A B.C. business owner is sharing his story as a warning to others after a former employee reportedly cashed multiple cheques more than once using mobile banking.
Lukas Gawlik of Sprout Landscapes in Vancouver noticed a cheque being deposited twice on the same day in June. Instead of the cheques bouncing or being stopped by his bank, Gawlik investigated and discovered he’d lost $7,000 in false deposits.
“It looked like they were using the photo app to deposit their cheque,” he tells Glacier Media, noting the individual was employed during the time of the alleged fraud. “They would deposit it through a different institution each time.”
Gawlik contacted his bank Coast Capital Savings when he spotted the fraud. The bank has returned most of the transactions, he says, but he wants to warn others of his experience.
“If I didn’t catch them, it would have killed us [financially],” he says.
A total of five cheques, ranging from $1,050 to $1,362 were deposited at least twice and, in one case, deposited three times. Gawlik was able to scroll back through his banking history and see that it started as early as April 14, 2022 and continued until November 2022.
"I told them [the bank] that it's quite urgent, that I had to put a stop to it right away, or at least a stop payment on any of the cheques that we had signed out,” he says.
When Gawlik met with staff at his Coast Capital Savings branch in Vancouver, he questioned how this was not stopped or flagged as fraud.
“The bank should disclose something like this. This should be in big bold writing that, if you sign a cheque, it might liquidate all your funds at some point,” he said. “I’m concerned that there’s this massive gaping hole in their security.”
In a written response, Coast Capital Savings said it cannot comment on individual situations due to privacy.
"As you can appreciate, due to privacy, we cannot comment on individual situations, members or their accounts. We do take these matters very seriously, investigating each case thoroughly,” spokesperson Erin McKinley told Glacier Media.
McKinley added that “the safety and security of our members and their accounts is priority for us and we have robust systems, procedures and policies to keep our members and their accounts safe.”
Due to Sprout Landscapes being a small business, Gawlik says it would be too expensive to transfer banks. They also have direct deposit for long-standing employees.
Gawlik says he's reported the incident to the Vancouver Police Department.
“Unless someone has been charged with a crime, we are not in a position to confirm someone is being investigated,” said the VPD's Const. Tania Visintin.
Fears more fraudulent transactions coming
The former employee received an estimated 22 payroll cheques from the small business; Gawlik is concerned about more fraudulent deposits.
"I am concerned that this could keep happening if the bank hasn't followed up with whether or not it will keep happening,” saw Gawlik. "They just basically said that the onus is on me to look out for those types of activities.”
Coast Capital Savings' spokesperson admits fraud is an issue that is "omnipresent and continuing to get more and more sophisticated," adding that everyone needs to be careful and vigilant.
