$1.7K drained from man’s bank account without his knowledge or approval, fraud report denied

HENDERSON, N.C. — Imagine money being deducted from your bank account that you didn’t authorize, and you can’t get it back.

That’s exactly what happened to a Henderson man after $1,700 was drained from his account.

“I got a notice on my phone saying that I had a low balance on my account and when I checked my account, it was $70 in the account, but the night before was $1,770,” Marcus Johnson said.

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When he logged onto his computer and looked at his account history, he was baffled.

“The transactions show that I had an automatic bill pay came out for $1,700.”

He said he didn’t authorize the automatic bill pay, so Johnson called his bank right away to report the fraud. A rep with Bank of America said they would investigate. Ten days later Johnson got a letter from his bank stating it was unable to honor his fraud claim.

Johnson said he couldn’t understand why his fraud claim was denied.

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“As a victim, you were punishing me because somebody hacked my account, and you weren’t doing your due diligence. If you were to view a good steward of my money, then this should never happen,” he said.

Johnson got in touch with Troubleshooter Diane Wilson with our sister station WTVD, and she reached out to Bank of America, which resulted in him getting another call and letter from the bank — this time stating his fraud claim was now approved.

Johnson now has the $1,700 back in his account.

“I think if I hadn’t got you involved, I probably would still be trying to fight to get that money back, so I’m glad that you guys were available,” he said.

Bank of America did not add any comment, except that it was resolved, and provided this information on how customers can protect their accounts: To protect your money, set up alerts on your account to alert you of irregular activity.

Many banks even offer a security center tool where you can see your account’s security by the actions you have in place. As soon as you see any fraud charges, it’s key to report them right away.