Historic downtown Montreal restaurant hit with alleged $18K fraud scheme, owner says

A downtown Montreal restaurateur says he’s out $18,000 after an alleged fraud scheme gutted his cellar of among his most prized vintage.

Chez Alexandre & Fils owner Alain Creton told CityNews that 10 bottles of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2007 and two bottles of cognac were stolen after a scammer used a fake payment to collect an urgent order.

He’s hoping his experience will be a cautionary tale to teach other business owners to avoid handing over a single bottle until the money is really in the bank.

“Please, any restaurateur in Quebec, be very, very careful,” he said Friday.

Creton said a caller offered to pay extra to rush the purchase on Nov. 28. He said the fraudster claimed the alcohol would be used at a high-profile investor party tied to Montreal billionaire Lawrence Stroll.

“Well, everybody knows Mr. Lawrence Stroll,” Creton said. “He was just using Mr. Stroll because because his name is famous.”

The caller claimed he’d send an e-transfer and said he only needed the restaurant’s name. Soon after, Creton said $18,000 landed into his BMO bank account.

He said a man arrived the next day to pick up the bottles, someone who Creton believes was an accomplice to the fraudster on the phone.

“The same night or the next day I received a phone call from the Bank of Montreal,” Creton said. “They said ‘sir, the cheque of $18,000 has been bounced.'”

The restaurateur said that the news came as a shock to him because he never knew a cheque was involved. He believes the scammer deposited a fraudulent one made out to the restaurant while telling Creton that he was sending the money over by e-transfer.

He plans to file a police complaint by the end of next week.

In a statement to CityNews, BMO said that anyone can fall victim to financial crimes like this one.

“Cheque deposit holds are an industry standard practice designed to protect clients,” BMO head of enterprise public relations Jeff Roman wrote. “These allow the bank time to ensure that the bank account from which the cheque is drawn has enough money in it to pay the cheque. A hold can also be placed to prevent other issues such as fraud. “

Creton said he’s not the only one that has been target by schemes like this, adding that his wine suppliers have also landed under the crosshairs of fraudsters before.

“It’s happened to (them) with the same story using the name of Mr. Stroll,” Creton said.

Cybersecurity experts say the scheme has all the hallmarks of a “fake payment pickup” — a scam that often hinges the urgency of a rushed purchase.

The rush helps scammers exploit the delay between when funds appear and when a cheque actually clears.

“It takes about three to 10 business days for a bank to validate that the money is really there,” said Terry Cutler, ethical hacker and CEO of Cyology Labs. “During that time, scammers have access to that money. Once the check bounces, the funds will go back to zero.”

Cutler said vendors should always be cautious with large first-time orders and insist on secure payments like wire transfers.

“Do a little bit of a check, do some research, Google the phone number,” Cutler said, “see if there’s any reviews or like scam comments about it.”

In the meantime, Creton hopes speaking out will spare others.

“I (hope) my bad experience could be used for somebody else,” he said.