What You Can Do If Your Bank Account Been Hacked.

If you use your debit card at a store or gas station where you don’t know the workers, there is added danger that your bank information could be swiped and the stolen information used by a thief to access your bank account using ATM machines to make unauthorized cash withdrawals from your bank account. 

Banks investigate reported fraud, such as this, usually after receiving a panicked phone call from the card owner who comes to realize that her bank account has been pirated because the next time she used the card the transaction was denied for insufficient funds in the account.  Aside from reporting the fraud and hoping the bank will agree with her that it is a fraud, and reimburse her, what should the debit card owner do to protect against the problem or to resolve it satisfactorily when it occurs?

A source of the theft is often that the card owner used a bank debit card at a gas station or store where the card owner did not know the workers, or did not see the person or camera noting the personal identification information she entered at the transaction payment point. Instead of using a debit card in such situations, the use of a credit card is a better option.  But, if the fraud occurs, there are ways to communicate with the bank card issuer’s fraud investigation department that will improve your chances of getting the bank’s agreement that it was fraud and being reimbursed for the theft.

After your initial call, in which you tell the investigation unit what happened, the bank provides you with an identifying number for your claim, investigates, and within days reports back to you its determination.  Often, the bank’s initial investigation will be brief and will result in a denial, putting the burden on you to appeal that determination.  The bank has an appeal process for that.  If you make a phone request, you will be provided with a post office address of the bank’s appeals unit and instructed to send your appeal, in writing, with such evidence as you may have to support your contention that the ATM withdrawals by the thief were not authorized by you, and that your card was never out of your possession.  You can gather support for your appeal to overturn the initial determination denying your claim of fraud by presenting arguments that would lead to the conclusion that the card information was pilfered, and that the card use withdrawing cash from ATM’s was not by you and was not authorized by you.  It is important to verify and state that your card was never out of your possession.

Of course, it is a good idea to try to determine where the theft occurred and whether the ATM machines used for the unauthorized withdrawals had cameras in place that recorded the transactions. If the thief was dumb enough to use a cash machine that photographed users, that would be best evidence that it was not you, nor was it an authorized user, that withdrew the funds. Other evidence you could assemble to prove your point is more readily available to you: your own history with the bank.  For example, if you, like many of us, have been banking with the same bank for a number of years, and you have never used a non-bank ATM, include that information in your appeal. Also, if you never made multiple withdrawals in a single day, that would be additional circumstantial evidence to support your claim.  Were you in another state, or at a significant distance away from where the unauthorized withdrawals were made at the time they were made by the thief?  You may have credit card receipts, work reports, a witness statement from a person with you at the time, or other proofs that you could not have been the person who made the unauthorized withdrawals.

If you have been banking with the same bank for years, you may be able to present a substantial record to support your claim.

Consider contacting someone within the bank with whom you have had personal dealings and who may have a more sympathetic ear than a distant investigator who sees you as just another case number to resolve, and with instructions to deny appeals that are close calls.  Your business relationship has value to the bank, particularly if you have kept deposits, or a business account with the bank, or if you have introduced other clients to the bank; a relationship that might be imperiled or broken by treatment of your claim that you deem unreasonable or unsatisfactory.  It is certainly worth mentioning in your appeal the length of the relationship you have had with the bank, the type of accounts you maintain with the bank, the size of the deposits, fees paid or other information that may show the investigator that the claim is a serious one and that the consequences of a denial of the claim may outweigh the size of the claim being denied. You should provide the claim investigator with the name of a person at the bank that knows you and can verify the value of your relationship with the bank.

And, in the event of a denial of your appeal, seek to speak to a still higher authority, as well as your local branch manager who will not want the relationship jeopardized. If all else fails, a polite but pointed letter to the office of the president of the bank may also bring a more reasoned re-look at your claim.