Consumer complaint received 2023-03-20
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: Chime Financial Inc (MD)

I am in the middle of a dispute with my bank, Chime. On XX/XX/XXXX, my phone was stolen while shopping. Later, on XX/XX/XXXX in the early hours of the morning ( around XXXX ) the thief was able to access my device and bank account and fraudulently initiated a bank transfer for {$5000.00} using the pay anyone feature. I had never used my account to transfer money using that feature before, and had never once spent $ XXXX in one transaction in my 5 years with the bank. This is completely out of my normal spending pattern and should never have been allowed to go through, it should have been flagged as a transaction in the first place. At the same time, they also attempted to cash app themselves {$2500.00}, but that thankfully failed. So XXXX XXXX was able to identify that it was fraudulent and not let it go through but chime was not. The hacker also changed my address, username, and preferred name in my account immediately. I noticed right away and called chime around XXXX that day. I was on hold for almost 2 hours and transferred around from agent to agent all while the hacker has present access to my account. I am fortunate in that time they did not drain the entire account. The agents insisted they could not freeze my account and could not help me internally, the best I could do is lock my card from the app, even though the hacker had current access to my account. I was able to change my passwords and the thief was no longer able to access for the moment. Since then several more fraudulent transactions have been attempted but have failed since my card is locked, all of which I have uploaded to chime as proof for part of my dispute process. These attempted charges took place on XXXX, and the hacker attempted the purchase hacking equipment and have it shipped to an XXXX package hub for pick up. I immediately went to the XXXX XXXX police department that morning the theft occurred and filed a report, so both my stolen phone and fraudulent transactions have been reported and documented with law enforcement. All this documentation has been provided to Chime with the police report number and the police have even issued subpoenas to chime for information about the account the money was sent to. Chime told me I am not eligible for a temporary credit for 10 days and the dispute may take 45 days. The same day I opened the dispute and the fraud occurred on XX/XX/XXXX, the dispute was closed not even 5 hours later saying no error had occurred. There is no way a proper investigation considered all my documentation was performed during that time. I immediately appealed the decision and opened another rebuttal dispute the same day XX/XX/XXXX, and on XX/XX/XXXX chime again closed my dispute saying no error has occurred. This is despite an active police investigation with corroborating evidence from multiple witnesses and documentation. They are clearly not actually investigating this or looking at my documentation from the XXXX XXXX police, from apple, and from my phone carrier XXXX. I had to change all my password and freeze my credit as the police have told me they are investigating this as identity fraud as well. They have been completely unhelpful the entire time and are not protecting their customers, if anything they are assisting the hacker in committing fraud by doing nothing to make this right weeks later. They informed me the reason they believe no error took place is because 1 ) I had received a direct deposit that day ( from payroll like I get every two weeks ) 2 ) that the XXXX address and device was familiar ( of course it was, my phone was stolen and they were able to hack into it and access my accounts from my own device ) and 3 ) the transaction took place in Maryland, where I am from ( of course it did, my phone was stolen in Maryland ). 4 ) there were no failed log in attempts ( yes, because they had gained access to my passwords because they had my device ). It is obvious they are not looking into the details of my dispute otherwise they would not have made these claims. With a police report documenting everything, proof from XXXX that device was stolen, documentation from apple that my device was stolen, I dont know what else they need from me for me to prove this was an unauthorized transaction. I have asked what else they need from me, as I will be happy to provide it, but they will not tell me. They will not even give me the provisional credit while the investigation occurs, so I am now struggling financially due to missing {$5000.00} that was stolen from me. All I want is for them to actually investigate my dispute to discover there was an actual error and credit me my money back. Chime does obviously not protect their clients ( of over 5 years with no previous issues ) so as soon as this dispute is resolved I will be closing my account as I have transferred the rest of my money to XXXX, who actually protects their members.