Consumer complaint received 2017-01-05
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC.
State: FL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
I was introduced to this young man by an acquaintance, this young man told me he had a business venture that he wanted me to be apart of. I was very skeptical and I ignored him for a long time. He kept on constantly pursuing me. One day he said to me he will prove to me that the business venture is legitamate by giving me a check to deposit into my account which he told me was from all the other people that were going to participate with us as business partners. He gave me the check stating that this was from everyone in the business venture and that once the business took off we would then disperse the money equally.Two days later i realized that my check card and personal banking information was missing from my wallet. I then called him and asked him if he had come across it, he stated yes. I was very upset to hear this and i was unaware as to how he obtain my information. I believe it was while in my car discussing the business venture with him that he stole it from my wallet when I stepped out of my car. I immediately checked my account to see if my check card was used. I realized that he made several withdrawals from an ATM within a two day period. The total amount withdrawn from this scam was approximately {$7000.00} dollars. I contacted the bank to explain what had happened and filed a complaint to get reimbursed but was denied. I strongly believe that the bank did not follow their policies and procedures that I know and have experienced since being a membmer of Suntrust. These are the examples of why : First of all the ATM that was used was in an area about an hour and 15 min in another town from where i live and it would be unsual for me to withdraw money there two days in a row. Suntrust usually put a stop on your card when you withdraw out of your normal area and especially two days in a row. Secondly, he withdrew XXXX dollars two times in those two days and also withdrew a total of XXXX dollars in one day. Where as the withdrawal limit from the ATM per day is XXXX dollars. This is another big red flag that suntrust did not catch because i was not even aware you could withdraw XXXX dollars from the ATM farless XXXX dollars in one day. This leads me to believe that this person may have had someone working in the bank to be able to get away with withdrawing 2000 dollars in a day for two consecutive days with no questions asked by the bank.When i was told that by the bank, I asked how was that even possible.They said you can withdraw XXXX dollars once in a while if you have a good explanation as to why you would need an increase to withdraw such a large amount from the ATM. That was a third red flag missed by the bank, where the failed to inform me of these transactionsor to make sure that I was the one who was really making those large transactions from the ATM two days in a row. Fourth, there were multiple other withdrawls within the same two day period, which also the bank failed to verify it was me. Fifth, my account was overdrawn by an excess of over XXXX dollars which the bank should also have caught but did not. An example of why i feel that it was a failure on the part of the bank is if I had written a check or tried to pay a bill online and there were insufficient funds and i was unaware of the insuficient funds to pay that merchant then I could see the account being overdrawn. But it was withdrawals from the ATM that I should have known how much money i had in the account to withdraw from. I never receieved a call or the postcard the bank normally sends stating that your account is overdrawn. These are the reasons why i believe it is only fair that suntrust should reimburse me my money becaue the failed to take action on many occassions. I will do whatever is neccessary including getting an attorney to get suntrust to reimburse my money.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation