Prevent it or Deal With it: 9 Tips to Handle Bank Fraud
by Mark D. Underdahl
It doesn’t matter if a
criminal’s weapon is a gun or an ATM machine. It is no fun getting robbed.
My wife and I were
victims of bank fraud. The bank allowed fraudulent items to post from 2,000
miles away, though we promptly alerted them and asked them not to. What’s
worse, they wouldn’t give us provisional credit. They made it difficult to
even cash a paycheck.
What a stressful time,
especially with bills, including rent, due a week later! We pleaded with the
bank to help, but they ended up losing two outstanding customers. We couldn’t
prevent it, but we sure had to deal with it!
Sound familiar to you?
Policies dealing with bank fraud can vary greatly. Still, when you’re going
through something like this, you want the bank on your side. After all, they
are paid to serve you, the customer. Here are 9 tips that may help you prevent
fraud or help you deal with it.
Here are four of the best
ways to prevent bank fraud:
Bank smart. Get to
know the bank’s policies, especially those that deal with unauthorized
activity. It may be in your best interest to find this out before you begin
banking with them.
Bank online. If your
bank has online services, GET IT! You can watch all activity on your account
and keep your book balanced. Most banks offer the service for free, but if you
don’t mind the fee, it could be worth it. Caution: Be sure you’re not being
watched when you enter your user name and PIN!
Keep your book balanced.
Know where your money is coming and going. It will be easier to rule out
yourself as the source of any error. You’ll be in a better position to prove
this to the bank too.
Be careful when surfing and
shopping online. There are schemes designed for nothing more than to
get your personal information. Adjust your browser settings to reject cookies
whenever possible.
However, despite your
most diligent efforts, you may need these five tips to deal with it:
Get educated. Get to
know Regulation E. Just "Google" it, and you’ll find several places where you
can view it in detail. Any of it would be beneficial to read, but the part
that you can focus in on is Section 205.11, which deals with provisional
credit. By the way, this is a FEDERAL LAW.
Take immediate action.
If you discover an obvious fraud, report it immediately. Also refuse to allow
them to post it, and ask them to give you the money you had there to begin
with the law calls it provisional credit. This credit should, by law, be given
during a bank’s investigation, not after. (See Regulation E)
Put it in writing.
The same moment you alert the bank to the fraud, fill out and sign an
affidavit, request for investigation—whatever it takes to affirm to the bank
that you did not authorize the fraud. Very important: Ask for a copy. If they
tell you no, ask them why. Put them on the spot. It’s your money.
File a police report.
Even if the bank doesn’t ask you to file a police report, do it anyway. It may
be their way of stalling. In our case, the police told us that the bank should
be doing more to help us. The point is, treat it as a theft, which it really
is.
Be firm, but be calm.
Your chances of getting help are better with a mild disposition. Still, don’t
be a pushover. It’s your money, not theirs. You might ask them to put
themselves in your shoes.
Don’t give up! Every
difficult situation gives us an opportunity to show how good we are in dealing
with what life deals us sometimes. I did some of my own footwork in order to
help clear us of any responsibility. For example, my online bank activity
report revealed the exact address of where the fraud took place. I cross
referenced it, and found an exact match. This gave them more than reasonable
evidence to show that the transactions weren’t ours. I also took the step of
alerting the police department in the city in which they took place.
Change banks. If you
do encounter this situation, and you do not get satisfactory results, you
probably want to move on to greener pastures. By satisfactory, I mean results
that you will be at least willing to live with. Most cases, it means that you
get a complete reversal of the situation.
Of course, this is not an
exhaustive list. This list was based on our own experience. Still, I’m hearing
experiences like ours happening more and more. In that case, this list will be
updated!
Finally, if all else
fails, you may need to seek legal recourse. But, hopefully, these tips may
help you either keep a crook from taking your money, or help you get it back.
