MONTREAL- A Montreal woman who says she was paying for a Bell Internet account she never had thinks someone stole her identity.
Helen Stranzl said she was stunned to discover through her bank that Bell had been making automatic withdrawals through her account since 2006, for a total of $2,474.72.
The last account she'd had with Bell was three years ago, and was cancelled during a move from her former residence in Laval.
"I thought, ‘That's strange, I don't have any kind of Bell account - no phone, no Internet, no cable TV,'" she said.
Stranzl said she suspects she was the victim of identity fraud, discovering small amounts were taken out of her account each month, which she never noticed until she signed up for online banking.
"Someone with my personal information started to open an account at an old address of mine and then just (went) with it from there," she said.
"I think it was just a random act and they got lucky. I wasn't vigilant with knowing down to the dollar where my money was going every month."
Bell responded to the issue with this statement:
"This very unusual situation is due to an error with a bank account number and when it was brought to our attention we fixed the situation. In doing our internal investigation, we were not able to link the situation with a fraud."
Bell has refunded her the money.
Stranzl said she filed a police report, but as the money was refunded, they may not investigate further.
Police advice: file a complaint
Montreal police fraud squad investigators told CTV that about 1,200 identity theft cases are filed per year, including between 800 and 900 where identification was used to open up utility and service accounts.
Police say it's difficult to track down who stole the identity and sometimes how, but usually when a complaint is filed with police and the companies in question, in most cases, the so-called victims are reimbursed.
