I did ask that question when I called. Of course, the item was ordered as a 'gift' and the ship-to address was different than mine.

I'm so confused. I just found out about this and I'm trying to think everything through. My main focus is getting the money put back in to my account. Everything else can wait until then, and hopefully it's something the bank will have to deal with instead of me.

I would have closed my account immediately, but I have so many auto transactions scheduled for next week (it's the first of the month). I definitely wanted to talk to someone in my payroll department before I did anything. They just called me and payroll has already been processed, so I have to leave the account open until my direct deposit comes in on Tuesday otherwise it could take up to 2 weeks for payroll to re-process it and send it again. I can't be that long without my paycheck.

You need to file a police report.

How is it possible that your bank finds this not illegal? You didn't authorize the check and it was sent as a gift to another address. What is the name of this company and who was the very generous "gift" sent to? This does not make sense to me at all. The bank has to know who they paid the $500 to for this "gift". I would be at the police department to file a theft report.

Wouldn't this be considered wire fraud? :confused:

Wow Bonnie, I just can't believe yr bank isn't being more supportive in yr favor on this.:mad: Especially since those that were frauduent have no evidence or backup of this transaction.

I was out of town once in New Orleans & while staying @hotel, changed my purse & left my debit card by mistake on the table.:eek: Boy was I shocked just a few hours later while trying to get cash from atm....my acct was blocked. I immediately got on the phone with the bank to find out it was a precautionary method for my benefit.:thumbup: Several transactions had occurred for large amts to different vendors, & of course, shipping to different address (po box).:mad::mad:

Hang in there, I know you won't give up. Be firm with this bank. Hope it all is straightened out for you soon!

I'd go with whatever terms they set for a direct deposit advance to get this monkey off your back. Once you have your bills covered and not facing additional NSF charges... and once this is cleared up, THEN protest the fees they charge you for using your 'own' money.

There definitely needs to be a report, but it is going to be a huge jurisdictional nightmare. Depends on how her pd plays it. The problem is where is the jurisdiction of the crime? That is the only PD that will handle, Is it location of the bank's home office? Will it be the location that the funds went? Will it be your location? Your location, okay, easy. But the wheels of police investigation move slow and unless your local detective has the power to contact and make the bank change whatever f**ked up rules they call policy it won't help you immediately, and certainly not before 90days runs its course. File the report with the police, contact the AG for your state, they do handle these kinds of things and might pull strings faster than your local dick. I've seen some of these worked and it takes us months sometimes to trace down where the fraudulently ordered 'gifts' even went. Then backtrack from there. Someone using ACH info and calling themselves a company, doesn't mean it isn't Joe Schlmo in his basement collecting merchandise. I'll shut up. File the police rpt and call the state's attorney general.

WF does this with our debit and credit cards. Problem is they've frozen them while we're on the road using them....very embarrassing. They have a nasty habit of assuming that fast road travel means fraud.. and NOT calling first to ask before freezing it. Very annoying but over the longhaul worth it. We're supposed to call them before we travel...

no, sorry....maybe I didn't explain in detail. The hotel had record of times my room was keyed/entered while I was gone. It was the cleaning person who made the purcases to po box. It was just Luck that I found out in time while trying to use atm. There were so many purcases & it was out of state. The bank looked @these transactions which didn't match what my history had shown, plus it was shipping to po box. I am so thankful the bank took this precautionary method. It made me call the bank & verify that the transactions were not mine. They immediately took care of it.

No, I didn't word right..LOL I knew yours was a criminal case. god love your bank. I just meant that mine is....overly proactive before they know it's criminal....

omg, the cleaning person? I hope you didn't tip her!

I had this happen to me before too, a few times in fact. About a year or so ago, I logged onto my acct and saw it was about $700 negative. I freaked out. It was 2 large debits from overseas (London). I called my friend who works at the same bank and she helped me out, no problems. I signed an affidavit saying the charges were fraudulent, and the money temporarily returned into my acct within 24 hrs pending resolution of the case, then I had to wait for the bank to close the case until the money was permanently mine. They also refunded my NSF fees too. They handled it well, only bc and i truly believe this, bc my friend helped me out.

