I was ripped off by SunTrust Bank, their Regulation E fraud investigator and the way banks handle fraud when PIN codes are involved. The bank I use follows the same procedures as other U.S. banks. Their procedures are unfair and treat victims like criminals. They make it a difficult and lengthy process to get your money back, and you only have one shot after they send the form letter that virtually EVERY bank sends to fraud victims whose PINs were compromised.
Basically, if the culprit got your PIN, they deny that it is fraud because the only way anyone can get your PIN is if you give it to them. This is wrong, ridiculous, and creates more time between the initial loss and the deserved reimbursement. I hope other victims of bank card fraud will read this story, and if you have a similar one to share, let's fight back! I have no doubt that banks have done this to enough people to qualify for a class action lawsuit. So lawyers, please read on, as my story will mirror the story of thousands of other victims. We deserve more than just the amount the bank would not reimburse. At this point we deserve a large sum on top of it for the nightmare they put us through.
On July 5th someone from SunTrust called me to verify I was using my card because there were lots of charges for large amounts made that day. I said no, that is not me. I was 3 or 4 hours away from where those transactions were being made. We stayed on the phone for a while discussing details, and I found out for the first time that unauthorized transactions had occurred on other days, starting on June 30th.
On July 3rd I had given my neighbor a ride to live with her mom near Pensacola as a favor. I woke up in the hotel around 7pm on July 4th, and she said she would have gotten me up sooner but I looked like I needed the rest. I had placed my purse in as safe a position as possible, and she said she had to move it because her daughter, almost 2, was trying to rummage through it. Having to teach a college course the next day, I got out of bed and headed back to Tallahassee as soon as possible.
When I first heard from a SunTrust representative that my card was being used, I thought I may have left it at a gas station in Milton, FL. I was still communicating with my neighbor via texts. She took a long time to give me the name of the gas station and the number so I could ask them about it. I asked multiple times, and she finally gave me a number and a person to speak to. I later found out (from her mother) that she gave me a false number and her brother answered, pretending to be the associate at the station.
I began the process of signing an affidavit at the bank, filing a report with the Tallahassee Police Department, and opening an investigation with both the bank and the police. The bank investigator conducted an interview over the phone, which mostly consisted of me remembering precisely when, where and how much money I charged on the card.
I have had a poor memory since birth, and was not always confident of when a particular charge was made. She kept pushing until I would give a relatively definite answer, even though I was still uncertain. She barely asked me anything about my PIN, which became the primary focus in her decision.
I did not like that the interview was done on the phone. It is more difficult to judge a person's character over the phone, which means it is harder for those investigators to realize that the client is too honest and ethical to fit the standard form letter Reg E fraud departments send. Maybe that is why they do the interview on the phone.
SunTrust had ten days to review my case before replying. On the tenth day I received a letter from the investigator on behalf of the bank that basically said I was out of luck (so the bank has ripped me off). Anyone who has been through this process will laugh out loud at the first paragraph: "Thank you for the opportunity to review the recent fraud claim which you filed on (July 5). Your satisfaction is of top priority with SunTrust Bank, and we appreciate the opportunity to serve you." I'm sure they do.
The charges I did not authorize totaled a little over $5000, which makes it a felony-level crime. However, my neighbor used my PIN in the transactions, and in the USA when someone fraudulently uses your bank account and your PIN, you are basically out of luck.
According to the bank, if the person with the debit card uses the client's PIN, then the client is responsible in some way and must have given permission to use the card, so it is not even a case of fraud. Because they say it is not fraud, they say they do not have to return your money either.
I didn't even have $5000 in the account, so the flood of transactions made it overdrawn. It was so far in the negative that half of the paychecks I received this summer (through ETS) were sucked into the negative balance despite all efforts to prevent this.
SunTrust's Reg E fraud investigator sent a basic form letter. Any time a client's PIN is involved, they send this letter. Whether or not the client gave away their PIN, the bank says, in effect, that you must be working with the so-called criminals, so they do not owe you a thing.
I began to write my rebuttal letter, which, in case you have not gone through this nightmare before, is terrifying in itself because you only have ONE CHANCE to argue with the bank's decision. After that, there is nothing you can do aside from taking legal action.
