Yesterday a hacker emptied my checking account, and it was my fault.

by TribeIn5

Yesterday I was walking up the stairs to my apartment with bags of groceries and my phone rang, it was an 800 number. I ignored it. They called again right away, I ignored it again. I googled the number to find out it was my bank. I was about to call back and they called again, I picked up.

Thinking they were going to say “did you just make a transaction of $76.44 at grocery store I never go to?” Upon answering I said “yeah it was me at GS.” And he interrupted me saying “no no no, sir, your pin was just approved at a Wells Fargo ATM in county, was this you?”

I got angry quickly, but he calmed me down saying “it’s ok, we can file a claim for the charges, get local police involved” etc. he confirmed my most recent transactions and asked me if they were me or not. I confirmed. He had me verify my birthday and full name, nothing more.

His plan was to suspend my online banking until I received my new debit card (1-3 days with expedited shipping, they would waive the cost due to the circumstances). After receiving my new debit card I would have to call the number on the sticker on the front of the card to activate it and update my pin. I agreed. I had him update my email address and my new shipping address after he asked if I was still at number street, city, state zip. That was the end of our conversation, he told me not to stress too much about it and it would get resolved.

As soon as we hung up the phone my roommate goes “you know hackers can call from numbers that aren’t there’s.”

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And I did, but I didn’t think about it while it was happening to me. I immediately called my bank (at the same exact number) and told them what was happening. I filled them in and told them how dumb I was, while in the back of my mind commending the guy for how professional and thorough he was. She did confirm that it was a hacker, he now had access to my online bank info, which is everything. Account number, routing number, history, personal info etc etc.

We froze my account. Inconvenient because I live in a state that does not have this particular bank chain. I was told to call this morning to update fraud using a reference number I was given so I did first thing. My account was frozen and he asked me to tell him my most recent transaction, so I did. He said “ok, do not be alarmed, did you make four zelle transactions to hackers fake name for the exact balance of your checking account?”

He knew I hadn’t. He said because I called yesterday I SHOULD be refunded, but wasn’t guaranteed. He did confirm the account is frozen. The hacker did leave behind that fake name, a burner cell phone number, and an email address. I called his cell phone number 19 times today, he picked up twice, briefly. We exchanged some words.

I am now waiting to hear from the bank as to what goes on next. Have you ever experienced this? What should I do now?

TL;DR: A hacker called me from my banks phone number, asked all relevant (not revealing) questions and gained access to my bank info. I filed a claim with the bank and am waiting to hear back.

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