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| Bank of America customers hit by overseas ATM withdrawals |
| 2006-01-22 |
| This could be nothing, but it looked interesting and thought I'd pass it along: Bank of America customers in Seattle have reported a rash of illegal cash withdrawals from checking accounts apparently coming from foreign automated teller machines and debit card purchases. According to customer service representatives at Bank of America, there have been numerous reports of checking account fraud in Seattle, but many more incidents being reported from other states. The increases in fraud reports are generally about overseas cash withdrawals, they said. Michael Chee, Bank of America's Pacific Coast spokesman, refused to say if the company was experiencing a rash of checking fraud. He would not confirm or deny any information that pertained to the bank's security investigations. He also declined to comment on any incidents in general or information from consumers and bank representatives. Seattle police have been taking "a lot" of calls and reports involving Bank of America customers, said police spokeswoman Debra Brown. She could not provide a specific number of complaints, but said that while officers routinely get calls about financial fraud involving a variety of banks, people have been reporting an unusual number of Bank of America-specific thefts. Samantha Crowley was assured by Bank of America that her business checking account would be credited after she reported 15 thefts to the bank and to police on Wednesday. Crowley doesn't know how her information would have ended up in the hands of thieves who, according to her bank records, withdrew cash from ATMs in Russia and in Chicago. [S]he has never been lured by e-mail "phishing" attacks -- e-mails that masquerade as official notices from financial institutions asking people to update their account information. "It's a concern for me that this information is out there," she said. "I want to find out how this kind of thing happened." Note: I edited out the handwringing and wild-a** guesses about how "The increase in this activity and the psychological impact on society might be a reason why the United States trails other countries in using high-tech payment systems," and the quotes from a university professor. I would much rather have seen some reporting on *which overseas countries* are making the withdrawals. Russia is mentioned, but no other information. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #9 This is one of several reasons I have a signed, notarized statement that I presented to my bank several years ago that stipulated that a) I would not accept any credit cards, b) I did not want, nor would I accept, a "debit" card, and c) that I would not authorize ANY cash withdrawals from my account except by signed affidavit. I've had them take money out twice. Both times they not only apologized, but someone ended up being fired. Banks have rules they have to operate under. If you're thoughtful enough, and nasty enough, they'll do what you say. We've had our account at the same bank (different names, different owners) for 35+ years. It's not a big account, but we do seem to have some clout. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-01-22 18:03 |
| #8 Unfortunately, a major reason for the lack of security changes is not just the banks, but the merchants. They whine and scream if you try to increase the security measures in place for transactions. You'd not believe how often I got screamed at for not removing security features without a signed letter by the merchant accepting responsibility for chargebacks if they get fraudulant charges. The Credit Card Processors have been trying to push people into upgrading to newer equipment and software but it's a very difficult sell to these merchants who typically want all the security features turned off to decrease the time it takes per transaction. So alot of the blame lies not just with banks but the merchants as well. Another note, credit card fraud does fund terrorism, you don't hear much about it, but I've seen cases involving the FBI hunting for these guys. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2006-01-22 17:50 |
| #7 BTW - I got a phishing expedition email from "Paypal" saying overseas attempts were made to access my Paypal acct. I was directed to go to their "Paypal site link" and change my password.....nice try |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-22 14:21 |
| #6 Interesting how you can order that telemarketers not call your landline phone, but you are not allowed to forbid withdrawals from your bank account into foreign ATM's, or withdrawals from your account direct to another corporation without your signature, etc. etc. The banks seem to be profiting indirectly from this theft, bit by bit. |
| Posted by: Whutch Threth6418 2006-01-22 14:09 |
| #5 Hee hee, raptor. But let's say most of the fraudulent ATM withdrawals are being made in Lahore. (That is, if Lahore even *has* ATMs). Would that be an issue of concern? Maybe they're being made in the banlieus outside Paris. Would that cause any alarm bells to go off? Or would that be considered petty crime comitted by bored kids... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-01-22 10:45 |
| #4 Careful,Sea,this is a non-WOT article,and might upset the moderators(snicker). |
| Posted by: raptor 2006-01-22 10:34 |
| #3 "The increase in this activity and the psychological impact on society might be a reason why the United States trails other countries in using high-tech payment systems." No. The reason the US trails other countries in using high-tech payment systems is because our credit card companies and banks are still using cutting-edge security technologies from the 1980s, or even earlier. Even though credit card fraud is and remains at obscenely high levels, mostly due to this refusal to upgrade their security by the credit card companies; the banks are allowing, permitting, or even condoning outright theft and fraud. Credit card companies issue card numbers that are *consecutively* numbered, so if someone steals *a* card, they automatically know what the next 1-99 card numbers are, *and* their expiration dates. Security codes are only used by a tiny minority of companies to check card authenticity. The biggest bank fraud, however, comes through "automatic withdrawl". Theoretically, such withdrawl can only be made from "flagged" accounts; but routinely, some corporations withdraw from $100 to $500 from unflagged accounts. The account holder is unaware of this until they get their monthly statement. When they complain, the bank shrugs and tells them to contact the corporation that took their money. The corporation promptly returns the stolen money, but keeps the "float" on that money it had for a month; whereas the bank does *not* pay the interest to the account holder it would have paid on the stolen money, had it remained in the account. This means both the bank and the corporations that do automatic withdrawl are rewarded handsomely for this fraud, and perhaps millions of small account holders are annually defrauded. The amount of the fraud is too small for federal court, and the banks are too powerful for small claims court. By stealing just a few dollars from a hundred thousand people, they get away with it, where they would be prosecuted from stealing even a few hundred dollars from a person. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-01-22 09:24 |
| #2 Payback time. Rove really is an evil genius. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-22 04:25 |
| #1 Hmmmm. Looks like I'll have to scrutinize my accounts a little more diligently until this little event is straightened out.... |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-01-22 04:03 |