A Winnipeg senior says TD Bank denied her appeal for reimbursement after scammers accessed her account and withdrew $4,650 through repeated transactions and duplicate cheque deposits. The case raises fresh questions about how banks detect obvious fraud patterns and respond when customers are left carrying the loss.

A Winnipeg woman says she was left shocked and financially vulnerable after scammers drained thousands from her bank account and her bank later refused to reimburse her losses. Lisa Taron, 62, told CBC News the fraud began after she received a phone call from someone claiming to be from TD Bank’s fraud department. The caller appeared to know details about her account, including information about a recent cheque deposit, and used what she described as highly convincing tactics during the call.

Taron said she ended the call after about two minutes and contacted the bank directly, only to learn her account had in fact been compromised. By the next day, she discovered that roughly $2,500 had been withdrawn through repeated $93 transactions. Another $2,100 was allegedly taken after scammers repeatedly deposited the same $100 cheque into her account through the bank’s mobile app and withdrew the available funds before the cheques bounced. CBC reported that the same cheque, made out to someone else, was deposited 21 times.

The case is especially troubling because of how blatant the alleged fraud appeared. Taron said she could not understand why repeated withdrawals and identical cheque deposits failed to trigger stronger internal red flags. She described the scheme as both sophisticated and obvious, arguing that the transaction pattern should have prompted an immediate intervention by the bank’s fraud systems.

According to the report, TD denied Taron’s second appeal for reimbursement. In a statement, the bank said it could not comment on a specific case because of client privacy, but reminded customers that caller ID can be spoofed and that a bank will never ask someone to share a one-time passcode sent by text or email. The bank urged customers to verify suspicious calls by hanging up and calling the number listed on the back of their bank card

Taron said the financial consequences were immediate. Living in subsidized housing, she said the losses left her without money for rent, food, or medication, and she had to turn to her elderly mother for help. She also told CBC that the experience changed the way she views unsolicited bank calls, saying she has learned never to trust a call claiming to come from a bank, no matter how convincing it sounds.

Beyond the individual loss, the case highlights a wider concern about who bears responsibility when scammers exploit both a customer and apparent weaknesses in institutional fraud detection. It also underscores how quickly social engineering scams can escalate when criminals combine stolen account details, spoofed calls, and small repeated transactions that may initially appear routine

Taron told CBC she is considering legal action against TD Bank. Her case is likely to resonate with other consumers, particularly seniors and low-income account holders, who may have little financial cushion when fraud occurs and few practical options when a reimbursement claim is denied.

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Originally published on Canadian Fraud News.