My wallet was stolen out of my car at a kids’ sporting event, and my bank gave the thieves my new account number

How many times have you left your valuables in a locked car, on the floor of the back seat? I don’t usually leave my purse in the car, but we were running late for our kids’ swim meet at a city pool, and I was rushing to grab the chairs and cooler out of the back and failed to grab it. As we were finishing up our Kona Ice at the end of the meet, some coaches walked over to our small group of families and asked if we drove a white mini van because it had been broken into.

Sure enough, the driver’s side back door window had been busted out, and my purse as well as a tote bag with the portable dvd players. We immediately called our two banks, NC State Employees Credit Union and Wells Fargo, to cancel the debit cards. Over the phone, Wells Fargo gave us an account transfer to a new account number to prevent theft since I had a check in my wallet. We called the credit card companies to report all the stolen cards. We called the police. None of our cards had been used, so we felt a bit relieved but still unnerved about the loss of property and the damage to the car window. Another car parked several spaces down had also been broken into, and as we waited on the police to come, Mel (name changed) filled us in on where her credit cards were being swiped — $300 at Game Stop, a purchase at Dollar General Express (DGX) downtown by the bus station.

Our dear friends offered to take the kids to their house, and we agreed as the back seats were covered in broken glass. Finally, an officer arrived, took some notes and gave us a case number. On the way home, we ran by what we thought was the correct Game Stop to ask the cashier what they had seen, but it was already closed. That evening I called Equifax to place a fraud alert. I googled several lists of what to do if your wallet is stolen. Joe had purchased identity theft protection already, so I was again relieved.

The next day, Mel and I texted back and forth sharing what we had done to get information and find answers. We didn’t go together, but we were basically making the same rounds through Raleigh. We both went to the DGX and were shown video feed of the guy who used her card to buy a Visa card. Using a credit card to but a Visa card is not allowed at this store, but there was a new employee who slipped up and approved the purchase. The staff there figured he had taken the bus line that runs by Game Stop on Millbrook and Capital and then changed to the bus that runs downtown. Mel and I also both went to the Game Stop. She was able to get a security image, and we both left our information with the store clerk. Still, my cards had not been used, so I was going off illegal use of her cards. We both went to the Transit Lost and Found counter to leave our information and case number and descriptions of our stolen property in the off-chance the thief would have discarded the wallets and bags on a bus or that maybe there was security feed on the bus. My oldest son and I searched the greenway trail behind the pool to see if my bag was out there.

The following Monday, July 1, I got a call from a branch of State Employees Credit Union about an hour west of Raleigh asking if I just went through the drive-through. I hadn’t. The manager said that a woman attempted to use my drivers license and debit card to cash a stolen check. The teller had questioned the driver, which spooked the woman who drove off without my cards or the check. At this point I had already ordered a duplicate license and requested she destroy that one for me. I gave her the RPD case number and then called RPD investigations with the new information. The local town police called me, and I gave them the case number as well. By the time I spoke to the bank manager again with some follow-up questions, RPD had already been in contact with them. The bank had a picture of the thief’s face and a plate number, which was passed on to the town police and RPD. Apparently, she looked pretty similar to me.

You would think this was the end of it, but no. I had recently renewed my license, and both copies were in my wallet. This was my biggest mistake other than leaving the purse in the car. I’m sentimental. I wanted to save the old ID and should have moved it somewhere else. On July 6, a Saturday, I was at Lowes when Joe called me to say there was a problem – $7,000 had been taken from our Wells Fargo account. In the online records, there were two deposit slips for checks with cash back. On both of those slips was our NEW account number. The checks were from the same town as the previous stolen check at SECU, and clearly had not gone through, so the bank was charging us the $7000 for the deposit and cash withdrawn along with a $24 fee. I left my cart and came home. Joe and I both called Wells Fargo to report the fraud. We then went to a branch of our bank that was open on a Saturday and spent a couple hours closing the account and opening a new one. We lost our grandfathered account perks in the process, but there was no other choice. A transferred account hadn’t prevented fraud, but hopefully a completely new account would. We ordered new checks and new cards again. That night and next day we spent HOURS updating billpay, passwords, accounts, etc.

