial banking, I see this kind of fraud happening almost every few weeks. Scammers will make the e-mail look almost identical to the real thing... Signatures, way the person writes. Once a wire goes out, your recourse is minimal. Usually the target is a CFO/Bookeeper and is acting on instructions from President/Manager.

As a PSA to businesses or organizations, always make sure you have a two-step person verification for wires over a certain amount, and always be wary of red flags (Banking details have changed, unusual request to a new party)

If you are unsure, a quick phone call to verify can make a world of difference.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

Yeah, those gift cards scams seem so weird to me. Even if you don't keep good track of your finances and think you might owe Revenue Canada or a utility company, why would you possibly think they want i-tunes cards to cover the shortfall?

I had a guy from "revenue Canada" call me - I had some fun with him for a little bit before he caught on and hung up.

But yeah, it boggles my mind that folks will buy iTunes cards to settle their taxes

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Outside of verbal communication the easiest way to spot it is that the reply email goes to the scammer, not the person you think you are talking to. Incoming email look like they come from the president but outgoing will be to a gmail.

At my work scammers have setup domains that were 1 character different that our actual one. So instead of coming from ken0042@calgarypuck.com it will come from ken0042@ca1garypuck.com

So yes- important to be very careful.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by ken0042

At my work scammers have setup domains that were 1 character different that our actual one. So instead of coming from ken0042@calgarypuck.com it will come from ken0042@ca1garypuck.com

So yes- important to be very careful.

Haha, I handle a lot of our IP legal issues. We have had 4 different domains squatters like this in the past 2 years. They usually go for a missing letter (our old domain was quite long) instead of changing one though.

[para transit fellow]

This article gives a little more insight into how the scam is orchestrated...

Edmonton minor hockey association thwarts costly email scam
http://globalnews.ca/news/3277234/ed...ly-email-scam/

[Deegee]

I'm on the board for my MHA (Didsbury) and I get these all the time.

I would question what would cost so much money in one shot?

[habernac]

Got an email from our association today. An anonymous person donated $30,000 to McKnight Hockey! Well done, anonymous person!!

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by habernac

Got an email from our association today. An anonymous person donated $30,000 to McKnight Hockey! Well done, anonymous person!!

Just send me the bank account details and I will deposit the money. Thanks

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by habernac

Got an email from our association today. An anonymous person donated $30,000 to McKnight Hockey! Well done, anonymous person!!

Great now they will never learn!

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by habernac

Got an email from our association today. An anonymous person donated $30,000 to McKnight Hockey! Well done, anonymous person!!

You're welcome! In the long run I'm still up $70k so it seemed like the least I could do.