A Broad Definition Of Fraud
(On a Saturday afternoon, I spend my time online shopping for Christmas presents. The card I use is issued by my bank. Come Monday, I attempt to make another purchase, this time at the mall, only to be told my card is declined. As it’s after my bank’s closing time, I can’t do anything to fix this right away, so instead, I double-check the Saturday purchases to ensure the payments went through, which they did. During the check, I also notice my checking account is frozen, so I dig into that, as well, to see if a check I wrote Monday morning cleared, which it did. So, on Tuesday while I’m running errands, I visit my bank to sort this out. Courtesy of what I later deem good fortune, the branch manager handles this personally from the beginning.)
Manager: “We noticed several fraudulent charges on your card, so we cancelled it. And since the card accessed your checking account, we froze it, too.”
(That’s an immediate alarm bell, since there wasn’t even a record of a fraudulent attempt when I reviewed my purchases.)
Me: “Did you? And what were the charges for?”
(The manager proceeds to list all of my purchases from Saturday afternoon, with me interjecting after every one to state I made that purchase. Then, there’s total silence.)
Me: “Was that everything?”
Manager: “Yes.”
Me: “So, there was no fraud.”
Manager: “Yes, there was. See?”
(He proceeds to spin the monitor and show me that every previously-mentioned purchase was labeled as fraud.)
Me: “But I just confirmed these were my purchases.”
Manager: “Right.”
Me: “So, there was no fraud.”
Manager: “Yes, there was. Someone bought…” *and lists the purchases again*
Me: “But those were from me.”
Manager: “Right.”
Me: “So, how is me spending my own money ‘fraud’?”
Manager: “It’s not.”
Me: “…”
Manager: “…”
Me: “Then there were no fraudulent purchases on my card.”
Manager: “Yes, there were!” *aaaand he lists my purchases again*
Me: “So, let’s be clear. There was suspicious activity on my card Saturday.”
Manager: “Right.”
Me: “Rather than reach out to inform me and confirm the charges actually were fraud, you made the decision yourselves, froze my accounts, and cancelled the card while leaving me completely in the dark.”
Manager: “Right.”
Me: “However, you put the holds on only after confirming payment on the suspicious charges; meaning had they actually not been me, you would have allowed a fraudster to obtain those goods on my dime.”
Manager: “R-Right.”
Me: “Then, when I wrote a check on Monday, it cleared with no trouble, despite the freeze on my account.”
Manager: “…”
Me: “I’m going to need you to close my accounts. I no longer believe that my money is safe here.”
(Despite his many pleas, I followed through. Luckily for the bank staff, they were just stupid, not malicious; I don’t know what their superiors did when my complaint made it to their desks, but there were no legal consequences for them to face. The next closest bank I could deposit my money into was about five more minutes away, took me off of my regular route when I ran errands, and didn’t offer rates that were as generous. However, when I made an unusual purchase most systems would flag as suspicious, I was emailed and texted almost instantly to clarify it was me and had no trouble keeping the accounts and cards active.)
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Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
