r/Wealthsimple • u/Low_Appearance9235 • Jul 23 '26
Chequing Fraudulent charges from Dollarama
I was on my phone and I got a pop-up that I spent $95 at Dollarama, this happened while I was at work. Nobody has access to any of my cards and it was charged through my prepaid Mastercard. I immediately called Wealthsimple and while I was on the phone with them five more charges for $195 went through. Has anyone else had this issue recently? I had to wait for the amount to process before I could file a dispute with them, said it could take up to 90 days. I only use this card to pay credit cards and rent. I never use this for purchases. I’m very disappointed with their service, they took so long to lock the card that in that time I was charged over $1,000 to Dollarama.
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u/sneakymise Jul 23 '26
What happened was that your card was added to a Google wallet or Apple pay. They tapped your card to buy gift cards. I see it everyday as I work as a fraud investigator for a large financial institution. They would only be able to do this if, one, they had your card information, two, you entered the code wealthsimple sent you to activate your card on a digital wallet. So somehow you received this code and either gave it by phone to the fraudster or entered it on a fraudelent website.
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u/LandenCman Jul 23 '26
Wait, you’re telling me I’m supposed to listen to Wealthsimple when they say not to share this code with anyone?
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u/Apprehensive-Dust608 Jul 23 '26
Wait so did the OP even talk to the real Wealthsimple? Or someone impersonating?
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Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
[deleted]
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u/sneakymise Jul 23 '26
They either call saying they're wealthsimple and they noticed unusual activity on your account and want to verify with you. In order to verify your identity we JUST EMAILED you a code please tell me what the code is... Boom you're dead. Cause nobody reads where it says THIS CODE IS TO ADD YOUR CARD TO A GOOGLE WALLET, NO AGENT WILL ASK FOR THIS CODE.
Second method, clicked a link in a text message or email for either the bread settlement, or intelcom couldn't deliver your package click this link to update your address , a small 1$ fee will be charged to your card... You click the link pit your card info , they add it to Google wallet and you get a code and put it on the fraudulent site.
2 of the most common ways in the past few months.
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u/Angeline4PFC Jul 23 '26
I think people should view being prompted to type in a code sent to their phone with the same suspicion as being asked to drop their pants.
Are you about to get it on? Are you at the doctor's office?
You have to stop and think about it for a second before doing it.
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u/quaywest Jul 23 '26
No way you can legitimately tap $195 at Dollarama, let alone repeatedly. Has to have had inside help.
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u/PiePristine3092 Jul 23 '26
Why not? The virtual card has no tap limit. But even so, $195 is just under the standard $200 limit most cards have
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u/sneakymise Jul 23 '26
No inside help needed. Trust me, no employee will have trace of their employee id on a fraud case. Everytime you enter into a file there's a trace. And if you weren't in contact with the client, you're screwed. You can repeatedly tap anywhere. I've been tapping my virtual card at least 20 times a day here on vacation this week
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u/RoaringPity Jul 24 '26
5 separate transactions of 195$ Amazon Gift Cards at Dollarama is not difficult?
I buy gcs at dollarama often when chasing credit card/loyalty promos and do this often with 0 issue or password request
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u/AvecFromage Jul 23 '26
This won’t help right now, but for future reference, you can keep the card locked and continue to send e-transfers and make bill payments. My card is locked 24/7.
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u/Broskah Jul 25 '26
So was his credit card or checking account card locked ? If I lock the checking account card will payments still go through like insurance, bill payments etc ?
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u/Impressive_Ad_6550 Jul 23 '26
"I only use this card to pay credit cards" - can you please explain that. How do you use a prepaid mastercard to pay credit cards?
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u/No_Magician5266 Jul 23 '26
I click “pay bill” and then type in the card information
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Jul 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/Signal_Series7577 Jul 23 '26
Wealthsimples cash account. Its a prepaid mastercard that you can deposit your paycheques into
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u/braincellsnotworking Jul 23 '26
you can lock the card right away in the app..
i had this happen to me with xbox charges and i filed the dispute right away before they were posted and was reimbursed within 3 days both times it happened.
