York, PA asked in Identity Theft for Pennsylvania

Q: I had 1 checking acct, savings acct, and an IRA opened using my personal information, all unauthorized & without consent

All transactions were originated from bank location where my son's dad was a new employee at the time, and also withdrew money from the only checking acct I did authorize without my consent. I contacted the corporate office to file a complaint, and was told they were investigating the matter. The person assigned to case gave me the run around, and I had to call numerous times to get answers, but it seemed they were hoping it would go away without any action on there part. When I would call in to customer service, they admitted to me several times the my case was not being handled properly, and there were no documents/paperwork to justify these account being established. No signature from me, and was nowhere near the branch they were established at, which they could check surveillance to verify. The checking and savings were quietly disappeared, IRA is still open.I know what they did isn't right,and I have all docs needed to prove this & emails from person responsible. What can I do?

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2 Lawyer Answers
Rachel Lea Hunter
Rachel Lea Hunter
Answered
  • Cary, NC
  • Licensed in Pennsylvania

A: File a police report. Financial identity fraud is a crime. The person who did this can be prosecuted so if its your son's dad, then he may go off to jail.

Follow the directions for fact sheet 17a at www.privacyrights.org. You can also sue the son's dad as well as the organizations to the extent they were also culpable in this. If the son's dad did this without the bank's knowledge, then the bank may not be liable. Your son's dad will be fired.

The IRA would be with a separate entity from the bank. You are going to need the police report to contact all the financial entities as well as the credit bureaus.

You need the police report for the credit bureaus to get a free copy of your credit report and see if any other accounts were created. If so, these need disputed. You will have to fill out fraud affidavits and dispute these accounts with the furnishers/creditors. If there is nothing on your credit report, you still may want to put a security freeze or extended fraud alert in place. IRAs and bank accounts will not show up on credit reports. Bank accounts will show up on a Chex Systems report. You may need to get that as well and see what is on there.

Rachel Lea Hunter
Rachel Lea Hunter
Answered
  • Cary, NC
  • Licensed in Pennsylvania

A: File a police report. Financial identity fraud is a crime. The person who did this can be prosecuted so if its your son's dad, then he may go off to jail.

Follow the directions for fact sheet 17a at www.privacyrights.org. You can also sue the son's dad as well as the organizations to the extent they were also culpable in this. If the son's dad did this without the bank's knowledge, then the bank may not be liable. Your son's dad will be fired.

The IRA would be with a separate entity from the bank. You are going to need the police report to contact all the financial entities as well as the credit bureaus.

You need the police report for the credit bureaus to get a free copy of your credit report and see if any other accounts were created. If so, these need disputed. You will have to fill out fraud affidavits and dispute these accounts with the furnishers/creditors. If there is nothing on your credit report, you still may want to put a security freeze or extended fraud alert in place. IRAs and bank accounts will not show up on credit reports. Bank accounts will show up on a Chex Systems report. You may need to get that as well and see what is on there.

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