USAA savings acct hacked for 5 figures

MichaelB said:
Even though you have spoken with USAA at least twice on this and your account has been frozen, you still need to report this in writing - proof that you reported the fraud in a timely manner. You should send the letter certified, with return receipt. Mentioning in the letter that you have filed a police report can be helpful.
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Will do. Picking up the police report tomorrow.
 
I split cash among several banks for this reason. If someone empties one account, there are others that will supply emergency funds while the bank taking the loss straightens out the mess.

I would include a copy of the police report in the certified letter.
 
Update: After a week of phone calls and certified mailings of police reports and letters, USAA has made me whole. Apparently, the banking industry is regulated differently regarding forged checks versus ATM/credit card fraud. Of the dozen or so calls I made, I was given a different explanation each time, so I'm convinced that the experience level at USAA has decreased somewhat.

I've run virus/spyware scans on both of my computers and each time they've come up clean. We've moved all financial info to one dedicated Ubuntu (Linux) based laptop that remains offline 99 percent of the time. That laptop has one purpose and one purpose only. All my money has been moved to a local backup bank. I still don't know HOW someone got my account number and I suppose that will remain a mystery.

I sincerely hope that no one following this thread ever experiences a week such as this one. Thanks for all the advice...which was spot on.
 
Good news that you've been made whole, and although it may have seemed like a long battle, a week is really a short time to get full restitution.

davismills said:
I've run virus/spyware scans on both of my computers and each time they've come up clean. We've moved all financial info to one dedicated Ubuntu (Linux) based laptop that remains offline 99 percent of the time. That laptop has one purpose and one purpose only. All my money has been moved to a local backup bank. I still don't know HOW someone got my account number and I suppose that will remain a mystery.
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Check fraud pre-dates computer hacking by a hundred years or more. Account numbers are relatively easy to obtain, especially for a skilled check forger. I doubt your computer was involved, but it never hurts to take precautions.
 
davismills said:
Update: After a week of phone calls and certified mailings of police reports and letters, USAA has made me whole. Apparently, the banking industry is regulated differently regarding forged checks versus ATM/credit card fraud. Of the dozen or so calls I made, I was given a different explanation each time, so I'm convinced that the experience level at USAA has decreased somewhat.

I've run virus/spyware scans on both of my computers and each time they've come up clean. We've moved all financial info to one dedicated Ubuntu (Linux) based laptop that remains offline 99 percent of the time. That laptop has one purpose and one purpose only. All my money has been moved to a local backup bank. I still don't know HOW someone got my account number and I suppose that will remain a mystery.

I sincerely hope that no one following this thread ever experiences a week such as this one. Thanks for all the advice...which was spot on.
Click to expand...
1) Also examine the router and/or wireless for any vulnerabilities.
2) Think about who has physical access to your "secrets."
 
davismills said:
I still don't know HOW someone got my account number and I suppose that will remain a mystery.

I sincerely hope that no one following this thread ever experiences a week such as this one. Thanks for all the advice...which was spot on.
Click to expand...


They simply could have gotten your information off a check you wrote. We had that happen several times where I used to work. In one case, I suspected an employee copied a check at a vendor. There were two likely vendors in the area where the forged checks were being passed. They just created personal checks using our bank account info that is at the bottom of each check.




Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
davismills said:
Update: After a week of phone calls and certified mailings of police reports and letters, USAA has made me whole. Apparently, the banking industry is regulated differently regarding forged checks versus ATM/credit card fraud. Of the dozen or so calls I made, I was given a different explanation each time, so I'm convinced that the experience level at USAA has decreased somewhat.

I've run virus/spyware scans on both of my computers and each time they've come up clean. We've moved all financial info to one dedicated Ubuntu (Linux) based laptop that remains offline 99 percent of the time. That laptop has one purpose and one purpose only. All my money has been moved to a local backup bank. I still don't know HOW someone got my account number and I suppose that will remain a mystery.

I sincerely hope that no one following this thread ever experiences a week such as this one. Thanks for all the advice...which was spot on.
Click to expand...
Just curious - did USAA share with you if this fraud was carried out at a USAA branch or did it take place at another bank?
 
target2019 said:
1) Also examine the router and/or wireless for any vulnerabilities.
2) Think about who has physical access to your "secrets."
Click to expand...

You're over-thinking this.

akck said:
They simply could have gotten your information off a check you wrote. We had that happen several times where I used to work. In one case, I suspected an employee copied a check at a vendor. There were two likely vendors in the area where the forged checks were being passed. They just created personal checks using our bank account info that is at the bottom of each check.
Click to expand...

There's very little easier to come by than an account number. Then you can look up the routing number on the web. I do it all the time when I don't have my checkbook nearby. According to the OP's statements someone kited a couple of checks on him. That doesn't have anything to do with his computer. It would be like running Malwarebytes because somebody stole your car.
 
Ok I'm confused about how a fake check can be drawn against a savings account. I know every check has the account and routing info in plain text (why is that not encoded) but how does that provide access to a savings account ?


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
jazz4cash said:
Ok I'm confused about how a fake check can be drawn against a savings account. I know every check has the account and routing info in plain text (why is that not encoded) but how does that provide access to a savings account ?


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
Click to expand...

