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So, your bank account has been compromised. What's next? (1 Viewer)

brun

brun

Footballguy
I mentioned in another thread that my bank account was hacked. This happens to people more often than I thought previously. So, I thought I'd share in case it happens to anyone here.

a Monday
I logged into my bank account and it shows a negative balance. I stare at the screen in confusion, log out, log in again, log out, log in. I look at the transactions and see several bogus ones over 3-4 weeks. Reality hits. I'm porked. This is my main account. I think, oh ####, oh ####, no, no, no, $30k gone!
I call the bank office in the town I live. I talk to a guy who seems way too calm. He says there are 2 ways to do this; I call a special number or I go into the bank. I call the number. I'm in the queue, looks like I'm not alone. After waiting a minute, I decide to leave work and drive (too distracted and too fast) to the nearest bank branch. Arrive safely.
Talking to another calm guy. He wants to talk about the ways that this can be prevented. I let him know that it's fine if he wants to lecture me on what I should have done differently, but there are other things I'd like to take care of first.

Gotta go to work. Will update when I get a chance.

Probably take a few post to complete.

 
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brun said:
I mentioned in another thread that my bank account was hacked. This happens to people more often than I thought previously. So, I thought I'd share in case it happens to anyone here.

a Monday
I logged into my bank account and it shows a negative balance. I stare at the screen in confusion, log out, log in again, log out, log in. I look at the transactions and see several bogus ones over 3-4 weeks. Reality hits. I'm porked. This is my main account. I think, oh ####, oh ####, no, no, no, $30k gone!
I call the bank office in the town I live. I talk to a guy who seems way too calm. He says there are 2 ways to do this; I call a special number or I go into the bank. I call the number. I'm in the queue, looks like I'm not alone. After waiting a minute, I decide to leave work and drive (too distracted and too fast) to the nearest bank branch. Arrive safely.
Talking to another calm guy. He wants to talk about the ways that this can be prevented. I let him know that it's fine if he wants to lecture me on what I should have done differently, but there are other things I'd like to take care of first.

Gotta go to work. Will update when I get a chance.
Click to expand...
So, we go through the history and find a number of fraudulent transactions, including 2 checks issued by the bank to someone in Englewood Colorado. I found a match for the check recipient's name and address on mylife. I imagine the investigation will find that this person probably doesn't even know that 2 checks were sent to him (or he's in on it, but not very bright).

The bank guy calls the fraud investigation people and a woman at the other end of the phone asks me some questions that populate affidavits for each fraudulent transaction. She sends them to the bank and I sign each one, 12 total.

I'm told that the return of the money for the checks will take 8-10 weeks. The other money should come back to me in 10 days, but some might take less than half that time.

I open a new account and close the old one. I could leave the old one open for credit transactions only, but this wouldn't allow me to do any online banking for some period of time (don't remember how long). Then I remember that my tax refund is supposed to be direct deposited into the closed account. My return was already accepted by the IRS and appears I'll just have to wait until the deposit gets rejected and the IRS issues a paper check.

I return to work. More to come.

 
I'm surprised your bank is making you wait 8 to 10 weeks.  If those checks cleared weeks ago, it will be too late for a return and your bank is likely going to have to eat it.   It doesn't have to take that long to give you credit.

 
brun said:
So, we go through the history and find a number of fraudulent transactions, including 2 checks issued by the bank to someone in Englewood Colorado. I found a match for the check recipient's name and address on mylife. I imagine the investigation will find that this person probably doesn't even know that 2 checks were sent to him (or he's in on it, but not very bright).

The bank guy calls the fraud investigation people and a woman at the other end of the phone asks me some questions that populate affidavits for each fraudulent transaction. She sends them to the bank and I sign each one, 12 total.

I'm told that the return of the money for the checks will take 8-10 weeks. The other money should come back to me in 10 days, but some might take less than half that time.

I open a new account and close the old one. I could leave the old one open for credit transactions only, but this wouldn't allow me to do any online banking for some period of time (don't remember how long). Then I remember that my tax refund is supposed to be direct deposited into the closed account. My return was already accepted by the IRS and appears I'll just have to wait until the deposit gets rejected and the IRS issues a paper check.

I return to work. More to come.
Click to expand...
How long ago did these fraudulent transactions occur?

Can you say what bank you use?

 
Horrible. Very glad to hear you are getting it back without much trouble. Scary stuff :checksbankaccountimmediately:

 
A couple of quick answers.

Citizens Bank.

Not checks out of my checkbook. Online check requests that were then printed and sent by the bank as a physical check.

From the 1st test transaction to the last one that killed my account was about 3 weeks.

The online transactions should be recovered within 10 days. The checks should take 8-10 weeks.

 
brun said:
So, we go through the history and find a number of fraudulent transactions, including 2 checks issued by the bank to someone in Englewood Colorado. I found a match for the check recipient's name and address on mylife. I imagine the investigation will find that this person probably doesn't even know that 2 checks were sent to him (or he's in on it, but not very bright).

The bank guy calls the fraud investigation people and a woman at the other end of the phone asks me some questions that populate affidavits for each fraudulent transaction. She sends them to the bank and I sign each one, 12 total.

