SHE BLOGGED: On a Sunday in late May, I get an email text and a voicemail message from Bank of America's fraud detection department.
They alerted me of some unusual activity on my ATM Card: $200+ at 7ELEVEN (what the @#$%!!!), $400+ at a Walgreens and $500+ at a Ralph's. I was horrified. When I confirmed I made no such purchases, they canceled my card.
How the hell do you even spend that much money at 7Eleven and why the hell didn't the clerk ask for some ID!?!
I went online to check my account. Fortunately, B of A was suspicious before the money actually left my account. Thank god. Thank you, thank you B of A. I did notice a $2 charge for at an ATM machine withdrawal I never made. I called B of A and they confirmed that an additional $500 appeared to have been attempted to be removed from my account via an ATM machine, did I want to place a claim for the $2 charge that was actually withdrawn from my account. Are you kidding? I was so glad that they caught all that activity that I will take the $2 hit! Fighting for $2 was not worth the headache.
I was told a new ATM card was on its way in five days, but it never arrived. So I called BofA back and they said I would now have to go into a branch office to get one because apparently my social security number was wrong. WHAT?!?!? How is that possible?
Apparently, since the time that I opened the account, my Social Security number has been one number off. How have I been able to have this account if that was wrong all this time? I have no idea. The woman on the phone actually tried to say that perhaps I just don't remember my own number. No. I've had that same number since I was a kid, so if anyone got it wrong it's you!
I now had to go into the office with my Social Security Card to prove that I was indeed who I said I was and that my SS# is what I have been saying it is. My fear was that I hadn't seen that card in forever!! Who needs to show their card these days? How many other accounts have been opened without that flimsy blue piece of paper as proof?!?
Fortunately I did find it and was issued another ATM card promptly. "Is there anything else that we can help you with," the branch manager asks. I said yes, I want to know what is being done about the jerk who stole my ATM number because I rarely use my ATM card and if I had to guess who stole it, I would bet on that Valero gas station because their outdoor machine was broken so I had to go into the store and swipe my ATM card and punch in my code.
She said that this happens so often that it was impossible to investigate every claim. I felt frustrated! Who knows how many times that gas station has gotten away with this! I can literally point my finger at them with confidence and say it was them, but apparently that's just not good enough to warrant an investigation.
The branch manager did say that of all the stories she hears from customers, most of these ATM stolen identity issue seem to come from having used their ATM card at a gas station.
So from now on, I pay cash. It's a complete inconvenience in this day and age, but I do not want to go through that again.
