Consumer complaint received 2023-03-17
Company: DISCOVER BANK
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
I originally initiated a fraud dispute with Discover Card Services on XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately provided information about all the fraudulent activities I could find on my Discover account, as well as letting them know about my banking services being hacked and also a police report was officially filed. 

However, a couple months after I reported the incident, the Fraud Investigation Dept concluded the investigation on XX/XX/XXXX and did not honor their policy. They still denied me protection from fraudulent charges despite Discover being known to boast about their fraud protection feature all over their ads. I immediately appealed their decision the next day on XX/XX/XXXX. I provided additional information such as reporting of closing out other accounts from XXXX, XXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and also having to open a new account with another banking service ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ). During this reassertion period I also included my official police report regarding my victimization for identity theft and wire fraud. The 3 credit bureaus were also informed that I was impacted by identity theft and they placed a fraud alert on my account and froze my credit. 

I reached out to Discover on several attempts during the reassertion period asking if they have received my additional information and whether the investigator in charge of my case has reviewed it. Every single time I've asked, each live agent I spoke to mentioned that the investigator hasn't even started the review. It wasn't until XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX from the Investigation Dept. who verified that my case still hasn't been reviewed yet but confirmed the Investigation team finally received my documentation. 

I requested a call back once the investigator in charge reviewed my documents but I never received a single call back over the phone. Instead, only five days later on XX/XX/XXXX I received a mailed letter from Discover, stating that there wasnt any additional information submitted by me and therefore the case was automatically thrown out and closed without consulting with me. This left me blindsided and vulnerable because their abrupt action to dismiss my appeal inevitably left me with no protection from fraud. The final letter I received went as follows : Dear XXXX XXXX Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding the disputed balance on the above referenced account. Based on our records, your dispute was previously investigated and resolved. 

Without additional information, we are unable to reinstate the investigation. Because of your continued dispute, we will report your replacement account as disputed to the credit reporting agencies. 

As of today, it has been more than five months since I originally reported the fraudulent activities toward my account. Throughout the entire process I have been staying on top of things with my case, but no matter how compliant and diligent I was with Discover 's requested information and documents, Discover Card 's Fraud Department dropped the ball and did not want to be held liable to honor the fraudulent charges to be true. 

The fraudulent charges that total up to {$710.00} on my Discover account aren't even a staggering amount compared to most. One of the most basic protection a card user needs when trying to make purchases or to build credit is to not having to worry about things like this.

Discover ended up declaring that the official documents I provided from the official XXXX report, identity theft report, credit freeze, email from XXXX Cyber Crimes and all the fraudulent charges from my XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and countless of other services weren't sufficient enough evidence to support my appeal for honoring such basic Fraud Protection.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief