Maybe somewhere here can help me. A charge for 800.00 at Home Depot in Montgomery and a charge for 101.44 at an Entec gas station north of Montgomery (70 miles north of where I live) recently appeared on my account. I didn't make these transactions. I filed a fraud claim with Wells Fargo and it was denied (sent me a letter saying no fraud has occured). $900 is a lot of money. What can I do?

Lawyer up...?

(06-08-2015 06:53 PM)Burn the Horse Wrote:  Lawyer up...?

Looks like I might need to. I called an attorney friend of mine. I'll be filing a police report, getting camera footage from Home Depot, and speaking to my personal banker to see what else I can do.

Yeah, that's nothing short of ridiculous. Their fraud denial had to have been based on some quick algorithm/glance by a real person. I'm no lawyer or expert otherwise, but I have to think that some amount of pushback will get them to look at it a little more closely. Forcing real people to get involved will have to make a difference eventually.

(06-08-2015 05:45 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  Maybe somewhere here can help me. A charge for 800.00 at Home Depot in Montgomery and a charge for 101.44 at an Entec gas station north of Montgomery (70 miles north of where I live) recently appeared on my account. I didn't make these transactions. I filed a fraud claim with Wells Fargo and it was denied (sent me a letter saying no fraud has occured). $900 is a lot of money. What can I do?

File a police report. Then file a identity fraud alert with the FTC. Put a verbal password on your bank accounts, you will need to go into the bank to do that.

1. The $800 is the tip of the iceberg. They aren't going to stop. Your situation will get much worse before it gets better.

2. You need to file the police report tomorrow. That starts the record of your identity theft.

3. You need to alert the FTC. After you have alerted them, any further fraud is your creditors (which includes the creditors that the identity thieves are using your info to apply for credit) problem first, and not yours. This will be a personal pain in the ass for you. Every time you use a credit card they will have to call your bank. It is embarrassing. The alternative is far worse, trust me.

4. Once you have filed a police report and notificed the FTC, and alerted your bank to identity fraud and set up a verbal password, you should have stopped the potential bleeding.

5. At that point go back to Wells Fargo and fight as hard as you can. You need to contact their fraud department specifically if you haven't already.

I dealt with a severe identity theft experience 4 years ago. It is a life altering experience. I have to say I am surprised at the response you have received from Wells Fargo. They are my bank and I eventually recovered all my money. It was 30 or 40 thousand. In my case Wells Fargo offered good customer service.

Once you have been exposed you are always at higher risk. I am dealing with another situation now that I believe we have contained. You need to get a credit alert thing from Experian or someone else. And you need to monitor it weekly.

Don't screw around on this. If they accessed your credit to buy something at Home Depot then they almost certainly have your social security number and address. Trust me on this, as someone who have lived through it, get your police report in tomorrow, and file with the FTC.