A Winnipeg family is warning others to check their bank accounts more often after they had $4,500 stolen from three separate accounts.

Dale Hutchison is angry the Royal Bank won't reimburse his family for the losses because they didn't check their accounts within a 45-day period, which is RBC policy.

The family first noticed money missing in summer 2015. Dale's daughter Daphne, 16, had been saving for more than a decade to travel to Europe after high school.

Daphne and her parents diligently deposited her Christmas and birthday money for years, so when she went to the bank last summer to get a debit card, she was shocked to find her account had almost no money in it.

Months earlier, someone using a PayPal account had processed a pre-authorized payment on her savings account and drained $457.

"I thought I had more money in the bank before but there wasn't any there. So I was kind of confused and surprised," said Daphne.

Assumed money safe in bank

Dale didn't panic because $500 was taken fraudulently from his bank account in Sept. 2014, and the bank returned the money.

But for Daphne, she wasn't using her account or checking her statements regularly, so she didn't notice the activity until well past the 45-day limit. So this time, the bank was not liable to return the funds.

"I just kind of assumed that RBC had it under control and that they were keeping my money safe, and I think my parents assumed that too. When something like this happens and you don't know about it, it's really confusing and frustrating," said Daphne.

A Winnipeg family is warning others to check their bank accounts more often after they had $4,500 stolen from three separate accounts. 1:39 After they discovered Daphne was missing money, the Hutchison family started looking into it and realized that three separate family accounts had been compromised.

Dale had money stolen from his account twice. The first for $500 and 10 days later, another $1,800. Dale said they didn't notice because they were in the middle of spending thousands on a complete kitchen renovation. He's angry about the stolen money, but more upset by the money his kids lost.

"It's very upsetting because you think that you're protecting your kids' funds by having them in the bank and it turns out that that's not actually the case," said Dale.

Daphne's little brother, Julian also had money taken out of his account on three separate occasions. In total, $2,200 was stolen from the then 12 year old's account.

"I've been saving up for a while, like my whole life basically and it's not that fun to find that out," said Julian, who planned to use his Christmas and birthday money for university.

RBC said it reviews unauthorized transactions on a case-by-case basis but clients must notify the bank within 45 days of the date of the transaction. Other Canadian banks have similar policies that range from 30 to 60 days.

In frustration, the Hutchisons switched banks, filed a police report and a small-claim lawsuit.

Hard to track fraudsters

Dale Hutchison explains that he didn't notice $1,800.00 fraudulently taken from his account right away as the family was in the middle of spending thousands on different things for a complete kitchen renovation. (CBC) Frauds like this don't happen every day, but they happen often, said Sgt. Shaun Veldman, of the Winnipeg police commercial crime unit.

Veldman said emails or computers can be compromised and fraudsters use information to get into people's bank accounts. They can even use the information to steal identities and apply for credit under another person's name.

Veldman said companies such as PayPal do their best to verify identity on accounts but that can be difficult when internet protocol addresses are blocked and logins are bounced off multiple servers in different countries, making it easy for people to hide their tracks.

"It's very difficult for investigators to drill down on who's sitting behind the computer," said Veldman.

Bank customers need to protect their financial data and personal information, Veldman said.

Here are some tips from Winnipeg police to prevent fraud.

Tips to prevent fraud

Review all financial statements often.

Change passwords regularly.

Use different passwords for different accounts and software.

Make sure antivirus software is up to date.

Don't open unsolicited emails.

Be aware of common scams.

Educate young family members about being careful online.

Keep sensitive, personal information on external memory, encrypted in cloud storage or on an external drive not connected to the internet.

What to do if you're a victim of fraud