canada.com where perspectives connect

In what it calls a preemptive strike against crime, Desjardins Group says it has exposed an internet hoax. The real problem, however, was that it was originally a Desjardins employee who gave the rumour a bit of a credible boost.

The  basic details of the hoax, which was sent through email, claimed that any person using an ATM transaction could alert the attention of the police by entering their personal identification number (PIN) in reverse, the company said. The email did not request any personal or financial information from the reader.

The employee, who is described by media representatives as a "senior financial counsellor," with a Desjardins office in the Quebec area sent the email to her family and friends a few weeks before the Christmas holidays. Along with the email came the employees work credentials and phone number.

When staff returned to the office Desjardins security, as well as the police, passed on the details of the email to Desjardins personnel to confirm if it was correct.

"At that point we said it’s so big we have to do something," said Nathalie Genest.
 
While the press release no doubt produced a few red cheeks this is hardly the first, or most memorable, time a Canadian has had to fess up to having steel wool pulled over their eyes.

Perhaps the best example was May, 2002, when then Canadian Alliance trade critic John Duncan, after reading an official looking press release on an anti-globalization website run by a group called the Yes Men, announced the World Trade Organization would be closing shop and restructuring.

After the issue was cleared the sheepish MP summed up the experience. “It was a brilliant master stroke,” he said to a reporter James Baxter with Southam News.

The origin of the rumour being sent out by the Desjardins employee is unknown.

"I think she feels bad today," Ms. Genest said. "But she will keep her job."
 
"She did that to protect her friends and family. It was not done with bad intentions."