Consumer complaint received 2021-07-07
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: OH
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
I am a long time Fifth Third Bank customer since XXXX living in XXXX, OH. Someone impersonating me walked into a Fifth Third branch in XXXX, MI on XX/XX/XXXX and opened a joint checking account in my name. I had gotten a phone call from a Michigan number at approx XXXX XXXX that day from a nameless female saying they were from Fifth Third, asking me if I had left something earlier at the branch that day. When I replied " no '', she hurriedly got off the phone, telling me that she had to check something out and would call me back within a few minutes. 

Because she never gave me her name I immediately started to investigate online about the phone number and I also looked at my account online with Fifth Third. I saw that there was a {$25000.00} hold on my savings account. I contacted the Customer Service line and asked if any of their employees was associated with this phone number. They gave me a name, and upon further urging from me, told me that this person was at the XXXX XXXX branch, which is where I happen to bank in XXXX. I immediately got in my car ( before the branch closed at XXXX. ) and went to ask for her at the teller line- she did not work there. I told them about the phone call and was assisted by a personal banker there, who contacted the fraud department and informed me that someone impersonating me with all my information and a copy of my driver 's license opened up the account with another male. Upon examination of my online statement, the male had opened up an account earlier on XX/XX/XXXX, with XXXX cents online, and later the same day deposited {$10.00} into this checking account. On XX/XX/XXXX, the {$25000.00} from my savings account was transferred over into this checking account. ( The female impersonating me was supposedly the aunt of the male. ) He was needing the money for a " land contract '' and wrote a check off the account for {$16000.00} from the XXXX branch. He returned later stating the the person would not accept a check and required cash. Someone gave him the cash from the branch. He then went into another branch and wrote another check for {$8000.00}, which was also cashed. It was there that they noticed my XXXX connection and suspected something suspicious and the branch manager put the hold on the account. 

I have not applied for any credit in the past XXXX years since I bought a house. I have all my money in Fifth Third. Anyone looking at my history should have seen that this activity was unusual. Besides that, when I was buying my house, I could not even access my own money without waiting over 3 days, causing my closing to be pushed back. I have never heard of writing a large check and getting it cashed from a checking account newly opened the same day of the deposit. I am furious with how Fifth Third has handled this. To top it all off, they never gave me any indication of this activity that day ; had I not looked online at the account, I would not have known to call them on this. I had to go into the branch to place freezes and holds on the accounts I have with them, but they never offered to close any of my accounts or cancel my cards and issue new ones! As a result, a week later on XX/XX/XXXX, I had an unauthorized charge on my debit card ( checking ) account at a restaurant in XXXX, MI for over {$64.00} online. I called Customer service and the same day it posted asked them to immediately cancel the card and issue a new one. This did not happen, and the very next day I was charged again at two other restaurants in XXXX for over {$30.00} each! In hindsight, my bankcards should have been closed and re-issued the same day the original theft was reported. 
I was told that Fifth Third 's Financial Crimes Investigator was conducting an investigation in Michigan and that they believed this was a part of a " ring '' of thefts in the area. The male involved was supposedly arrested, but the last time I talked with the investigator the female was still at large.

Fifth Third 's solution? I had to take off work to come in and get Identity Fraud alert protection on my accounts. This was a big hassle, as I had put freezes on my 3 credit bureau accounts, and had to unfreeze them for the alert protection- took 3 days to get this done because my personal banker 's schedule and my schedule would not jibe. They offered me this protection free for the first year. Then the banker talked me into opening up a new credit card while I had the freezes lifted off of the credit bureau! All of this while never closing the original debit card and issuing a new one- leading to the 3 new breaches on my checking account. 
They never informed me of the original $ XXXX hold on my account, never immediately closed any of my accounts to avoid further unauthorized charges, and I have not been kept in the loop to know whether these unauthorized transactions on both my savings and checking accounts are related, all occurring in the XXXX suburban area. In the meantime, I have filed police reports, changed all my pins and passwords on my accounts, shopped for new banks and credit unions ( all the while unfreezing and re-freezing my credit bureau accounts ), have to inform all my debtors that I pay online of the theft and issue new payment info, had my money on hold and unavailable to me, checked my accounts throughout the day and night to check for further suspicious activity, monitor emails for new phishing scams, ( and yes, they followed ), change my payroll deposit information when I get a new account, consult a lawyer, sent a complaint to the State of Michigan 's Attorney General, file an Identity Theft Affidavit with the IRS, called the Federal Reserve, and file a complaint with you. This has taken countless hours of my days since this all began back on XX/XX/XXXX. My monies have been returned to my account, but the banking relationship is irretrievably broken and I am at the point where I may purchase a safe to hide my money in.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation