America’s 20th-largest bank by total assets is accused of refusing to reimburse a customer who lost money to a scammer impersonating the lender.
It started when Thomas McConnell’s wife received a text message claiming to be from USAA asking her to verify a credit card purchase, reports Fox San Antonio.
“After responding ‘no’ she did not make the charge, she immediately got a call from someone she thought worked at USAA. ‘On the caller ID it said USAA,’ McConnell recounted. He says his wife was asked to pass along sensitive account information. Thinking she was talking to a USAA agent, she did.
When she checked her account, and did not see a pending charge, she called USAA to tell them about the fraud alert. ‘And they said well that’s not us,’ McConnell said. It was in that moment she knew she’d been tricked.”
According to the report, the McConnells’ lost approximately $10,000 after about half the amount was transferred from out of their checking account while $5,600 was charged to their USAA credit card.
Fox San Antonio reports that the McConnells neither received an alert on the unusual transaction nor that their credit card had been used.
After the incident, which occurred in August of 2022, Thomas McConnell called USAA several times trying to get his money back but without any success.
According to Fox San Antonio, the McConnells had to borrow from family members to help with their living expenses and they continued to pay off the interest on the credit card charge.
However, Thomas McConnell recently decided to turn to Fox San Antonio’s The Problem Solver for help, and the couple now has their funds back.
The bank has also returned the interest the McConnells were forced to pay throughout the ordeal.
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