CHARLOTTE — Jada Wilkinson said she saw that fateful email, all her money wiped out, transferred to a person she said she didn’t recognize.
“They left it at zero,” she said. “I work full-time, I’m also a full-time student, so, you know, when you take out $2,000 from my account, you know, especially with this economy, it really does put, you know, a hurt on me.”
She insists she didn’t do anything wrong, didn’t share her account information with anyone she didn’t know, didn’t click a link she shouldn’t have, etc.
“I have no idea how they got access,” she said.
She filed a claim with the financial institution, Chime. Technically, it’s not a bank. But — in a lot of ways — it acts like one.
Wilkinson says Chime denied her claim, writing, “[N]o error occurred. Therefore, no funds will be credited to your account...”
“The more I think about the more upset I get because I work hard for that money right now. I just I just want it back. That’s it, simply,” she said.
“We take matters like this very seriously and our team thoroughly reviews these cases. While privacy considerations prevent us from disclosing individual member data, we stand by the decisions based on our investigations,” Chime says.
Erik Beguin, of Austin Capital Bank, says fraud attacks are big business themselves, usually hundreds or even thousands of people working together, often in southeast Asia.
“They’re using the latest AI tools and they’re innovating rapidly to try to defraud Americans,” he said.
Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke says no matter what money app you use:
- Always pause before you pay.
- Only send money to people you know and trust.
- Don’t trust a caller just because they say they’re with your financial institution.
- If you think there’s any chance the caller may be right, hang up and call the company directly.
- You can always file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
>>CLICK HERE for more Action 9 reports
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