Consumer complaint received 2016-07-30
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX 2016 when checking my M & T checking account balance online I noticed my debit card number had been stolen. XXXX fraudulent transactions had been made totaling {$420.00}. I called the customer service line to have the card canceled, and a case opened to investigate the fraudulent charges made. On XXXX XXXX, the funds were returned to my account. On XXXX XXXX, I was issued a letter stating that a review of my account was done and a " thorough investigation '' was completed to determine that the transactions in question were processed correctly and no error had occurred, therefore denying my claim. All except XXXX of the XXXX fraudulent charges were extremely out of nature for my spending habits, though. The biggest purchase was for {$290.00} at a XXXX. I have never stepped foot in a XXXX, nor do I have a membership to XXXX. Another was for an XXXX Taxi for {$28.00}. I rarely ever take taxis, but instead use applications such as XXXX or XXXX to order cars. There is a transaction also on XXXX XXXX for XXXX for {$4.00} which I purchased. Why would I be in an XXXX, and then take a taxi? XXXX of the fraudulent charges were made at a XXXX in the XXXX for {$29.00} and {$3.00}. The location of this XXXX is an hour and a half away from my home, and I have never been to that part of the XXXX in the 5 years I have lived in XXXX, nor do I eat at XXXX or have ever charged my card to one. The most bizarre charge was for {$0.00} at a parking meter -- I do n't even own a car to park. The last XXXX fraudulent charges were made at the XXXX XXXX in my neighborhood which I shop at. I believe this is where my number was stolen. The charges were for {$58.00} and {$7.00}. I had made a purchase at that Rite Aid on the same day for {$10.00}, but the other XXXX charges were not made by me. Despite all of these contradictions, my bank refuses to believe I did not make these charges and they took the money back out of my account on XXXX XXXX. I called the customer service line to reopen my case on XXXX XXXX, and was told it was being looked into once again and the money would be put back into my account. It never was. Tired of talking to representatives on the phone, I went into my local bank branch on XXXX XXXX in XXXX to talk to a physical person. I explained my situation to one of the agents there, and she faxed over my documents to the fraud department and had my case officially reopened. This was on XXXX XXXX. By XXXX XXXX, the money still was not returned to my account nor did I hear anything from my bank. I went into the branch once again and spoke to the same agent to see what the status of my case was. She said she had not heard anything from the fraud department since XXXX XXXX, so she called them while I waited. When talking to the person on the phone who was handling my case, she informed me that they were not going to reinvestigate my case, and stick by their original claim that there was no fraud made. She said that they would not communicate this to me directly, and had no plans to inform me of this. The person on the other line would not speak to me, so I was being told all of this information secondhand through the woman assisting me at the bank. The person on the telephone claimed that all XXXX purchases were made using chip insertion, so it could n't have possibly been fraud since my physical card was not stolen. And since the chip is " unique and original '' to each card they are " highly difficult '' to replicate. I was then told there was nothing else I could do, and I will not be getting my {$420.00} back. If the person did a proper investigation, they would find that my signature is not on any of those purchases. And I highly doubt all XXXX of those locations where the fraud occurred are up to date with chip technology. I would challenge them to go as far as to look at video surveillance, because I would be far from present at any of those locations.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation