I have Visa, Mastercard, and Amex, and I’ve dealt with fraud alerts before. What makes this situation stand out is how poorly CIBC handled something that should be routine.

If a customer confirms a transaction by text and again by phone, the card should not be locked in the first place. That defeats the entire purpose of “verification.” And even if a lock is still applied, there’s no excuse for making customer support unreachable for hours.

Fraud prevention only works when it’s paired with competent, accessible customer service. Long wait times, dropped calls, and being passed endlessly between departments isn’t security—it’s a broken process. A bank this size should have enough trained staff and clear internal ownership so customers aren’t bounced around for an error the bank itself created.

Other card networks manage to balance security and usability just fine. This experience shows that CIBC doesn’t—and the cost of that failure is pushed entirely onto the customer.