Consumer complaint received 2022-08-15
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022, my parents received a call from Chase Bank, stating that they had detected suspected fraudlent activity on my account. This is an account I keep as a backup and only use once every several months, typically to buy plane tickets. 

I called Chase Bank and spoke to someone in their fraud protection office and discovered that they had sent me an activated credit card in the mail, which someone had stolen and started making charges on. I worked with the woman at the fraud department to have the charges canceled and was told the card had been shut off. Importantly, while I was on the phone with the woman at Chase fraud protection, the person who had stolen my card called them to complain that my card had stopped working for him/her. I don't know what happened in that interaction because I was focused on having the charges canceled and the card shut off. 

About a week later, approximately XX/XX/XXXX, I received a replacement card in the mail, yet again an activated card. Then several days later I received a duplicate of the same card, also activated. Thankfully neither of these were stolen. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Chase Bank summarizing my monthly charges and balance due, and discovered $ XXXX in new charges that had been made between XXXX XXXX XXXX. I called Chase Bank 's fraud department and realized, on this second call, that was had not been asked for any personally-identifying information- only my card number and the digits on the back of the card. The fraud agent reviewed my account and saw that the person who had stolen my card had called back repeatedly and insisted on having the line of credit on the card reactivated. Of course, this was possible to do because Chase 's fraud department wasn't doing even the most basic identify verification. As a result, s/he had charged another $ XXXX in charges after my card was supposed to have been shut off. Of course, because this was entirely their fault, Chase canceled these charges. However, the only reason any of this happened was because of Chase 's egregiously lax security.

Here are the issues I'm writing to complain about : 1. Chase did not seem able to contact me and contacted my parents, although they have all of my contact information. This is totally inexplicable and seriously concerning.

2. Chase sent 3 activated cards in the mail, even after I had experienced a theft of an activated card. This is obviously hugely irresponsible.

3. Chase did not verify my identity ( or the identify of the card thief ) when they and I called the fraud unit, meaning that this person was able to committ another $ XXXX in fraud under my name. This is totally irresponsible and inexcusable. 
4. Chase 's fraud AI should have detected a problem with the $ XXXX in charges that took place immediately after I had experienced a fraud incident. Again, this is a card I almost never use. 

Chase Bank 's failure to 1 ) identify fraudlent activity ; 2 ) implement even the most basic, standard security measures on customer accounts ; 3 ) locate customer contact information within their own customer data- puts their customers at risk for great harm. Although the situation was entirely Chase 's doing, I was still completely at their mercy to erase the charges. This could have been financially ruinous for me and/or severerly damaged my credit score. They are engaging in highly irresponsible business practices and failing to protect the security of their customers.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation