Will the bank file a police report or an I responsible?

[R18Civic]

Just found out on 6/1 some lowlife lifted my card info and was dumb enough to use it to pay his personal debt off with a debt collector for a whopping $630.

The bank is being informed later today but I'm wondering if they'll file a report on my behalf or if I need to go to the police with the findings?

 

[Shel_B]

It might be best to ask your bank, but also it would be a good idea for you to report the incident. I say this based on a very similar experience I was involved in here in the Bay Area of Northern California. Different jurisdictions may handle similar cases in dissimilar ways.

 

[tasch72]

I think it would be better to ask an employee of the bank. Its probably a long shot that any of us work in the fraud department of your bank and would have accurate info.

 

[wpod]

Will the police do anything?

 

[fisher83]

Do you happen to know who the individual is? If so, I'd report it directly to the police on your side. The bank is highly unlikely to investigate beyond determining the validity of the claim and giving you your money back. I worked fraud claims for a large payment processing company for about 9 years and have spent the past 5 years doing anti-money laundering investigations. In my experience, the financial institutions will watch for patterns and try to go after the big fish that are costing them lots of money but for smaller amounts there is no real incentive for them to pursue it further. Unfortunately, the report to the police is also not likely to produce much result. It costs time and money to investigate these things and it's unlikely to be prioritized very highly by the local PD.

 

[Shel_B]

Will the police do anything?

In the situation I mentioned, the police were quite active. In fairly short order two people were arrested.

 

[Dave9]

You didn't mention, was this a credit card or debit card? If a credit card with unauthorized charge protection and the bank wipes out the charge, they take the loss and should file the report. If a debit card and you take the loss, you should file.

I don't know all the nuances of debit card law but seems like I saw something about up to $500 liability if not reported within two days.

Do you know how it happened? I assume you still have physical possession of the card since you wrote "lifted my card info"?

 

[R18Civic]

You didn't mention, was this a credit card or debit card? If a credit card with unauthorized charge protection and the bank wipes out the charge, they take the loss and should file the report. If a debit card and you take the loss, you should file.

I don't know all the nuances of debit card law but seems like I saw something about up to $500 liability if not reported within two days.

Debit card, but the individual with the debt collection company said something about a credit card. It's unclear if it was processed as credit or what. There was also a named tied to the charge, also unclear if that was the account of the person who stole the info or if it was the agent who processed the transaction.

 

[slo town]

Will the police do anything?

The police aren't the problem. The police will arrest them and the DAs will simply let them walk free. For example, Chesa Boudin of San Francisco. Look him up.

Scott

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Some financial institutions require filing a police report before crediting your account. You have to present them with a copy of that report. Ran into this when I was using a prepaid card years ago.

This might not apply to specific institutions such as card-issuing local banks, but check.

 

[mrsilv04]

I had this happen years ago. The bank told me that they'd handle everything. All I had to do was go to a branch and sign a few documents, put my right hand up and swear to the branch manager that I had nothing to do with it... and the bank put my money back into my account within a few hours.

But you need to ask the bank what you need to do, of course. They're experts at this kind of thing.

 

[alarmguy]

Honestly I wouldn’t care. I would just have the bank deal with it and restore the money to your account.
I can’t see any situation where a bank or police agency would care to bother.
Certainly the bank isn’t going to care. Not worth the time.
I would just make sure they restore the money to your account and be done with it.

This is just another reason not to use or carry a debit card and only use credit cards.
Either way you’ll get your money but with a credit card it’s so much easier, You’re not responsible for anything and you don’t have to prove anything.

 

[MNgopher]

Ask the bank what they need from you. In past cases (credit, not debit), I typically have had to sign a affidavit that the expenses were not mine, and they took care of the rest.

 

[slo town]

This is just another reason not to use or carry a debit card and only use credit cards.

Exactly!

Scott

 

[Astro14]

For that small amount of money, I doubt anyone is going to jail.

Stop using your debit card for purchases. This risk is the reason. Use cash, or credit card. I’m a big cash guy. Always have it on me, always in the local currency, and prefer the anonymity, security, and convenience of cash.

In the past two months, my wife had a check washed and fraudulently cashed, removing $8,000 from her checking account and I had a credit card compromised.

An affidavit and investigation were needed for the check. The funds were restored to her account after 10 business days. An inconvenience, to be sure. It was a check that she mails every month to a small church in South Carolina that we support. Mailbox diving for checks is still a thing. We fell victim to fraud a result of that.

I used my credit card for a couple of small purchases in New Haven, CT, where many merchants are still posting “no cash accepted” signs. Fraudulent activity showed up two days later. Charges disputed. Card canceled. New card on its way.

I‘m very careful with my credit cards (I have several). One is never used outside of automatic payments. The physical card for that account sits in a safe. It’s been fine. Two go with me, in an RFID blocking wallet, and unless I swipe them, as I did, they’ve been fine. I keep a couple gas credit cards so that I’m not swiping a bank card at the pump, a common skimmer location.

I genuinely recommend Apple Pay (or Google Pay). The transaction is encrypted, and the merchant cannot see the underlying credit card, so it cannot be compromised.

If merchants will not accept cash (which is a new thing, common in the US, Europe, and the UK and debatable in its legality) then go Apple Pay. It’s how I’ve been managing the “no cash” hogwash for the past couple of years.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Just found out on 6/1 some lowlife lifted my card info and was dumb enough to use it to pay his personal debt off with a debt collector for a whopping $630.

The bank is being informed later today but I'm wondering if they'll file a report on my behalf or if I need to go to the police with the findings?

You won't need to go to the police but sometimes you'll have to sign an affidavit that the funds were stolen or the charge was unauthorized.

 

[JHZR2]

I genuinely recommend Apple Pay (or Google Pay). The transaction is encrypted, and the merchant cannot see the underlying credit card, so it cannot be compromised.

If merchants will not accept cash (which is a new thing, common in the US, Europe, and the UK and debatable in its legality) then go Apple Pay. It’s how I’ve been managing the “no cash” hogwash for the past couple of years.

I was a holdout on Apple Cash/Pay/CC. Finally just got the Goldman Sachs card and went with it. Really can’t beat it, for the reasons you mention.

Interestingly, I’m seeing less and less of the no cash in recent weeks, and many places I go showing a 3-4% surcharge if CC is used. They want cash because they’re offsetting inflation via not eating the CC fees.

I never really understood the debit card allure. You can’t overspend, sure. But same can be said with a bit of self control. My debit card usually is locked up and only gets used when it doesn’t go out of my grip. It’s essentially the same as the old (as I remember them) “MAC” cards that worked at ATMs only.

 

[Pew]

+1 on just contacting your bank and letting them know. If they need any more information then they'll let you know, otherwise let your bank handle all of it and don't get in their way. Both my bank and credit card institution will handle everything on their end without much more than "is this charge yours"

 

[Lubener]

I would file the police report. Do not trust the bank. Too many people don't do their job and will screw up the process.

 

[nomas]

Similar situation . File a Police report .