Consumer complaint received 2023-08-29
Company: Credit Karma, LLC
State: DC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX Narrative describing Identity Theft of my XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX checking account and compromising of my Credit Karma Debit Card personal information. XXXX My personal information on my Credit Karma account has been compromised since XX/XX/XXXX. I have been trying to resolve this issue with Credit Karma ever since I discovered it on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX. During this time Credit Karma has demonstrated without any question that they are incapable of correcting this issue. Their response has been inept, untimely, and numerous mistakes have been made by Credit Karma. I have been in direct contact with the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Fraud department since XX/XX/XXXX and they have been professional, competent, and solved the issue from their end immediately upon notification from me. I have had similar excellent experiences with the XXXX XXXX fraud department. Credit Karmas inept and unprofessional response to this issue is beyond comprehension. Credit Karmas customers do not have the ability to speak with their fraud department which they refer to as the specialty department. Credit Karmas customer service agents are not permitted to allow me to speak with their fraud department. They only take information and escalate it to the specialty department who has never responded to me in a competent or timely manner. When one follows up with their customer service agents, they have no clue what steps the Fraud department has taken. It is abundantly clear that Credit Karma does not have the security protocols in place or the staffing necessary to prevent or at least minimize identity theft of their customers. I have tried to permanently close this account with Credit Karma on at least 2 occasions but I was told that the account could not be closed as it was under review. Finally, as of last week, my account has been locked by Credit Karma. Since then I have not received an relevant information from Credit Karma regarding this issue with the exception of the email I received on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX that was sent by CK indicating that their email was sent in error. A copy of the email is below. Be Below is a narrative description of this issue that I have compiled to the best of my ability. 
On XX/XX/XXXX an unknown individual ( fraudster ) transferred {$2000.00} from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( XXXX ) checking account ending in XXXX to my Credit Karma Save account ending in XXXX. Five days later on XX/XX/XXXX he transferred the {$2000.00} from my Credit Karma Save account to my Credit Karma spend account ending in XXXX. The spend account was linked to my original Credit Karma Debit card ending in XXXX. He made the transfer by accessing my account online and using some of my personal information such as SS number, email address, and date of birth and requesting this transfer. I do not know if he had my bank information, but he may not have needed it to make the transfer since my XXXX checking account was already linked to my Credit Karma account. This was done by me when I first set up my Credit Karma account so that I could put funds into my Credit Karma account from my XXXX account. It is important to note that I never lost the possession of my Credit Karma debit card. I had it in my possession the entire time. 
I noticed this transfer on XX/XX/XXXX and reported it to my bank and to Credit Karma. I instructed my bank put a stop to all future transfers to Credit Karma. However, I mistakenly reported this unauthorized transfer as {$2000.00} instead of the correct amount of {$2000.00}. As a result, my bank contacted me about 2-3 weeks later saying that they could not locate a transfer of {$2000.00} and closed the case. Yet I did not realize that the bank closed the case because they contacted me via the message center on their XXXX  website. I did not see that message as I was expecting an email with the results of their investigation. For well over a month after I reported this to both XXXX and Credit Karma, I received no relevant information from Credit Karma regarding this case ( case # XXXX ) other that they kept informing me that my account was under review. Each time I called I was told that my case has been escalated to the speciality department. I later learned that their specialty department was their fraud department. It was made abundantly clear that the customer service department that I spoke to numerous times is not at all coordinated with the specialty or fraud department as I was getting conflicting information. I was never able to speak with someone from the fraud department directly as they would only email me days later. During this time I could not access my Credit Karma account online to check activity to see all these fraudulent charges because the fraudster changed my phone number associated with my Credit Karma account. The only way to see your account activity is for Credit Karma to send you a verification code via a text message which you then must input on the website. The verification code was constantly being sent to a phone number that was not mine as it was changed by the fraudster. 
During this time Credit Karma sent me a new debit card, even though I still had the original one. However, I was told that I could not activate the card because my account was still under review.

