Consumer complaint received 2022-04-18
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
Reference Case # XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Dear Fifth Third Bank Disputes, We are writing this letter to document the chronology of events that resulted in a severe hacking, identity theft and bank fraud event to our on-line checking account and requesting a reversal of the decision to deny the dispute for case # XXXX. We are requesting dispute charges totaling {$18000.00} Key facts 1 ) Primary Account Holder : XXXX 2 ) Additional Account Holders : XXXX, XXXX 3 ) Branch Location : XXXX Florida, XXXX XXXX XXXX 4 ) XXXX XXXX relocated from XXXX to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX 5 ) None of the account holders have a mobile banking account with Fifth Third Bank 6 ) All Fraudulent charges were executed in Georgia Chronology of Events 1 ) XX/XX/XXXX a. Hacker gained access to the on line account and changed the phone number, email address and included a secondary address i. New Phone : XXXX ( home ) ii. New Email : XXXX XXXX. Secondary Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXX, GA, XXXX XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX a. No Activity 3 ) XX/XX/XXXX a. Hacker generated a new debit card XXXX and updated the pin number b. Hacker executed multiple bank card withdrawals ( XXXX ) and merchant ( XXXX ) purchases in XXXX Georgia totaling {$5500.00} for that day c. Bank Alert was sent to the newly created Hacker phone number XXXX and was accepted by the Hacker as a legitimate charge 4 ) XX/XX/XXXX a. Hacker continued to make XXXX ( XXXX ) and merchant ( XXXX ) purchases in similar amounts to the previous day totaling {$4800.00} for this day 5 ) XX/XX/XXXX a. XXXX and XXXX logged into her online account and noticed the unusual charges b. Hacker continued to make XXXX ( XXXX ) and merchant ( XXXX ) purchases in similar amounts to the previous day totaling {$7800.00} for this day 6 ) XXXX XXXX XXXX a. Since it was the weekend, XXXX and XXXX made multiple phone calls to the Customer Service and Fraud Center to alert Fifth Third Bank of the fraudulent charges and ask that they be put in dispute and that the account be locked. XXXX could not remember her verbal password and XXXX was not asked for her SS # which does not have a verbal password so the requests for support were unsuccessful with the overseas Customer and Fraud support teams. Representative : XXXX ). XXXX requested to speak to a supervisor ( XXXX XXXX ) and was put on hold. The supervisor was not available. XXXX requested a follow call from the supervisor. She never received a call. 
b. In an attempt to protect the remaining money, XXXX deactivated the Hacker generated card XXXX, moved the remaining money from checking to savings, changed the account password, inactivated another card, changed the Email and phone number to her contact information, and added additional security questions. 
c. XXXX sent an Email directly to XXXX XXXX the Branch VP and asked for help resolving the issue. XXXX called XXXX first thing Monday XXXX morning and told her to call Fraud again and the move the money out of the bank account. 

7 ) XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX was finally able to reach a very helpful a Fraud support agent in the US XXXX in Michigan - he was able to see the issue and generate the Dispute Case number. At the time, he also questioned how multiple XXXX withdrawals for the same amounts were able to be executed. XXXX asked if it was necessary to file a police report and was told that was up to her. It was not a requirement. 
b. Shortly thereafter, about XXXX XXXX PT, XXXX was then contacted by XXXX phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX at the Fifth Third Bank Corporate Office in North Carolina asking whether she ( XXXX ) was trying to make any further changes to the account post the Fraud report. The answer was no. XXXX informed XXXX that they had a women on the other line calling from the Hackers phone number XXXX trying to make changes again. XXXX was also informed that this person had XXXX SS #. XXXX told XXXX she was not the only one in this situation. 
c. At that point XXXX asked what more could be done to protect the remaining money. A XXXX XXXX was added to the conversation. At this point it was agreed that XXXX would contact Fraud and put a Hold on the account and XXXX and XXXX would lock the credit tied to XXXX SS # on all three credit platforms. The credit freeze was completed. 
d. XXXX was asked to provide XXXX the bank wire information to her XXXX account in XXXX XXXX California so the remaining money could be moved out to a more secure location. XXXX Emailed XXXX the wire information e. XXXX called XXXX back and said that the corporate office could not wire the money that needed to be done by the local branch back in XXXX Florida f. XXXX XXXX checked in that evening and informed XXXX that the hold on the account was not done properly it was only set for 24 hours and that she needed to contact the corporate office again to ensure the hold was extended. 

8 ) XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX contacted the corporate office again and asked them to put a more secure hold/block on the account and the did. Balances set at approximately- $ XXXX each b. XXXX talked with XXXX XXXX about executing the wire. XXXX said she could not execute the wire because neither XXXX nor XXXX could not come to the bank in person. Instead, she recommended that they open a new account and XXXX write a check from one account to the other. XXXX and XXXX opened a new joint account at XXXX, deposited the money and Emailed photos of the check, the deposit slip, and the receipt to XXXX. XXXX was able to release the money that day. 

9 ) XX/XX/XXXX a. No Activity 10 ) XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX called the Fraud line to check on the status of the dispute claim. After one lengthy hold and talking with one representative XXXX put on another lengthy hold and transferred to another representative who informed that the dispute had been denied. The reason for the denial was that when the bank sent the alert on XX/XX/XXXX and it was accepted remember, the alert or phone call was made to the Hacker. Bank Alert was sent to the newly created Hacker phone number XXXX and was accepted by the Hacker as a legitimate charge. There also seemed to be no records in the dispute file from the Corporate Office regarding the call form the Hacker on XX/XX/XXXX from the same phone number requesting to change the information again. 
b. At this point XXXX asked to speak to the investigator to ensure all the details were clear. The Representative said that was not possible. XXXX asked to speak with the head of Customer Support that request was also denied. XXXX requested to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold. No supervisor was available. XXXX requested a follow call from the supervisor. She never received a call. 
c. At this point the Representative agreed to reopen the dispute and asked XXXX XXXX document all the information as well as open a police report. She also informed XXXX that now the dispute could take up to 30 days to close. 
d. The account will need to remain open and locked through this time and all withdrawal transactions will need to be individually released by XXXX XXXX XXXX 


11 ) XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX reached out the XXXX XXXX police department to file a report. XXXX XXXX XXXX took the report. CASE # XXXX. 

12 ) XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX composed the chronology and Emailed it to all parties involved 13 ) XX/XX/XXXX a. Yet another breach of the account happened Thursday evening XX/XX/XXXX. 
b. XXXX received an Email @ XXXXXXXX XXXX PT alerting her that the XXXX information had been changed. She reviewed the change in the alert. The Hacker updated the address to the fraudulently created card number ending in XXXX. That card should be disabled. 
c. XXXX contacted the phone number in the Email alert - offices closed d. XXXX contacted the fraud specialist phone number - offices closed e. XXXX contacted the standard fraud line - reached a XXXX in XXXX who informed her he could not help me since she already had a case open and told her to call back in the morning during regular business hours f. We need this dispute resolved immediately, the stolen money replaced and the accounts closed to ensure we can protect my mothers identity and my identity from any further comprise. 

In closing, I want to state that my mother has been a decades long client of this bank, she is an XXXX  widow who entrusted her entire life savings to this institution of which she has obviously been the victim of fraud. Fifth Third Bank needs to remedy the situation immediately and improve their policies, detection algorithms and systems so others do not have to have the same horrific experience. After the countless hours of hold time, dropped calls and direct communication it is absolutely unacceptable and frankly appalling that we have been asked to provide this level of detail to this institution to resolve this problem.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief