Greg's Corner

Banks refuse to reimburse scam victims

By Greg Collier

It’s been over a year and a half since we started seeing a spate of bank impersonation scams. The bank impersonation scam is a type of fraud where scammers impersonate your bank’s fraud department. Typically, the scammers will call or text their victims, asking them if they’ve recently made large purchases or transfers. Then the scammers tell their victims that the only way to protect bank accounts is to move the money to another account. The bank account the money is moved to always belongs to a scammer.

For example, a young woman from North Carolina was in the process of saving up for her wedding in the Fall. She received a phone call from someone who claimed to be from her bank, Wells Fargo. The caller told the woman, someone from Colombia was trying to take thousands of dollars out of the woman’s account. Like many scam victims, the woman was told to download an app called AnyDesk, which allows a computer or phone to be accessed remotely. Before she knew it, the scammer had cleaned out the woman’s bank account of close to $10,000.

Since these scams started garnering headlines, the banks have been reluctant to reimburse scam victims. The banks tend to claim, since the customer authorized the transfer, even if tricked into doing so, their hands are tied. Some customers got their money back from the banks after taking their stories to their local news stations. Now, it seems, the banks aren’t refunding those customers either. The bride to be from North Carolina was told by Wells Fargo that she wouldn’t be getting her money back, even after contacting Wells Fargo and the police immediately after being scammed. She went to a local news station who contacted Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo’s response was that they were working to raise awareness about these scams. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t get the customer’s money back.

And what about the bank accounts the scammers are transferring the victim’s money to? These aren’t overseas bank accounts. Often these bank accounts are just your normal checking account you can get with any one of the major banks. Why are these accounts being allowed to be opened and closed so quickly?

In the future, banks need to be more transparent not only with their rules regarding scam victims, but also what they’re doing to try to prevent customers from being scammed. Just claiming that they’re raising awareness doesn’t cut it.