I still have not sent my rebuttal. I must print it from a new computer and the printer will not work properly, I must copy my statement to the police and other documents, and I must read over every word again. The bank claims it is not fraud because they had my PIN, and that means I gave them permission to use it. My neighbor's own mother called me about a month ago to explain that her daughter had told her she watched me enter my PIN at a store (this is called shoulder surfing).
Why would a person's own mother help with an investigation? Apparently my neighbor had her mother put in jail for some ridiculous reason several years ago, and her mother knew how much I had intentionally helped her and her daughter. Maybe her mother wanted to do something right; I do not know. But she did say she will sign a statement, testify in court, or do anything else necessary for the bank to refund my money.
I am lucky that her mother came forward, as the part of the situation I could not figure out was how she got my PIN if I never wrote it down. Since the bank's standard argument is that I must have given the PIN to the criminal intentionally or they could not use the card, I can explain how it was possible that the criminal actually stole my PIN without consent. If she took the PIN without permission and used the card without permission, and with the knowledge and intention of breaking the law (she was on probation for a felony crime related to finances), that is almost the precise legal definition of fraud.
Here is why a class action lawsuit seems appropriate and inevitable.
Almost EVERY BANK in the country sends this same letter. If they had your PIN, it is your fault, so it is not even fraud, and you must not only recover from your losses but also pay the extra fees you accrued because of this "alleged" fraud.
I have done research and found articles on MSN Money and MSNBC.com about this very issue, the Regulation E fraud division of the banking industry. If someone steals your debit card and gains access to your PIN (and there are technologically advanced ways, not just looking over one's shoulder, to do this), the bank will typically send the letter denying that it is fraud and refuse to reimburse you for your losses. The customer gets that one chance, the rebuttal letter, to prove it is fraud, and after that nothing is allowed in Reg E policies if the bank says they are still right.
I believe in many ways it is like the movie The Rainmaker. There was a medical insurance company that automatically denied every request for benefits, and then only had to deal with those who fought back. Let's fight back! If your bank denied your fraud claim because the criminal had somehow accessed your PIN, check out the articles about bank fraud on MSN Money and MSNBC.com. Banks cannot keep refusing to reimburse clients just because our PINs were stolen too. It is also unfair that we only get ONE chance to prove them wrong.
As I said, I have not finished the rebuttal process, so there is a chance I will get my money. I worked hard on the letter and my evidence is solid. It is wrong to not even bother to do much investigation if the PIN was used. I do not know this for sure, but I asked to see the investigator's case notes and she told me she had to check with the legal department. In my experience, you only need to check with legal if you believe you have something to hide, or that might cause a legal problem. If she had no notes at all, that would verify my theory that they see the PIN was used and automatically send this form letter. Then they only deal with those who fight back.
It is wrong to do the investigation over the phone, as that is not conducive to a thorough evaluation. It is wrong for the banks to get away with sending a form letter that says you are out of luck if the crook got your PIN. It is wrong that you only get one chance to prove the bank wrong, and technically you must prove the impossible. They say there are no facts to indicate that I did not give someone my PIN, so I must prove that I did not. I cannot prove that; no one can. I can only prove that it was actually fraud. But in the meantime my life has fallen apart. You might call it pain and suffering or emotional damages.
I am posting this even though I have not sent my rebuttal, because SunTrust already ripped me off the moment I got the letter saying it is not even a case of fraud. Those procedures might be protocol in banking at the moment, but they are cruel and unjust, and banks must be held accountable for treating their clients this way! The national banking system is ripping off everyone who has a genuine case of fraud and is denied their true right to their money, especially now that it is so easy to use technology to get information.
So the bank might give me my money; who knows. Either way, this injustice affects every state in the country, and until banks are cornered the way credit card companies were cornered to develop more sympathetic regulations, it looks like the only words any bank will listen to are words from a brave team of lawyers who decide the banks have ripped off enough people and a class action suit (or a set of Congressional hearings) is in order.
If you have a story like this, please share it, and let all the passion and frustration you feel come through in your story, so potential legal assistance will see how quickly others would join this fight to make banks treat fraud victims like victims instead of criminals. We should not be ripped off twice when our debit cards are stolen, right?
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