I'm told that the return of the money for the checks will take 8-10 weeks. The other money should come back to me in 10 days, but some might take less than half that time.

I open a new account and close the old one. I could leave the old one open for credit transactions only, but this wouldn't allow me to do any online banking for some period of time (don't remember how long). Then I remember that my tax refund is supposed to be direct deposited into the closed account. My return was already accepted by the IRS and appears I'll just have to wait until the deposit gets rejected and the IRS issues a paper check.

I return to work. More to come.
Click to expand...
As soon as I returned to work from the bank, I talked to HR and was told if cancelled my direct deposit in ADP right away I should get a paper check. I did. Even though I cancelled my paycheck direct deposit and payroll said I did it in time. ADP still tried to direct deposit into the closed account. Payroll said that's because ADP changed something in their process. Seems like there's a day or 2 window between me cancelling direct deposit and checks being run and payroll may have dropped the ball. Sounds like it may take another week before I get that because the direct deposit needs to be rejected and money put back before they can issue the paper check.

This is my main account where I pay all my bills from. So, I needed money for some bills this week, including a repayment of my mortgage because that came back due to insufficient funds. I moved some money over from another account and deposited some of my poker bankroll. Assuming I get at least some of that money back within the 10 day window, I should be ok.

One or two more updates coming.

 
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I had something similar, but wasn't hacked online, rather someone had a falsified ID, with my wife's picture and was making withdrawals against our accounts. 

Even though we closed the account, deposits were still made against it.  We had a refund from my daughters college that literally was deposited to the "closed" account 8 months later.  Had to go to the bank and withdraw the cash to deposit it to the new bank. 

For us, it was a bit different in that opening a new account at the same bank literally did nothing.  1 day after closing and opening a new account, they walked into a local branch in another state and withdrew 6K. 

I've since changed checking/savings/everything to Chase.  It's not as difficult as you think, although I had most of my auto payments set to hit credit cards rather than bank accounts. 

Good Luck!  This is the SUCK!!!!!!!!!!

 
brun said:
Just one example of my level of distraction over this. Been relatively unproductive at work and even forgot my brother's birthday last week.
Click to expand...
"Monday I logged into my bank account and it shows a negative balance."

So last week you envisioned the fraud taking place this week and it upset you to the point you forgot your brother's birthday before you even found out about the fraud? Impressive Ms. Cleo!!!

j/k... good luck. These account take-over types shoul be flayed alive. And then burned.

 
brun said:
I mentioned in another thread that my bank account was hacked. This happens to people more often than I thought previously. So, I thought I'd share in case it happens to anyone here.
Click to expand...
This happened to my parents about three weeks ago. It was a nightmare for them. They have gotten everything straightened out now, but it took many days to get everything right. Apparently, one of the culprits is a woman in Kansas. My dad wanted to know the woman's name, but they would not give it to him, and told him that (I think) their fraudulent department are investigating it. I told my mom that people are going to start keeping money under their mattresses instead of at the bank with all this hacking.

 
I assume this wasn't your three/six months savings account as well, right?

 
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DallasDMac said:
"Monday I logged into my bank account and it shows a negative balance."

So last week you envisioned the fraud taking place this week and it upset you to the point you forgot your brother's birthday before you even found out about the fraud? Impressive Ms. Cleo!!!

j/k... good luck. These account take-over types shoul be flayed alive. And then burned.
Click to expand...
FWIW, that was Monday last week.

 
simey said:
This happened to my parents about three weeks ago. It was a nightmare for them. They have gotten everything straightened out now, but it took many days to get everything right. Apparently, one of the culprits is a woman in Kansas. My dad wanted to know the woman's name, but they would not give it to him, and told him that (I think) their fraudulent department are investigating it. I told my mom that people are going to start keeping money under their mattresses instead of at the bank with all this hacking.
Click to expand...
Glad things got straightened out. Even though you know it's going to get fixed. It's definitely stressful.

The bank person told me I won't hear anything about the investigation results. Just gotta let it go I guess.

It used to be that depression era people didn't trust banks because they were afraid they might fail. Now it's fear of hackers. Go crypto!

 
Fishboy said:
I had something similar, but wasn't hacked online, rather someone had a falsified ID, with my wife's picture and was making withdrawals against our accounts. 

Even though we closed the account, deposits were still made against it.  We had a refund from my daughters college that literally was deposited to the "closed" account 8 months later.  Had to go to the bank and withdraw the cash to deposit it to the new bank. 

For us, it was a bit different in that opening a new account at the same bank literally did nothing.  1 day after closing and opening a new account, they walked into a local branch in another state and withdrew 6K. 

I've since changed checking/savings/everything to Chase.  It's not as difficult as you think, although I had most of my auto payments set to hit credit cards rather than bank accounts. 

Good Luck!  This is the SUCK!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Sorry to read this. Hope you got your $$ back.

I'll spread things around a little more evenly from now on. Most of my bills go to my credit cards too. My credit cards get auto paid from my bank account. 

 
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Someone ran up a charge for Sherri's berries on a debit card I never activated. I called the bank and they thought I was joking around.  

