‘It hurts’: Retired B.C. couple out $17K after TD banking nightmare

A B.C. couple who bank with TD says they’re speaking out after someone fraudulently transferred thousands of dollars out of their account. Rene and Cecilia Diguangco say TD concluded the person who transferred the funds had knowledge of the couple’s banking credentials, something the couple vehemently denies.

“Is this what we get from trusting this bank?” said Cecilia Diguangco.

Back in December 2024, Cecilia says she noticed several withdrawals from the couple’s Home Equity Line of Credit Account (HELOC).

She says they rarely use that account, but between September and October 2024, seven consecutive withdrawals were made totaling $17,000. “Both of us were shaking and I said, ‘ What are we going to do?” said Cecilia.

The retired couple, who have banked with TD for over 30 years, say at no time did they receive an alert from TD about the transactions.

“Usually, if someone sends us some money or we send some money to another person, we get notified, but this transaction we didn’t get any single notification,” Rene said.

The case was investigated by TD, but the couple says the bank refused to reimburse them, stating the person who completed the transactions had knowledge of their online banking credentials and access to their device and password, all of which was their responsibility.

However, Rene and Cecilia Diguangco say they have never shared their banking information with anyone. In fact, the couple says they don’t even know one another’s banking passwords. “She doesn’t even know my PIN and I don’t know her PIN,” said Rene.

Despite having their case reviewed by the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, Rene says the conclusion was the same. “They are pointing at us that it is our fault that we didn’t safeguard our PIN,” said Rene. “I feel deep inside it hurts. You can’t get it out of your head,” he added.

Duff Conacher from the non-profit advocacy group Democracy Watch has been pushing for change in the banking industry.

He says the federal government isn’t doing enough to protect consumers and wants better consumer protections in place similar to the U.K. and Australia, where the burden of proof is on the banks and not the consumer. “Australia essentially has the money go back to the customer automatically unless the bank can prove that they did their due diligence to protect the customer,” said Conacher.

Recently, the federal government passed Bill C-15 to help combat consumer financial fraud, but Democracy Watch argues its consumer protections are still weak.

It wants to see changes to the bill that would immediately require banks to compensate customers for their entire loss unless the bank can prove to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments that they have adequate safeguards in place to prevent fraudulent account transactions.

“The banks set up online banking, pushed everybody to use it by shutting down branches and reducing staff and never put in place the protections and safeguards to actually protect their customer’s money,” said Conacher.

TD told Consumer Matters it couldn’t speak about the Diguangcos case due to privacy.

TD stated in part:

“Generally speaking, our reviews consider a variety of factors, including whether disputed transactions were made using a known device or IP address.”

“Approach unsolicited investment advice with suspicion and take your time to research sources…”

The Diguangcos are now left trying to make up for the thousands of dollars they’ve lost. Cecilia is now working and catering on the side to help ease the financial strain on the family household.

“After this, we don’t want to be with TD anymore,” she said.

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