Chris Hooley lost his wallet and canceled his Bank of America debit card immediately. Canceling his debit card should have let Bank of America know to freeze his account. However, the bank allegedly sat back as an identity thief withdrew $40,000 dollars from Hooley's account in a single day.According to his blog here, Bank of America didn't even have a clue of what was happening. Hooley only noticed the massive withdrawals after the identity thief was arrested at Best Buy, trying to purchase multiple computers.
Thankfully, Best Buy caught the thief red handed. As the identity thief attempted to use Hooley's card, Best Buy's register system sent an alert to the police. Luckily for Hooley, if a reported lost or stolen card is in use in the system, the police are alerted instantaneously.
Unfortunately, the thief managed to make five transactions with Hooley's account earlier in the day. The first two were deposits. Two checks were written and a large portion of the checks were less cash received, handing the thief a total of $12,500. The last three were withdrawals. One withdrawal was for $26,000 politely handed over from a Bank of America teller. The last was for $12,500, again left unnoticed.
Keep in mind all five transactions occured inside five different Bank of America centers.
Lesson learned? Watch your account activity and watch your wallet at all times ... especially if you have an account with Bank of America.
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