Our biggest concern was how on earth did the thief get our new account number and what would stop them from getting it again? The only explanation was that a teller looked up the account information for the thief who provided my ID and old, cancelled debit card. This apparently happened in Wichita, Kansas according to one WF employee or Brentwood/Nashville, Tennessee according to a different WF employee, at two separate branches. Did the teller not recognize that this was an out of state license or that the debit card number had been changed? Was the teller in on the scam? I’ve read multiple articles now about how the bank teller is the point of greatest security weakness. Personally, I’ve had tellers often fill in my account number for me on a deposit slip in the drive-through line and give me a card with my account number on it so I wouldn’t lose it. On Sunday, I called WF several times to figure out how to put a freeze on debit card use and was told I had to go into a branch to enact an alert like that. Finally on Monday, July 8, we were able to get an alert on our account that would prevent any use of our debit cards at the bank without a security check and banker or manager manual override. They were reluctant to do this, but Joe reminded them that he technically had been a customer since 1981, and the only other option was to find a new place to take his business. I followed up by enacting a credit freeze through Equifax.

Meanwhile, over that weekend, we had images of the stolen checks with names and address and their bank name on the check. I left a voice message on the security line of that bank and tried to find out how to contact the names on the check. Joe was worried they might actually be the thieves. Their bank called me Monday morning and said that yes, there had been a scam on their customers, and the bank thanked me for the information. I passed on my RPD case number. I’ve passed out that case number like Halloween candy this past week. I finally made contact with the husband on the account, and he told me that his wife’s car was broken into at a park in Wake Forest, along with multiple other cars, on the Saturday following our break-in. He shared that it was a gang that was hitting cars up and down the east coast. This same scheme had also happened before to nearly 15 cars at a gym in Cary. Sure enough, a Google search showed that there was an incident in Cary at the beginning of the year, and the criminals from Boca Raton FL had been arrested mid-June. There was a leader that organized the break-ins. They would immediately max out stolen credit cards and then run the identity fraud at banks. I don’t know if this was the same ring that hit us, but it sounded just the same.

Tuesday, I called back the Fraud Department at Wells Fargo. They promised to expedite our claim, and finally, yesterday or nine days after the stolen checks were deposited to our account, we got our money back from Wells Fargo.

If you are shocked by this, know that I am too. I thought it was a simple “smash and grab”, as one banker called it, by a local criminal who was looking for cash and credit cards and would toss the bag. I felt stupid for being that person that leaves valuables in the car. This was highly sophisticated theft and happens way more commonly that I would have ever known had it not happened to me and made me aware.

Here are my takeaways:

1. Don’t leave valuables in the car.
2. Don’t park in the back of a lot near a dumpster or trees that provide good cover for thieves.
3. Leave debit cards at home. With credit cards offering such good cash-back deals and having much quicker responses to fraud, I will probably never carry a debit card in my wallet again unless taking a trip to the bank. Don’t carry excess information in your wallet – not checks, definitely not a social security card!
4. If your wallet is stolen, cancelling a debit card is not enough. If your bank has lax teller policies (consider that ANY branch is your bank), then you need to close out that account or get a heavy alert put on your account. Canceling a debit card may prevent withdrawals, but it does not prevent deposits. This is how they stole from us – deposit with cash back. By the time the check was run by the bank, the thieves already had cash in hand.
5. No one cares as much about your case and security as you do. Pass on the case number to all parties and pass on all information to the investigators. Keep track of when you have contacted people.
6. Know how secure your bank is and considering moving to one you can trust. Props to NC SECU for giving the thief the stink eye. I am so grateful for their actions and follow-up! Wells Fargo, shame on you. I’m considering only using our State Employees Credit Union as there are only branches in NC. This whole run a few states over and cash out couldn’t happen.
7. The back windows on many cars are not connected to the car’s alarm system, and thieves know this. Again, don’t leave valuables in the car.

I don’t know what the final resolution of this will all be. Hopefully those responsible will be caught and punished. I was cautioned to keep an eye on my accounts for 3-4 months as sometimes they will make follow-up attempts when you are just letting down your guard. Has this happened to you? Have any advice to share?