Weeks later, in another acct, B of A, only about $20 was debited that was unauthorized, and also I got the NSF fee bc I hardly use that acct and pretty much nothing was in it. Well, did I ever get the run around from them! Last time when my friend helped me out, I went into the branch, so I thought ok same thing, right? Wrong! What did they do when I got in there? pointed me to the phone. i said I could have called them from my house, why can't you help me in person? They just said they could not (yeah right, they just didn't want to). So long story short, when I called, they kept transferring me around, saying I was in the wrong dept, that I had called the wrong number and was not for the state of CA. They told me what # to call, it was the same number I called! Then after oh about 6 or 7 times getting transferred, the person who picked up asked "And how are you today?" :mad: I said "Frustrated! I've been transferred around a million times and NO ONE wants to help me!" I told her my story and she said, oh you are supposed to be in the fraud dept, I normally would have to transfer you, but I'll take care of you here." So that made me think any one of those people could have helped me but they just didn't want to! Needless to say I closed my acct with B of A after that and let them know why!

Another time, I had direct debit for internet service. I cancelled the account and the debits, but the company kept debiting it (Net Zero). i even called them and asked why they were still taking my money. They said the acct shows closed on their system and they were not debiting, but I called them via the # posted directly on my statement, so I think they were lying to me. I called my bank and asked what i should do? They said they would do a stop payment on that exact amount and it's good for 6 months. They also waived the fee of a stop payment bc it was unauthorized. After the 6 months the debits were not showing up anymore. So BonBon, maybe ask your bank to do a stop payment on the amount, it sounded like there were 4 more pending "payments" they are supposed to get? Assuming they are for the exact same amount, this should work. Also tell them you want them to waive the fee. The should NOT charge you for that.

BTW, Your bank sounds like it really sucks. I'm so mad for you! I hope you get your money back soon.

Oh, in my cases, i was never told by my bank I needed to file a police report, but in this case since your bank doesn't seem to be working with you, I'd file one and use that as leverage for your bank to do something.

This is exactly what your bank can and should do. All you have to do is sign the affidavit that it was unauthorized and they should give you your money back including any fees you might have incurred. IMO you bank is giving you the runaround. At the bank where I work this happens to someone almost daily and the customer doesn't even have to prove it was not authorized all they have to do is sign the affidavit, which is a legally binding document. If it was a forgery or stolen account number you probably do need a police report.

When I filed a police report the report had to be filed in my home city even though the money was used in a different state and some of it used out of the USA. The bank insisted on a police report being filed. Mine was a Visa card attached to my checking account.

That is what I mean by jurisdictional nightmare. When I worked for LVMPD we refused to take a report unless the bank would provide something in writing stating that that the complainant was the victim. Can't take a crime report without a specific victim and you have to choose one. If the bank doesn't reimburse her, she is out the money, she is the victim. If the bank will reimburse her, they are the ones that are out the funds and they are the victim, they would have to file the report. We, then, would not take one from the individual. That was their policy. It is actually the most logical and legally sustaining one.

But every dept is different. This does point out why it should be on the bank to reimburse her... they then are the victim and they can write it off or pursue it at their whim...and keep a customer.

I work for a small dept now that is much more flexible and helpful, but when these calls come in, it is always..where was the transaction done, etc...and a lot of head shaking deciding jurisdiction.

After reading about this nightmare it makes me wonder if subscribing to Lifelock would be worth it!:rolleyes:

You can accomplish much the same thing by calling any one of the big three credit reporting agencies yourself and putting a 'fraud alert' on your information. They will in turn share it with the other two. It is automated. Just punch in your info. No one will be able to obtain credit using your information without going through a huge process, including yourself..LOL

I have fraud alerts on mine. Last time we moved, over 5 yrs ago, in order to get my utilities on, I had to fax copies of driver's license, social security card etc... directly to the utility company. No one can get 'instant credit' , or just by filling out a pre-approved form that comes in the mail, just using your name, dob, soc, etc... if you cease using actual paper checks this will pretty much cover you. It is not permanent, you will have to renew it from time to time...it is free.

Equifax 800 525 6285
TransUnion 800 680 7289
Experion (formerly TRW) 800 397 3742

Also the social security administration fraud dept 800 269 0271, just in case you ever want it...lol

If you want the addresses for the big 3 I have those as well.

*I also neglected to mention in post #43 that in Vegas an additional criteria to filing a report for financial loss was that the bank had ''concluded'' its investigation. Talk about not being timely.....