A Quebec woman nearing the complete of her battle with stage 4 lung cancer lost $85,000 to fraudsters who posed as police officers, her son, Iann Saint-Denis, revealed this week. The scheme, which unfolded over several days in August, culminated in the theft of the entirety of Romane Saint-Denis’s retirement savings.
According to Saint-Denis, his mother received a phone call from an individual claiming to be a police officer investigating activity at her bank. The caller inquired about a safety deposit box and requested its contents be withdrawn. Upon returning home, Romane Saint-Denis compiled her debit card, credit card, and banking access codes into an envelope, which was then collected by the fraudsters.
“The five days that followed were a disaster,” Saint-Denis told Noovo Info. “Once they had her PINs, illegal transactions began immediately. We’re talking $15,000 to $20,000 per day.” The fraudsters rapidly depleted her accounts and maxed out her credit lines.
While some funds were recovered after intervention with the bank, the majority of the $85,000 remains lost. Saint-Denis stated the family ultimately ceased pursuing further recovery efforts, citing his mother’s declining health. Romane Saint-Denis died in January, approximately seven months after the initial fraud. “The events certainly accelerated her decline,” he said.
The case has prompted questions about the responsibility of financial institutions in preventing such scams. Saint-Denis believes banks should have more robust safeguards in place. “$15,000, $20,000 a day… for someone who never made transactions exceeding $2,000 or $3,000 a month… that should have raised a flag,” he argued.
Alexandre Plourde, a lawyer and analyst with Option consommateurs, echoed Saint-Denis’s concerns, stating that financial institutions often identify it “highly easy to disclaim responsibility” in cases of fraud. Plourde pointed to contractual clauses that place the onus of protecting PINs and other sensitive information on the consumer. “What we see is that the law is really insufficient to adequately protect consumers,” he said.
Authorities have since arrested the individuals responsible for the fraud. Saint-Denis emphasized the importance of discussing such schemes with loved ones to prevent others from falling victim.