The reason the MICR isn't encoded is that today it's read by machines at about 100 checks a second. I'm assuming that's because prior when humans had to read cheques they had to be readable.

Can't explain the savings account.
 
MRG said:
The reason the MICR isn't encoded is that today it's read by machines at about 100 checks a second. I'm assuming that's because prior when humans had to read cheques they had to be readable.

Can't explain the savings account.
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Thanks but it seems your point is more in favor of encoding than plain text. (I can guess the meaning.but what does MICR stand for?)


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
MRG said:
The reason the MICR isn't encoded is that today it's read by machines at about 100 checks a second. I'm assuming that's because prior when humans had to read cheques they had to be readable.

Can't explain the savings account.
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Paper Account statement that fill into the hands of a bad actor?

I am pretty sure that banking ACH/EFT transfers will in general work for savings as well as checking accounts.

-gauss
 
jazz4cash said:
Ok I'm confused about how a fake check can be drawn against a savings account. I know every check has the account and routing info in plain text (why is that not encoded) but how does that provide access to a savings account ?


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
Click to expand...

USAA provides savings acct checks as well as normal checking account checks. Unfortunately, I still don't know how they got the savings acct number. We'd only used the savings account checks for large items like taxes, loan payoffs, etc. I suppose it would be very easy to paste anyone's acct number to a "new" check. I'll never look at checks the same way again.
 
MichaelB said:
Just curious - did USAA share with you if this fraud was carried out at a USAA branch or did it take place at another bank?
Click to expand...


USAA doesn't have many brick-and-mortar locations. There's only 17 "financial centers" in 11 states. I'm not even sure the financial centers do regular banking. I've had a USAA bank account for 29 years and have never set foot in one of their financial centers.
 
This is why I don't write checks on money market accounts where significant amounts of cash are kept. I transfer only the amount of money I need to the checking account and write the check on that account. Money market checks are locked away from prying eyes.
 
A few years back, when I logged on to my Suntrust account, I noticed that a transaction was pending. This account made it where a $1.00 transfer had to complete and the you could do wire transfer to different bank accounts. Luckily I logged in and caught this, if it went through, this person could of transferred all my money to their account. I had a freeze put on the account and Suntrust security's investigation traced the hack to the Ukraine. This took place on a Saturday and on Monday I closed the account with Suntrust. At the time, I only had about $9,000 in the account. I was so freaked out, I went on a spending frenzy to delete the funds. I paid off my bills for two months (putting extra money on the utility bills), bought gift cards, and a US Savings Bond.
 
Philliefan33 said:
USAA doesn't have many brick-and-mortar locations. There's only 17 "financial centers" in 11 states. I'm not even sure the financial centers do regular banking. I've had a USAA bank account for 29 years and have never set foot in one of their financial centers.
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We also bank with USAA. With check fraud, the bank that takes the check usually is liable if it is bad, I was just wondering if that was a USAA branch or another bank.

davismills said:
USAA provides savings acct checks as well as normal checking account checks. Unfortunately, I still don't know how they got the savings acct number. We'd only used the savings account checks for large items like taxes, loan payoffs, etc. I suppose it would be very easy to paste anyone's acct number to a "new" check. I'll never look at checks the same way again.
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Are these savings account checks the same as a checking account check, each one has the routing and account numbers printed on the front?
 
MichaelB said:
We also bank with USAA. With check fraud, the bank that takes the check usually is liable if it is bad, I was just wondering if that was a USAA branch or another bank.


Are these savings account checks the same as a checking account check, each one has the routing and account numbers printed on the front?
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Almost have to be. Why? USAA or anyone in the business of processing checks has to have very high throughput. The hardware for high end check imaging is expensive so they tend to reuse the same solutions. Stuff is amazing to watch, I never knew paper could be moved so fast. They also love to reuse the business solutions.

The other thing I've noticed is the additional security these institutions have around check processing. Back 25 years ago, I could get into Megacorp's check processing area, pretty much anytime. When I left, no way, if I had a major issue it would require business justification approved by a couple of VP's maybe, and then I would be watched the entire time.
 
MRG said:
Almost have to be. Why? USAA or anyone in the business of processing checks has to have very high throughput. The hardware for high end check imaging is expensive so they tend to reuse the same solutions. Stuff is amazing to watch, I never knew paper could be moved so fast. They also love to reuse the business solutions.

The other thing I've noticed is the additional security these institutions have around check processing. Back 25 years ago, I could get into Megacorp's check processing area, pretty much anytime. When I left, no way, if I had a major issue it would require business justification approved by a couple of VP's maybe, and then I would be watched the entire time.
Click to expand...


And this is an important point... the check processing machines do operate at a blinding speed... the checks are going through them at such a high speed that you cannot see them.... I was doing a cost study on a facility and asked a bunch of questions....

They can set the machine at different levels of confidence.... remember, it is the written amount on the check that is the determining factor of a check, not where you write in the number.... and many people write worse than a doctor.... so the machine has to determine what was written and then say how confident it is that it is correct.... if it is not sure the image of that check is sent to a human to manually input the info.... that is very costly... so some banks put a low confidence and hope the machine got it right and if not that the customer has to find the error and tell the bank to fix it...


I do not know when it was easy to get into a check processing area... sure, it was easier than where they counted cash but not a place even bank people could go without the proper reason...
 
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