I've been ripped off

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

So.

Logged on to my online bank balance today to keep on top of my finances. I do this every so often just in case.

Good thing too!

I have a savings account with $600 in it for monthly expenditures. It is sacrosanct. I NEVER touch it, except to top it up. Suddenly, $350 had disappeared.

I got on the phone to the fraud offices at the bank immediately, and even as I watched online, another $100 disappeared. Within 10 minutes my balance was empty. The card has been frozen so "I" can't borrow anything on it, but that's not the point. This was my money and now some nefarious character has it.

I feel kinda invaded

Sorry. Moan over.

 

[dreamer17555]

I know this is frustrating. I’m assuming you’ll be made whole by your banks fraud department. So sorry you’re dealing with this.

 

[bcla]

Never had anything like that with a bank account, but have seen weird charges with my credit cards over the years that I didn't make.

One was airline tickets where I called up the travel agency named as selling the tickets (along with the airline) and they apparently hadn't asked to see the actual credit card after taking the purchase over the phone. I'm guessing someone (possibly at a restaurant) copied by credit card info an passed it onto a friend. Another time I saw charges for fuel at gas stations from Ohio to West Virginia. Not sure if it was someone with a card skimmer or who physically saw/photographed/etc my credit card number, but they probably encoded it onto a magnetic strip and used it for pay at the pump. Most aren't responsible for fraudulent charges and I had all those charges reversed.

I'm pretty sure in the case of the travel agent, the company had to eat it. Not sure what the deal is with the gas station charges though.

A lot of merchants are going to "chip reader" transactions though because their liability is less than magnetic strip given that it's almost impossible to replicate the chip reader functionality, while the magnetic strip only contains the account number and other stuff.

 

[Skippy918]

Have you swiped your debit card recently at a gas station? It’s possible that’s the culprit. My advice, stick with credit cards at gas stations.

 

[Alice in Okie-land]

This just happened to my elderly parents. $50k pulled from their money market acct, then 25k of Amazon gift card purchases on their credit card. My sweet mother was bereft and embarrassed. So thankful for the excellent and kind customer service people who helped her get it all fixed.

Watch your accounts, everyone!

 

[kdonnel]

Your story and others like it are why I will never have a debit card for a checking or savings account.

Credit cards only.

If someone charges $1000s to my credit card, I call the credit card company and it is done.

If someone empties my checking account, auto pay bills will probably bounce. I will then not only have to deal with my bank but each creditor affected. Eventually it will all work out but it will be a much more stressful and time consuming process.

I hope you get your money back quickly and there are no other payments affected.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Thanks guys.

The big red flashing light was when the transactions were to "Mothercare". I'm not a mom!

 

[luvnwdwgal]

Your story and others like it are why I will never have a debit card for a checking or savings account.

Credit cards only.

If someone charges $1000s to my credit card, I call the credit card company and it is done.

If someone empties my checking account, auto pay bills will probably bounce. I will then not only have to deal with my bank but each creditor affected. Eventually it will all work out but it will be a much more stressful and time consuming process.

I hope you get your money back quickly and there are no other payments affected.

Have never had a debit card either. We don’t do any online banking nor do we do auto pay. I pay all our bills by phone.

 

[barkley]

this is why it's important to find out your bank's practice on over drafting. my oldest's wallet was stolen and despite realizing it within minutes and notifying the bank within the hour (after hours/had to wait on hold) the thief started making purchases all over the place. thankfully it occurred to me while i was waiting on hold (co-owner on account) to move everything out of the checking account (knew no checks were pending-never uses them) as well as what i though was the only account it would overdraft from-WRONG!!!!!!! that bank has the practice to use a domino effect for overdrafts so once the checking account was at zero it hit the savings account i had drained and then it tried to do it with the handful of other linked accounts. fortunately they were all at less than $10 each b/c one was strictly for auto pay of student loans and since those are on hold there was nothing sitting there, it was right after the holidays so nothing in his christmas account...

lesson learned-if you have overdraft set it up with just ONE account that you keep just a little bit in.

 

[dioxide45]

Is it possible they somehow obtained your login credentials and used Zelle or some other method to move the money out? If so, always use complex passwords and 2-factor authentication for whatever you can. Especially for financial institution. Never use the same password for multiple websites. I know it is hard to remember all the passwords, so use a password keeper program or if you use Google for most things, Chrome has built in complex password suggestions and the ability to save them. You just don't want to lose your Google account password.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Your story and others like it are why I will never have a debit card for a checking or savings account.

Credit cards only.

If someone charges $1000s to my credit card, I call the credit card company and it is done.

If someone empties my checking account, auto pay bills will probably bounce. I will then not only have to deal with my bank but each creditor affected. Eventually it will all work out but it will be a much more stressful and time consuming process.

I hope you get your money back quickly and there are no other payments affected.

My husband is a software architect who works on payment systems....and has advised this for years. Never use a debt card for anything but withdrawing cash at your own bank....other banks if you absolutely need to (possibly while traveling), but never at an ATM you'd find anywhere else...like at a convenience store,...etc. Credit cards only. Another is to set up a separate checking account for Venmo. I have customers who pay me that way, and I move the money out of venmo immediately into that checking account...and then move it again when the balance is over $1000 in that account. It's an extra step, but easy enough to do.

 

[mjkacmom]

My husband is a software architect who works on payment systems....and has advised this for years. Never use a debt card for anything but withdrawing cash at your own bank....other banks if you absolutely need to (possibly while traveling), but never at an ATM you'd find anywhere else...like at a convenience store,...etc. Credit cards only. Another is to set up a separate checking account for Venmo. I have customers who pay me that way, and I move the money out of venmo immediately into that checking account...and then move it again when the balance is over $1000 in that account. It's an extra step, but easy enough to do.

I only have a credit card and atm card, no debit card. I’ve had fraud on credit cards, so easy to deal with.

 

[kdonnel]

I only have a credit card and atm card, no debit card. I’ve had fraud on credit cards, so easy to deal with.

It is oddly difficult to get an ATM only card from Bank of America. They really want you to have a debit card due to revenue opportunities for the bank.

 

[mjkacmom]

It is oddly difficult to get an ATM only card from Bank of America. They really want you to have a debit card due to revenue opportunities for the bank.

I’ve had one at Chase for over 30 years, maybe I’m grandfathered.

 

[rwdavis2]

This is why we stopped using debit cards. Had mine and my wife’s numbers stolen on the same day at different places.

 

[fla4fun]

I am sorry you are going through this. I am sure the bank will make you whole, but it’s a pain in the neck until they do. Hopefully it will be resolved quickly. Hang in there!