The charge wasn't even 2 hrs old.  Can't fathom not knowing for weeks.  

 
culdeus said:
The charge wasn't even 2 hrs old.  Can't fathom not knowing for weeks.  
Click to expand...
I check my account every time I receive a bill.  SInce I get at least one a week, I'm up to speed.  I can't understand not checking at least that often.  I once got an account alert from BofA at about 1:10 AM.  I called immediately.  I thought it might have been that sofa I bought online at one in the morning.  The BofA guy laughed.  I was all set in a couple of minutes.  I find that BofA is very good at detecting unusual spending patterns and calling to make sure that everything is AOK.

 
Walking Boot said:
The bank will get their money back. A check never really "clears", they can reverse it any time. 
Click to expand...
This is not true. Generally speaking, for paper checks the clearing bank has a short time (usually a few days) to notify of a return. If they attempt a return after that, the depositing bank as some rights to refuse the return as late.  

 
A couple things.

It took 10 days from the 1st probing transaction to my account going negative.

I read somewhere that you need to report this within 48 hours of discovery. I believe that receiving a statement would start that clock.

As of this morning, the 6th business day from when I reported this to the bank, no funds have been returned. I was told up to 10 days for the ACH transactions and 8-10 weeks for the checks.

The old account status may be more accurately characterized as inactive than what we think of when we say "closed". It appears that scheduled direct deposits may or may not reopen the account. I have a paycheck (normally would have been in my account last Friday) and my IRS refund direct deposits still in limbo.

I was told that I will not hear anything from the fraud investigation.

I called the police. I was told that there was no need for me to file a report as I will be recovering my money. The bank can file if they want.

I opened a credit alert w/Equifax which they pass on to the other big 2. The default life of this is 1 year. It supposed to ensure that I am notified if there are any attempts to open new accounts with my identity.

Once that probing transaction clears. The bad people will act quickly. It looks like this gives about a 1 day window to stop them before getting really hurt financially. I turned on an alert with Citizens Bank so that I will receive a text alert for transactions under $2. I don't see this specific alert offered at all banks. This seems like an important preventive measure that all of these institutions should offer.

 
Brun - I feel your pain and panic and can certainly empathize.  I went through something similar quite a number of years ago and it was a very trying experience.  Fortunately, for me, at that time I was near broke as it was, and would often check my bank account to make sure I had sufficient funds available and that no outstanding checks would bounce. 

One day I logged on and saw zero balances on all of my accounts.  I had auto mortgage payments set up, direct deposits set to hit, I freaked the eff out.

Obviously I contacted the bank right away, setup new accounts, contacted mortgage company etc, etc, etc.... and the issue was mitigated fairly innocuously by them, thank God, but for 2-3 days I was definitely shaken.  I mean, this isn't like a credit card breach, where okay, they are going to take care of it, charge back the fraudulent transactions and so on, this is YOUR MONEY.  

The bank should take care of any pending deposits/charges while the investigation is open and being conducted, but it is kind of a nightmare here.

My lesson learned was I now check each account just about every day.  Only takes a minute or so of my time, and my peace of mind is well worth it.  Quicker you catch it, less damage that is done.  g'luck

 
brun said:
I called the police. I was told that there was no need for me to file a report as I will be recovering my money. The bank can file if they want.
Click to expand...
Interesting, as I filed a police report locally her in WI and then at the branch in MN where the first withdrawal was made against my account and then 2 days later with another city in MN when they withdrew money on the new account that was only open for 1 day and supposedly was flagged with all sorts of fraud alerts.  Even the bank wasn't surprised when I closed all my accounts and went to a new bank. 

 
brun said:
A couple things.

It took 10 days from the 1st probing transaction to my account going negative.

I read somewhere that you need to report this within 48 hours of discovery. I believe that receiving a statement would start that clock.

As of this morning, the 6th business day from when I reported this to the bank, no funds have been returned. I was told up to 10 days for the ACH transactions and 8-10 weeks for the checks.

The old account status may be more accurately characterized as inactive than what we think of when we say "closed". It appears that scheduled direct deposits may or may not reopen the account. I have a paycheck (normally would have been in my account last Friday) and my IRS refund direct deposits still in limbo.

I was told that I will not hear anything from the fraud investigation.

I called the police. I was told that there was no need for me to file a report as I will be recovering my money. The bank can file if they want.

I opened a credit alert w/Equifax which they pass on to the other big 2. The default life of this is 1 year. It supposed to ensure that I am notified if there are any attempts to open new accounts with my identity.

Once that probing transaction clears. The bad people will act quickly. It looks like this gives about a 1 day window to stop them before getting really hurt financially. I turned on an alert with Citizens Bank so that I will receive a text alert for transactions under $2. I don't see this specific alert offered at all banks. This seems like an important preventive measure that all of these institutions should offer.
Click to expand...
The day after that post, I logged in and saw that 9 of the 10 fraudulent ACH transactions have now been reversed. Feeling better about things.

Unless there's something weird about the last 3 transactions, I won't bother with any more updates.

Thanks for the comments and info.

 
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