I have had repeated calls to Credit Karma, too numerous to mention here, but 2 calls are significant. In late XXXX or early XXXX I called Credit Karma regarding the wrong phone # issue. I provided them with my personal information, by sending them a pic of my drivers license next to my face. At this point they were able to change my phone # to the correct one. However, shortly thereafter the fraudster used my information to change the phone back to a different one and again I could no longer access my account information. 
I called Credit Karma once again and this time they asked my to provide a copy of my Social Security card as well as my drivers license. I did so and my personal information was briefly correct on the Credit Karna account until the fraudster changed my personal info again. 
Evidently, the fraudster was able to change my information by using the Chat feature on the Credit Karma website. Evidently, CK Chat never asked him/her for a passcode or security question to verify that he was me. Each tome I called Credit Karma to attempt to address this, I was given a new and different case #. 
I am a member of XXXX, an XXXX XXXX XXXX. So on XX/XX/XXXX I contacted XXXX to assist me because I was getting nowhere with Credit Karma. On XX/XX/XXXX, we had a 3-way call between myself, XXXX and Credit Karma . It was during that call that we discovered that many, many additional charges were made using my Credit Karma account, but this time he was charging by using a digital debit card. We filed a new claim with Credit Karma ( case # XXXX ) to include the original {$2000.00} transfer and all the other charges on my Credit Karma account totaling {$4300.00} case # XXXX. At this time We also requested that this account be locked, but the representative told us in order to do that it to be escalated to the escalation team. Later that same day I received an email ( to my gmail account ) from CK alerting me that my account was in fact locked. However, on XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from CK that says Good News a deposit of {$4000.00} was initiated to my CK Spend account and withdrawn from my XXXX acct ending in XXXX. How is this possible if my account was locked? 
On XXXX at XXXX am I received an email from CK saying that my case was closed because that contacted me several days ago and that they have not heard back from me. However. They sent that email to the wrong email address sending it to my secondary email address not my primary which is the one I have always had with CK. On that same day on XXXX, myself and my representative from XXXX spoke to a CK customer service agent to try to get a resolution of this issue and to get a status update. The agent was initially trying to be helpful but upon gettig pertinent questions form the XXXX representative, the CK agent abruptly ended the call. 
Furthermore, on or about XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Credit Karma that a new digital Debit card has been requested. On XX/XX/XXXX I responded to ( XXXX ) that I DID NOT request or Authorize a digital debit card and instructed them in no uncertain terms not to activate it. It was not until XX/XX/XXXX, 3 days later, that I received an email back saying that there was no active digital debit card, yet someone tried to open one at some point. 
Then again, on XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Credit Karma that my request to transfer {$4000.00} from my XXXX  account ending in XXXX was initiated and that my money is on the way. I made no such request and once again someone is accessing my account. It is abundantly clear that Credit Karma does not have adequate safeguards or security protocols in place to prevent this type of fraud. Other institutions have security questions that must be answered correctly or a security phrase that must be told to a representative. It is unfathomable that a financial organization can be so inept. 

Once again, someone posing as me accessed my account and changed my phone number. Without that phone I could not go online and access my account. So on XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, we had a 3 way call to Credit Karma between myself XXXX and credit Karma during which time the agent once again escalated my case to the escalation dept. to have my account locked. He also instructed me to contact member support vis chat to change my phone number back to my correct phone number XXXX. 
Finally, today XX/XX/XXXX my account has been locked as it should be. I know this because I tried to log in and I received the message that my account was locked. 
I have been an XXXX XXXX cardholder for decades and they routinely handle cases like this within days. The same applies to XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, who I have been a customer also for decades. With both organizations a customer who has been victimized by fraud is able to contact their fraud department directly. Their security protocols are infinitely superior to the ones that Credit Karma has in place. I have not been able to contact the fraud department or security department of Credit Karma. Below is an email I sent on to Credit Karma Member Support on XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX. This is only 1 of the numerous conflicting emails I have received from Credit Karma. One only needs to do a XXXX search of customer reviews of Credit Karma to see hundreds of devastating comments regarding the lack of professionalism, competency and integrity of Credit Karma. 

Re : Call from XXXX : Case # XXXX [ ref : XXXX : ref ] XXXX XXXX XXXX To : Credit Karma Member Support Fri XX/XX/XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX I need to get a PHONE CALL from the fraud department and speak to someone in that department immediately. I DO NOT WISH TO BE CONTACTED BY EMAIL. As demonstrated below, the emails I have received from Credit Karma have been full of mistakes and inconsistencies and they do not respond in a timely manner rather they respond numerous days later. days. My account has been hacked since XX/XX/XXXX by someone who keeps getting into my account and has stolen money from me using unauthorized transfers. My numerous, numerous calls to customer service have not solved the problem. It is incomprehensible that this has taken so long. I have been a cardholder of XXXX XXXX and a customer of XXXX XXXX  XXXX for decades. They would have taken care of this within days!! 

I have no confidence in Credit KARMA 'S ability to this problem. I need this problem corrected so that I may close my account permanently. 

Please contact me immediately at XXXX. This is the only phone number I have had for the last 25 years and the only phone number that I have ever used with Credit Karma. Someone is getting into my account and changing my phone # with credit Karma. I must receive a call from Credit Karma or I will be forced to file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Attorney General of California, and the Attorney General of West Virginia and XXXX XXXX 

XXXX XXXX ________________________________________ From : Credit Karma Member Support XXXX Sent : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX To : XXXX XXXX ; XXXX XXXX Subject : Call from XXXX : Case # XXXX [ ref : XXXX : ref ] Hi XXXX XXXX Please disregard this email it was sent in error. 
Once again Apologies for the email, have a great day. 

Regards, Credit Karma Member Support -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Original Message -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - From : Credit Karma Member Support [ XXXX ] Sent : XX/XX/XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX To : XXXX ; XXXX Subject : Call from XXXX : Case # XXXX [ ref : XXXX : ref ] Hi XXXX XXXX I hope you're doing well. In order to further assist you, we are requesting the following : Photos of both the front and back of your government-issued ID with a selfie of you holding your ID under your chin. 

A full copy of the bank statement from your linked [ XXXX XXXX XXXX ] account in XXXX format. 

An explanation for why the transfer in the amount of {$2000.00} that was returned. 

You can upload the requested documents using this secure link : UPLOAD HERE Regards, Credit Karma Member Support -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Original Message -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - From : Credit Karma Member Support [ XXXX ] Sent : XX/XX/XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX To : XXXX Subject : Call from XXXX : Case # XXXX [ ref : XXXX : ref ] Hi XXXX XXXX Thanks for reaching out about this. I'm going to redirect your case to a more specialized team that is better suited to look further into the matter. 

In the meantime, if your issue gets resolved on its own or if you have anything to add, please let us know by responding to this email. Thanks in advance for your patience Regards, Credit Karma Member Support ref : XXXX : ref

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation