Dear Claudienne,

My brother and I have concerns about our accounts at Scotiabank. Four or five months ago, I started getting calls from “Scotiabank” indicating that there was money owed on a credit card in my name. I was a bit surprised and at first I ignored these calls as this was a credit card I no longer really used and felt that perhaps the calls could be in error but the calls kept coming. I actually visited a Scotiabank branch to discuss the matter and the staff I spoke to insisted that it was an accumulated amount and it had to be paid.

I went ahead and made the payment of $180,745.00 that they said was owed. (I actually should not have made that payment! But at the time, I had a good amount of trust in the Scotiabank system). At around the same time, I decided to “test” the card and I used it at Mother’s to buy patties, etc — a cost of J$1,160.00.

My brother (D) has not been well and is in fact recovering from a stroke that he suffered in 2022. He still continues to do speech therapy and I assist him in any way possible. I also help him in other ways as he gradually shows a little improvement but it is slow going. Some time in December 2024 it was discovered that some strange things were going on with the Scotiabank savings account of my brother.

(i) This included multiple withdrawals and payments made to payees unknown. From a very rough check, it was estimated that the total amount stolen from my brother’s account could be in the range of about $3,000,000;

(ii) On close examination, it was also noted that there were funds illegally transferred from my credit card to my brother’s savings account and also to elsewhere (this included $150,000 on September 30, 2024, $200,000 on January 9, 2025, $90,000 on January 9, 2025, to name a few). [NB. On close inspection, that $150,000 illegally transferred on September 30, 2024 is what led to those initial calls four or five months ago suggesting that there was money owed on the card]

As mentioned, my brother had a stroke and has serious communication problems. He was therefore not able to make much progress with his complaints to the bank and to get them to address the problem. As my name is also on my brother’s savings account, I started to spend a lot of time and several visits trying to get staffers at the bank to pay attention and address the situation. Eventually after multiple visits and time spent, we were advised that the money stolen from the account was returned (approximately $2.9m around the end of January to early February).

I am again getting calls from “Scotiabank” concerning the credit card! This time it is suggested that somehow over $300,000 is owed!

1) We would like to see exactly how the amount deposited to my brother’s account (around the end of January to early February) was calculated. In our opinion, whatever bank charges were applied for the illegal activities should not have been applied. Every cent should be returned

2) It should be noted that the only legitimate use made of my credit card was for the $1,160 purchase made at Mother’s around early December 2024. This was done basically to test the card to see that it worked. All other indicated costs are not legitimate and need to be removed from statements!

I have been corresponding with and got some responses from
bnsj.newkingston@scotiabank.com but the responses have been sporadic and now it seems they are starting to ignore me altogether! (Previously I also corresponded with “
bnsj.liguanea@scotiabank.com”) But they no longer respond.

Many Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

EF

Dear EF,

Tell Claudienne communicated your concerns to Scotiabank and you have informed us as follows:

“On Monday morning (June 2) I got a message from one of the persons I had been communicating with at Scotiabank advising me that I must go to the New Kingston Scotia branch the same day and a named person (TF) would work with me to get the cash.

I went to that branch and joined a line and was also given a number. When my time came, I discovered that the named person was not there! After spending over two hours in the bank, I loudly protested and was eventually told that the manager would meet with me. The manager eventually spoke to me and after attempting something which did not work, he eventually told me to come back the following day to collect a manager’s cheque. I went back to the New Kingston branch on Tuesday June 3, 2025 and received a cheque ($180,597.70). I immediately made the request for it to be cashed which the manager facilitated.

This whole thing that my sick brother and I have been going through with Scotiabank is frustrating and time consuming! Although the bulk of the money (almost $3m) was returned to my brother’s account, I am still not satisfied that all of it was returned but I cannot be bothered to spend any more time going through the figures, doing calculations and communicating with various people about the problem.

Can you imagine? If my name was not on my brother’s account, he would never have got back any of the money that was stolen from his account.”

Tell Claudienne has received the following e-mail from Scotiabank regarding your concerns:

“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention At Scotiabank, ensuring the satisfaction of our clients and timely resolution of issues when they arise is of the utmost importance.

We have been in dialogue with our client and the matter has been resolved as all monies have been returned.

Our team has also conducted a comprehensive review of the matter, and the necessary steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by this situation.

As per our privacy policy, we are unable to provide the specifics of the matter. We would however like to take this opportunity to remind our clients of the importance of monitoring their transactions to protect their accounts and ensure the early detection of suspicious activity.

We also encourage clients to make full use of our online and mobile banking platforms, including signing up for alerts, to manage their accounts, and remind them to contact us immediately if they suspect unauthorized access to their accounts.”

We wish you all the best.

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 876- 936-9436 or Cell/WhatsApp # 876-484-1349 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.