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economist suntribune business thursday may 16 2002 15 debit card theft a major concern frontpage 11 sources interviewed will even hint at the extent of the security problems associ ated with debitcards but almost everyone knows someone whose bank account has been breached by a thief who has stolen debit card data and the accompanying pin police in a neighbouring region recently reported a slcimming operation at a commercial location in a couple of weeks the bad guys gained access to 300 accounts its a major concern for the banks said bill bailey a retired banker who acts as ombud for scotiabank yes we do get complaints but for me to give the number i cant do that diane flanagan senior manager of public affairs with scotiabank said the incidence of fraud is relatively low con sidering the rate of bank card use among canadians we swiped our cards 22 billion times last year but she would not divulge fraud sta tistics to complete the comparison the actual number of fraud inci dents is low compared to the number of interac transactions ms flanagan said i just cant make that number of frauds available to you ms flanagan said the banks look for several points of compromise in their investigations of fraud they include pins that have been disclosed to third parties failure to maintain the secrecy of the number by for example writing it on the card or failure to quickly notify the bank in the event in the theft or loss of a card if such breaches of conduct by the cardholder can be proven the customer is on the hook for any loss due to fraud or theft otherwise the banks cover the losses ms flanagan said in the majority of cases we do reimburse the customers she said tell that to martin paquette he was shocked to find someone had gained access to his bank account cashing a fake cheque for 6300 and stealing almost 1400 and he was stunned when it became apparent the bank td canada trust had no intention of reimbursing him whats more mr paquette doesnt really know why since the breach april 12 he has been told at his newmarket branch he will get no refund so has appealed that decision to the banks offices in toronto to date almost five weeks after he was robbed he has been unable to learn the status of his case no one ever contacted me he said in the meantime his cheques have bounced and he has grown frustrated at the lack of action or communication from the bank he has done business with for 12 years including carrying a mortgage and a line of credit with which he has never experienced payment problems i will be changing banks he said with finality he is angered at being implicated in the breach of his own account and theres still the question of me bouncing a cheque which i have never done before he said i dont like that jeff keay a spokesperson with td canada trust said the bank vigorously follows up each reported fraud all the circumstances surrounding a breach are explored and often the customer is exonerated and refunded he said but there are exceptions we treat each case individually mr keay said we tend to work with each cus tomer in an attempt to ascertain what the circumstances are s he said any assumption banks are hanging customers out to dry irt order to cut fraud losses is just plain wrong thats little comfort to people such as ms maclsaac who is left wondering why she is on the hook for a security breach in her case she became aware of the fraud when 10000 mysteriously showed up in her account the source two empty envelopes deposited in abms as 5000 deposits a common trick of bank card thieves as quickly as the deposits were made the thieves were at work making withdrawals the only thing that pre vented a bigger theft was ms maclsaacs relatively low daily withdrawal limit while shes not being held responsi ble for the phony deposits ms maclsaac is out 400 which was withdrawn from bank machines in the city while she was in holland landing the bank has determined it was her card that made the questionable trans actions she said its impossible said an exasperated ms maclsaac this person would have had to take my card out of my purse friday and slip it back in on saturday meanwhile the banks are left grap pling with a security problem mr keay said the banks security experts remain vigilant somebodys always thinking up ways to steal other peoples money and we must stay on top of that he said go leafs go fri may 17 the one only your headquarters for toronto maple leaejplayofes enjoy2 fori wings igijflng fwofes bs 4 siit visit our websitetc iweiail fathersmarkhamcom 294013 the last call free designated driver for you and your car starts 1 130pm call for details comer of h7raarlll4 village nissans enjoy the savings event gives you more to simile about 2002 nissan sentra 2002 cargo ide best buy with value option package for only b qg month for 48 months only 1298 down no security deposit oac or choose 1s financing with no payments for 90 clays value option package includes 126hp 1 8litre dohc engine air conditioning 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