Consumer complaint received 2022-11-23
Company: Block, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
I use Square to handle the payments I receive from customers. I also have Square Debit Card ( Master Card ) that I use for daily purchases and AHC wire transfers. The card is always in my possession and I never gave my card to anyone and never disclosed my PIN number as well. 
On XX/XX/XXXX - my card was used at the XXXXXXXX XXXX ATM. Someone used the card and withdraw the cash 3 times ( {$400.00}, {$400.00} and {$200.00} ). 
On XX/XX/XXXX - my card was used again at the XXXX XXXX  XXXX ATM and someone withdraw the cash 4 times ( {$300.00}, {$300.00} and {$400.00} ). The XXXX attempt was unsuccessful as this person tried to withdraw {$600.00} ( which triggered the ATM withdraw limit ). This is when I realized that my account was compromised as I received the email that the transaction was not approved since it exceeded the withdraw limit amount. 

The steps I took : XXXX ) I contacted the Square right away and informed them about this. I was told that since it was weekend, they will get back to me on Monday and in a meantime, I should dispute the transactions online using their web portal. I did this right away and since I had the option to lock the card- I also immediately locked the card to prevent further use. 
XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX - this person went to the XXXXXXXX XXXX ATM again and tried to withdraw cash 2 times ( {$400.00} and {$200.00} ) but it was unsuccessful this time since the card was now locked. I have to repeat again that the card was in my possession all the time, safely stored in my apartment where I live and nobody had access to it ( including my wife- since XXXX of us live together ). 
XXXX ) Square got back to me on Sunday XX/XX/XXXX informing me that theyve now lifted the protective hold on my account to which I responded that it was not a good idea to do this as the fraudulent withdraws were not even disputed nor investigated. 
XXXX ) Finally, today, XX/XX/XXXX - I received an email from Square Dispute Team informing me they investigated my dispute and based on the details provided, theyre unable to credit my account as a result of that dispute.The payments indicate a card was present at the time of the transaction. My Square Debit Card was presented and authorized as a chip-based payment. Based on the responses I provided, the card has not left my possession and these are valid transactions. 
They also stated that If I would like to further pursue this dispute, Ill need to contact the merchant directly. 

After few exchanged emails between myself and Square Dispute team - I was informed again that at this point there is nothing they can do and reopen the dispute as they already closed it. 

In a meantime - I contacted the XXXXXXXX XXXX fraud department - asking if there is anything they can do and receive negative response. 
I contacted the XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX dispute team and got the negative response. 
I contacted the XXXX XXXX branch where the ATM is located and asked if they have a team that handles security footage and was informed that they can not do that. 

At this point - I don't know what else to do. {$2000.00} was stolen from my account as it seems that someone cloned my debit card and used the card the withdraw cash. I don't have any other explanation on how this could happen considering that identity theft became so much advanced during the Covid. 

I am kindly asking you if there is anything you can do to help me out and let me know how should I proceed with solving this as everyone let me down. 

It looks to me that Square Dispute team believes that I did this on purpose. I use their services for years an charge hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and pay hefty transaction fees to them for each transaction. I never even used the Square card to withdraw cash from the ATM in the past ( this can be easily checked ). I'm angry at this point that their loyal customer is treated like this and that they easily gave up considering how serious this type of fraud and scam is. 

Thank you!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation