Consumer complaint received 2016-11-08
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: PA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Identity theft / Fraud / Embezzlement

Complaint:
In XXXX 2016 several unauthorized transactions for Amazon and XXXX were charged to my credit account for {$2200.00}. I contacted Chase bank upon discovery and was given a temporary credit while they investigated. The initial Chase representative I spoke to told me several attempted charges of {$790.00} were made in succession ( repeatedly being declined ), but only one went through. I asked why I was not called about this as the attempts should have flagged my account, but only received an apology. In XXXX 2016, I was contacted by a Chase fraud investigator asking if I had ever made purchases from these merchants before. I said yes as Amazon is a pretty common merchant, and he said that if that was the case, then the transactions must be valid and my fraud claim was denied. According to Chase, this is because the items purchased fraudulently were shipped to my billing address. I informed Chase that I had n't received any of the packages. They were not at my door, they were not at the reception office of my apartment building, they were never delivered to my direct apartment unit. The Chase investigator said that since the packages were shipped to my address, I was responsible, even though none of the packages were delivered to my apartment specifically. Some packages had a change of address the day of delivery, some went to the reception office and went missing from there. I have received or signed for none of the packages and yet I am being held liable for {$2200.00}. My identity has been stolen, so other similar fraud has occurred and I was not found liable by Chase. None of the signatures provided by the Chase investigator were in my name, or anyone in my apartment. The packages are considered stolen at this point and have been reported to the police. I informed the Chase investigator that I was a victim of identity theft ( bank accounts and other lines of credit have been opened in my name without my permission ) and was told the only way for the claim to be approved would be if I informed the police of the fraudulent transactions, which I did. I provided Chase a copy of my police report, and the phone number to the detective who would be investigating the fraud. It has been two months since I gave them the report, and while several other fraud charges were approved, the {$2200.00} is sitting on my account collecting interest. I am aware that they may never find the identity thief, as it could be anyone from a friend to a neighbor, but I should not be held responsible indefinitely because I did not make or authorize the charges. I did not give my permission for these transactions! I have been paying the bill, hoping Chase would resolve the issue and refund me, but they have not. Chase is holding me responsible for packages I did not order or receive, from transactions I did not authorize. The evidence Chase provided me was inconclusive- one package ( the most expensive at {$790.00} ) did not have adequate tracking, or require a signature. According to a phone conversation I had with an Amazon representative, the package was " left at a location '' but they could not confirm where, when, or what address. I was told they would contact the driver, so that he could tell me where he had delivered the other packages, but I never received a response. There was one instance where a fraudulently purchased package was out for delivery and I happened to be home. I refused to sign for it and told the driver to return it to the sender, since I did n't order it. I informed Chase of this ( which the merchant confirmed ), in addition to providing them a copy of an email from the secretary from the reception office at my apartment, where she states there are no signature logs for packages held in the office, since they are not the responsibility of the property.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation