Once Upon a Time, in a land far, far away there was a thief who received a sequence of numbers via e-mail. This sequence of numbers was a bank account that belongs to a woman in Canada. This thief did what they needed to do to access money and withdrew from the account. Once this is complete the thief finishes up and spends the money that they just stole from the faceless person on the other side of the world.
The woman’s bank calls her using an automated message stating that they THINK that the account may have been compromised and that they need to call a certain number. The woman, not wanting to be scammed hangs up before the phone number can be recited off by the automated voice.
Going with her gut, the woman checks her banking via mobile device. It shows that she has taken out money that morning and that were was a service charge for each transaction. The red flag goes up and the warning bells start ringing. The woman who has been at work since before 7:30 in the morning and barely awake is now 100% alert and seething.
She calls the bank using the regular number and explains the situation and they inform her to take the card into the nearest branch to have an investigation launched and a new card replacement will be given. The woman is concerned about the money missing from the account since it is her down payment for the house that she just bought. The lawyer will want the whole down payment at once.
Questions start swirling around in this woman’s brain. What will happen if I don’t get the money back? What if she gets it back but it isn’t in time? Will the bank say “Sorry, no. You can’t have the house now as you failed to provide the full down payment.” Will she end up being homeless at the end of August?
What will happen when this woman goes to the bank? An investigation will be launched and what do they need to do to prove it wasn’t her who traveled overseas to take out money and fly back home? Her boss can attest to the fact that she was at work yesterday only until 2pm though. Does that put enough doubt into the banks mind that she orchestrated this herself?
Later that afternoon, after many phone calls with Canadian companies that deal with fraud protection and identity theft, she went to the bank to get the whole thing sorted out. After a half an hour and only signing two papers she had a new bank card and was on her way with copies of the forms that she signed at the bank to the police station to file a police report.
The woman was dreading the amount of time and all of the questions that the police might have for her. She has never had to file a police report before. She brought along bank statements, the two copies of the bank papers that they just filed as well as her identification. She walks into the police department and is nervous. She walks up the the office on desk duty and explains the situation. The officer states that she can file a police report but the fraud department will not investigate because the theft is under $5,000. The woman thanked the officer for their time and walked out. Her emotions skyrocketed to the top and she felt like she was going to explode. What kind of police department doesn't investigate any crime? Theft is still theft! No matter how petty the crime. What does this teach the children of today? The thief knowingly stole the woman's bank account information and transferred it to their partners overseas. What kind of society does this woman live in where the police who are supposed to protect her, offer a disservice by not doing what is expected?
Join us next time for more on the banking theft OR the thief that still gets their money.
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