Consumer complaint received 2017-04-27
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC. (VA)

XXXX   XXXX , a thief broke into my husbands car on our property and stole his wallet. In his wallet was his drivers license, debit card and miiltary ID. His debit card was taken to our local bank and used by the thief, withdrawing {$800.00} and {$200.00} from the ATM using our PIN number, which we did not have written down anywhere for him to get. I have since seen the thief 's picture on video footage and it is nobody none of our family knows. It is a random stranger who stole my husbands wall et. The Fraud Dept called u s at   XXXX   XXXX   and told us there had been activity on his debt card at  XXXX  and  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   and asked if we made the transactions. We said " NO '' we were asleep. We called the police and a detective was assigned to the case. In the meantime, our bank closed the investigation quickly and said it was a " valid Withdrawal. '' This crook got away with stealing from our account and it was a " Valid Withdrawal '' although the  Branch Manager has seen th e crooks picture and knows it was not us. They are trying to justify the depletion in our account by the thief by saying it was a Valid Withdrawal. We have told them we did not authorize or approve anyone stealing from our account. We work hard for our money and this has us victimized by the crook and then victimized by the bank. The bank is not refunding our money that was stolen.. I am having to stay on our detective to solve this crime while the bank does nothing and wont reimburse us. There are laws that I researched since this happened that protects the consumers from fraud like this and our bank is not complying with those laws. We told the bank over and over and over we did not approve or authorize these withdrawals. That should be enough that the bank restores our money and then takes over the investigation with the detective. Instead we are having to do all the leg work investigating this crime and staying on top of the detective. The bank is trying to use the excuse that because the thief had our PIN number, it was a " Valid Withdrawal. '' The  Branch Manager is a smo oth talker too and after talking again today I realized she is just as bad as the thief in the way she is protecting her bank. I would like to see how far she protects her bank if we take her  XXXX  to c ourt Suntrust Ba nk,  XXXX   XXXX  #  XXXX ,  XXXX , VA for protecting a thief and not protecting the consumer. We have been good customers for 20 years and they did not protect our bank from INVALID Withdrawals from a thief and then are not willing to restore our money that the thief took and they did not stop. We dont know how the thief got our PIN number when we do not know him. It is not our fault that the thief got our card and found out our PIN number some how. The bank is trying to make this out like it was somehow our fault that he got the PIN number and not treating us as 20 year consumers right by any long shot.My husband feels very bad for leaving his wallet in his car knowing the larcenies are terrible in our neighborhood. My husband had his PIN number memorized and did not have it written down. This crime is being said by my family as being T he Perfect Crime. The thief gets o ur PIN number somehow and just happens to get lucky and stole my husbands wallet too and commits the perfect crime. Because the police, detective and bank have never heard of this happening they are not saying it but I can sense it that they are somehow blaming us as if we had a part in the whole thing. We are  XXXX . We do not lie, cheat, steal or do anything of that nature. We are hardworking people and we keep to ourselves. We do not let anyone but our kids in our house and they dont even know the PIN number. Again the thief was someone I have never seen. I have tried writing th e Fraud Dept letters and  they were the ones who contacted us before we found out our account had been compromised. They offered me a Rebuttal form to fill out and fax them, which I did earlier this week. In the meantime, we dont feel protected at this bank anymore. We dont feel that if our account is compromised again they will protect us. They are just as crooked as the thief is trying to justify the thief 's withdrawal as valid just because he had a PIN number we did not give him. They dont want to return our money - simply put. Its their fault they dont have a better fraud dept that caught this {$800.00} transaction and put a stop to it before the thief got away with it. We NEVER take out transactions of that amount. We never take out more than {$60.00} at the ATM at a time. This crime was a bizarre  one but the fact that the bank did not protect us, the consumers, and did not restore our money just floored us. The thief also tried to take {$400.00} at WaWa after he got the {$1000.00} from ATM of our account. That is when the Fraud Dept finally stepped in and declined the card. I am seriously contemplating leaving this bank this summer after my job ends for the summer. It will be a monumental task moving to a new bank when we have four depositers and lots o f creditors on autopay. Anything you can do will be appreciated.