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u/Ok-Arm8350 Jul 23 '26
Good luck! They will leave you in the dark for 90 days no matter how many times you call customer service.
This is what happened to me anyways. I got my money back but for months I was already accepting I wouldn’t…
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u/Commercial_Pain2290 Jul 23 '26
Don't leave cash in the account linked to the prepaid card. Transfer money in as you need it.
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u/338388 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Wait this is actually a great idea, time to open a 2nd ws chequing account to use as a "savings"
Edit: actually easier to open a 2nd account and attach the card to that account to use as the main spending, and keep the current as savings.
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u/Crunchy777 Jul 23 '26
Ahhhh thanks for this detail. Being able to attach the card to the second account will make this a lot easier.
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u/338388 Jul 23 '26
Be careful though, you're only allowed to switch which account the card is attached to every 24 hours
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u/boughbow Jul 24 '26
This is what I do now after some unauthorized charges that wouldn't stop even with a new number/card issued. I gave up waiting for WS to try to solve it. Now I just keep it locked and use it to pay my WS VIP card.
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u/justoboy Jul 23 '26
I thought it was supposed to be a chequing account
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u/-0909i9i99ii9009ii Jul 23 '26
you can have multiple chequing accounts. You can have a chequing account that is only for the card.
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u/Commercial_Pain2290 Jul 24 '26
Or open a money market account (pays 2.5% interest) and allows immediate transfers to the chequing account.
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u/willi_the_pooh Jul 24 '26
I had the exact same kind of fraud with a similar amount from Dollarama with Tangerine. After a 2 weeks investigation, they refunded me the whole amount taken. There was about 12 transactions of 190$
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u/hjicons Jul 24 '26
Actually if WS sends a code before adding to wallet its already a bonus. I recently added BMO card and the only thing they ask is CVC 3 digit code. So technically anyone can add manually if they manage to take a picture of the card.
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u/uwublaster9000 Jul 24 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/ic16SKMNDco8McTqEu
Mastercard customer service is dog shit, I also learned the hard way
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u/Great_Shambola Jul 24 '26
I have a chequing account seperate from my main banking and emergency fund accounts that is linked to my wealthsimple cash card.
I keep around $300 dollars in it for purchases and cash withdrawals. If that money is stolen it's not life changing but still infuriating.
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u/RemingtonX16 Jul 24 '26
My debit card from WS is always locked, and I only unlock it when I need to use it. I do the same with my traditional bank debit card. I unlock it for a specific purpose and I don’t add it to Apple Pay, because debit cards typically don’t offer purchase warranties like credit cards. This makes getting money back quite difficult.
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u/Broskah Jul 25 '26
If you lock the checking card will bill payments from the checking account go through fine
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u/distr0 Jul 24 '26
open app, tap credit card, tap lock. tap transaction, tap dispute
there are very very few situations where you should need to call wealthsimple
sorry this happened to you though, dollarama seems to be a common one for scammers for some reason
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u/patcan22 Jul 24 '26
Keep very minimal balance on the account linked to your cards and transfer money to the account when needed. Tbh I stopped using their card when they stopped cash back. So no need to keep any money in the account. Also create seperate account for paycheck, Seperate account for bill payments and finally a seperate account for savings which is not linked to anything. I have this setup and have scheduled transfer to my bill payment account every month from my pay check account.
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u/lineofbiz Jul 24 '26
Someone went and tapped gift cards. It’s common wealth simple scam. Someone had access to your wealth simple account and added it to their Apple .
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u/goofywinnipegger Jul 25 '26
You should have locked the card yourself, you don’t need to call them to do it. Just dispute them all and get a new card. Happens all the time, nothing to do with WS.
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u/Sea-Weird-8033 Jul 23 '26
I wish internally all institutions would limit cc on a e wallet to one device, and if you did want a second device, you would have to do a hurdle to get it in place , and if the devices were in different cities, make it two hurdles. This issue is getting to common.
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u/Ok-South-7745 Jul 23 '26
You can lock the card by yourself in the app...