Customers of at least seven Delaware banks say money was stolen from their accounts this week, the latest scam where PIN numbers for debit cards have been used to withdraw thousands of dollars from checking and savings accounts.
Customers from Wachovia, Wilmington Trust, PNC, DPL Federal Credit Union, Dexsta Federal Credit Union, Commerce Bank and Delaware National Bank have told The News Journal their money went missing shortly after they shopped at the Rite Aid store in the Graylyn Crest Shopping Center using their debit cards and PINs.
"I went online to check my account and knew I had not made these withdrawals," said Tina Hall, of Brandywine Hundred, who discovered that someone had made three unauthorized ATM withdrawals totaling $1,500 from her PNC account on Wednesday and Thursday. Four days earlier, Hall made a purchase at the Rite Aid store using her debit card and PIN number. When she made a fraud report, bank officials told Hall that two of the $500 withdrawals were made in Montgomeryville, Pa., and the other on MacDade Boulevard in Delaware County, Pa.
PNC spokesman Edward Kozmor confirmed that more than 10 bank customers have been affected by the latest thefts, and the bank is continuing to monitor its accounts.
"If any customer feels that their account has been compromised, they should go to their local PNC bank branch immediately," Kozmor said. "Our customers are not liable for any fraudulent activity on their accounts."
Jody Cook, spokeswoman for the Rite Aid corporation, said the investigation into the origin of the bank robberies is under way.
A company loss-prevention employee visited the Graylyn Crest store Friday morning along with a bank official to investigate the complaints.
The thefts coincidentally occurred the same week that banks sent out reissued credit and debit cards to thousands of customers in response to a massive data breach in December at TJX Companies Inc., parent company of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls HomeGoods and A.J.Wright.
Joel Romaine, vice president of Operations at DPL Federal Credit Union, said the bank sent out about 450 new debit and credit cards in response to the TJX breach.
He said that he hadn't heard from customers about the newest thefts, but advised people to contact the bank immediately if they noticed suspicious activity on their accounts. "The quicker they contact us, the quicker we can get them a new card," he said.
Wilmington Trust spokesman Bill Benintende said the bank learned last month that some of its customers were affected by the TJX data breach, and it has notified those customers and replaced their cards. Many of those customers received their new cards in the mail this week.
The bank is now working with the Delaware State Police on the most recent scam, which it just discovered.
"We started seeing a pattern of fraudulent activity on Tuesday," said Benintende. "Within 24 hours we were on the phone and began calling those clients. Within 24 hours of that, we had printed and issued new cards."
Benintende said the bank continues to monitor the situation "aggressively and proactively."
He could not say how many customers have been affected or how much money had been stolen. "It's still very early," he said.
He recommended that customers not use their PIN numbers, but swipe their debit cards like a credit card and sign a receipt.
Jason Estock, 24, of Brandywine Hundred, said he usually makes purchases with his credit card, but on Jan. 14, when he visited the Rite Aid store in the Graylyn Crest Shopping Center, he used his ATM card and PIN number to make a $1.79 purchase.
"That's the only time in the past two weeks that I used that card with the pin," Estock said.
Early this week, Estock found $980 had been taken from his bank account without his knowledge; $500 on Sunday night at a Wawa convenience store in Lima, Pa, and $480 Monday morning from the Wawa on Naamans Road in Claymont.
Estock's bank, Dexsta Federal Credit Union, took a fraud report and credited the stolen money back into his account as a disputed transaction. He also is awaiting a new debit card from the bank.
Dexsta could not be reached for comment.
Delaware State Police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh said that customers who suspect fraud should report it to their bank immediately.
"The banking industry and the state police in Delaware have a cooperative working relationship," Whitmarsh said. In fraud cases like these, it's more efficient if customers work with their banks first, because a bank can immediately begin an investigation. Police, however, will have to subpoena bank records, a process that takes time.
"If folks think they're a victim of this kind of case, they need to call their bank and make them aware of it," he said.
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1 comment:
Well said.
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