The Wealth Spa

Bank Fraud: What If You Find Fraud in Your Checking Account?

Posted on 07. Sep, 2008 by Elizabeth Potts Weinstein in Finance

You opened up your checking account statement for this month, and tons of weird charges are looking back at you.  What do you do if you find a strange transaction in your checking account or credit card account?

• Confer with your spouse/partner, to check whether they forgot to tell you about the transaction.
• If the transaction has a phone number in the listing, call the number to see who answers.  You may just have forgot about something you purchased over the internet, or signed up for a few weeks ago.
• Check to see that you (and your spouse/partner) still have your debit cards, credit cards, and checks. 
• Report the fraud to the FTC at 1-877-ID-THEFT or on their website http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/filing-a-report.html 
• Report the fraud to the local police – be aware they will probably not do much, but they should file a police report.  
• Call your bank or credit card company to dispute the charges, and report your cards/check stolen, if applicable.  You will give them a copy of the police report and/or FTC report (but if you did not report the fraud to the police, you can still dispute the charges).
• If the account is a business account, you have only 2 DAYS to dispute the charges.  
• If you have a personal account, you have longer, but make the call ASAP to stop further fraud.  The earlier the better, and it is more likely the bank will put the money back in your account pending resolution of the dispute.
• Add a Fraud Alert to your credit report.  If you do this, then you (or someone impersonating you) cannot get “instant” credit anymore, because merchants will need to verify your identity by speaking to someone who answers your home phone number.    
• Obtain copies of your credit report from the three major credit agencies:  Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.  Determine if someone is using your credit or identifying information to open accounts or use your current accounts.  
• Check out the FTC’s Identify Theft Quiz at:  http://onguardonline.gov/quiz/idtheft_quiz.html 

The Wealth Spa Minute:  Are you regularly monitoring your accounts and credit reports?  Go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com and pull your credit reports and review for fraud, mistakes, and just your own information.  

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Tags: bank fraud, checking account, credit rating, credit report, fraud, identity theft, idtheft, instant credit