GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A woman said scammers stole $19,000 from her bank account. She says they knew things she thought only the bank would know.
Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray has covered cases like this, but this one is using a new tactic.
The criminals are trying to stay one step ahead of the banks. In the past, they have used account takeovers, transferring money to themselves.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Now, more are using so-called debit card cash advances, where the cash is gone immediately, and it’s harder for banks to stop or for you to get your money back.
“My phone rang, it was USAA,” Allison Adams said. “And he told me he was with the fraud department.”
Adams said she was told that money had been stolen out of her bank account.
“He’s like, ‘We want to stop this, from them getting your money,’” she said.
Adams said the man on the phone knew specific information about her that made her think he was legit, so when he asked for a code sent by USAA, even though it says do not share, she read it to him.
Erik Beguin of Austin Capital Bank says in most of these cases, the scammers already have everything else they need except that code. They have already purchased info about you stolen from data breaches.
“This is not some hacker in a hoodie in their mom’s basement,” Beguin said. “These are sophisticated companies in Southeast Asia or wherever they are, with thousands of employees.”
In Adams’ case, the scammer still pretending to be the fraud department convinced her she needed to go deposit $19,000 at local Chase Bank to help catch the crooks.
“He wanted me to fill out a deposit ticket for the $19,000,” she said. “And he wanted me too to deposit it. And he said that it wouldn’t go through because my account had already been shut down.”
That’s when the money was actually stolen. The scammers locked her out of her USAA account right after.
“It’s my husband’s retirement and disability money, so everything he’s worked for for 22 years,” Adams said.
USAA denied Adams’ fraud claim, saying it determined there wasn’t any evidence of fraudulent activity because she gave the crooks access to the account herself and made the deposit herself.
“If you hand that over voluntarily, it doesn’t matter if you’re tricked,” Beguin said. “Most account agreements are written so that you’re liable.”
“We will never ask you to share your one-time access code, and we will never tell you to send money to another bank,” USAA said in a statement. “These are instant red flags, and a sign to stop and call us immediately.”
“It’s eaten me alive. Yeah, it’s all I think about,” Adams said.
The biggest advice from experts like Beguin is always hang up when you get a call like this.
Call the financial institution back yourself. Slow down and talk to someone you trust.
He even suggests tossing what’s happening into an AI program like ChatGPT, which will likely flag it as fraud.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
