To be fair, this question has vexed philosophers for centuries.
The La Palma couple — seniors on fixed incomes — discovered about a month ago that they’d been locked out of their Chase checking account. The password for online access had been changed.
Donna Hansen, 67, told me they contacted the bank and regained access to their account. That’s when they found that $22,000 was missing.
The couple rushed to their nearby Chase branch and sat down with a bank employee. He looked things over and informed them that someone had changed the name, address and signature associated with the checking account.
The bank worker said whoever had taken over the account had new checks printed under a different name and wrote a check for $22,000. That money was deposited into a different bank.
The worker declined to provide any other details, instructing the Hansens to contact Chase’s fraud department.
“So we did that,” Donna Hansen said. “They told us they no longer verify names and signatures for consumer accounts, so it’s not difficult to make changes like this. They also said they’ve been seeing more of this since the start of the pandemic.”
This stuff never ceases to infuriate me. Just someone getting your bank account number - you know the one that’s on every check you write - is apparently a huge security leak.
Even so, Hansen said she’s shocked that so many things that should have been red flags for Chase apparently went ignored — the new name on the account, the change from a Southern California to a New York address, the unusually large check for $22,000.
“We only write two checks a month,” she pointed out, “one for $65 for our pool guy and one for $110 for our RV storage. That’s it.”
You’d think even the most basic fraud-spotting algorithm would have noticed an out-of-the-ordinary $22,000 check being slipped into the mix.
At my request, Hansen contacted Chase’s fraud department for more information. She was informed that in fact three separate requests for new checks had been submitted using Hansen’s bank account number and three different names and addresses — one in Minnesota, one in New York and one in Florida.
“The lady with the fraud department said she doesn’t understand how this went through,” Hansen told me.
Yet apparently none of this activity triggered a fraud alert at Chase’s end.
In any case, I’m pleased to report that, a day after I contacted Chase, a bank official called Hansen to inform her that the couple’s money would be restored within a day or two. She told me her account was made whole as of Friday.
“They couldn’t say how my account was compromised,” Hansen said. “They just said it was.”
But hey - just need a reporter for a major newspaper to get on it, and your money will be restored. Easy.
Maybe my Dad isn’t so insane for refusing to do online banking after all. Although it’s not even clear that’s what happened here.
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Wow, no kidding.
No money for fraud detection. But every other new building that goes up in a heavily trafficked commercial zone in LA is a freaking Chase bank that sucks all the energy out of the block. Bar, restaurant, coffee shop, hipster clothing store, GIANT FUCKING CHASE BANK, tattoo parlor, restaurant, ice cream shop, etc.
Why do they do that? There’s never more than 2 or 3 people in the bank. Usually just the boss and a couple of employees looking bored. I think they just want to invest in the real estate.
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They don’t have to convert many people into wealth management and/or mortgage customers to make it insanely profitable. Someone with $1 million to invest makes them $15-20k per year, forever.
My nephew got a bunch of emails saying he was locked out of his chase account and that it had been closed or something. It was a dummy site that wanted you to put in your password. My guess is that’s what happened here.
Yeah online banking is pretty scary.
I mean they’re far and away the largest bank in America it seems, my guess is they assume people are lazy so the more locations the more people they will get. Lots of people probably just go to the first bank they see nearby and open an account there.
I had to convince my ex and her dad to get the hell away from bank of america and join a credit union.
Knee jerk reaction is that emptying the bank account of folks who pay for pool care and RV storage with checks is a morally justifiable redistribution, but maybe I’m wrong.
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I still feel like all that could happen a block away from all the action. Are that many wealth management clients spontaneously popping in after grabbing a latte next door?
“You know honey I’ve been thinking we should do something with our retirement nest egg - oh look, here’s a Chase bank. Let’s see what they have.”
Changing name and address on the account, then writing a $22k check when the account normally never writes more than a couple $100 a month, should set off a few alarms.
People want a “known brand” to manage their money. People get fleeced by major retail banks all the time because they want the (illusory) peace of mind that comes from their financial institution being on every street corner. It’s stupid, but it works.
Sure. But one would think the bank can accomplish this without sucking up multiple lots in an absolute prime location in a retail/entertainment district.
People need to eat too. But you don’t see grocery stores buying up failed restaurants and opening smack in the middle of a bunch of bars and trendy shops.
Knee jerk reaction is I’d personally rather not have my nest egg redistributed, all things being equal. Let me know what’s ok and not ok to spend it on.
omg kitty what the fuck are you doing
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I love dogs more but cats are just fucking incredible.
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The amount of people in the replies to this tweet whatabouting is ridiculous.
https://twitter.com/eyecager/status/1369246677744369669?s=21
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Enraging.
If that’s real, either the purpose of the simulation is to generate bitcoin or we’ve found the Great Filter.
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