COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A Cobb County retiree has recovered $70,000 stolen from his bank account after Channel 2 Action News intervened, prompting Bank of America to reverse its initial denial of his fraud claim.
Henry Waleczko, a 74-year-old resident of Cobb County, discovered that $70,000 had been fraudulently withdrawn from his savings accounts.
Despite multiple denial letters from Bank of America, which claimed there was no unusual activity, the bank eventually refunded the money after Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray got involved.
“They lost my money and won’t give it back,” Waleczko said, expressing his frustration after the bank denied his claims three times. “I logged on and saw that someone had hacked out $70,000 from two savings accounts of ours.”
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Waleczko, who worked for decades as a voice-over artist and musician, relies on rental properties for his retirement income.
He was concerned about his financial situation, especially with taxes due in October.
“Now I’m thinking, gee, I’m going to be asking the bank for a loan before this is all over because taxes are due October,” Waleczko said.
The fraudulent activity involved adding the fraudsters’ names to Waleczko’s accounts and quickly moving the money out. Despite this, the bank initially refused to acknowledge any unauthorized activity.
Waleczko contacted Channel 2 Action News after receiving multiple denial letters from Bank of America. Once Gray got involved, Bank of America changed its tune.
In a statement, Bank of America said: “We take account fraud very seriously. After receiving additional information, we were able to determine criminals used malware to compromise our client’s computer and access his account.”
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