scams

Can you Refund Stolen Money from a Bank Account?

Refund Stolen Money

Nothing makes you feel quite as helpless as discovering you are the victim of credit card or identity fraud. When I fell prey to a pickpocket, I recall just how defenseless I felt sitting alone in a foreign police station. I returned home that evening, feeling defeated and foolish that a stranger had access to my banking and personal information. So how do you refund stolen money from your bank account, and how can you protect yourself?

First Response after Discovering Stolen Money

Everyone has advice as to what you should have done to prevent the situation, but the most important question is how to recover your funds after the fact. The first step is to notify your bank or credit union as soon as you notice fraudulent activity. The sooner you are aware and report the problem, the better your chances to receive a full refund. In my personal experience, I was able to have the charges waived during a phone call with my credit card company simply because I reported the incident within 24 hours of the transaction.

There is some good news in this financial nightmare; federal laws do protect victims of fraud. If the card is reported lost or stolen within two business days, you cannot be charged more than $50 of the total losses. The limit increases to $500 if it is reported after two days. However, if you fail to notify the bank within 60 days after your monthly statement with the error was issued, you may be held responsible for the full amount.

Refunding the Stolen Money

Once you have contacted the bank, it will issue an alert and freeze your accounts to prevent further unauthorized transactions. Your bank or credit union will then launch an investigation to determine that an error has occurred.

The whole process generally takes about ten business days to resolve. The bank must correct the error and notify you of its findings within three business days. If the investigation lasts longer than 20 days, the financial institution will usually issue a temporary credit to your account and possibly request a written confirmation of the incident.

There are extenuating circumstances that could take up to 90 days to refund the stolen money from your account. Charges made in foreign countries, accounts open for less than 30 days, and point-of-sale purchases require more extensive investigations.

In most instances, the bank will correct the error and refund the stolen money to your bank account if it is clear you are not at fault. There are some cases in which the bank determines that the transactions were authorized. You will be provided a written notice of their results and any temporary credit may be deducted from your account. If the bank rejects your claim, you have the option to escalate an appeal to the internal complaints department or a Financial Ombudsman Service.

Prevent Yourself from Becoming a Victim

Even if you have had money stolen from your bank accounts, there are still measures you can take to prevent it from happening in the future.

  1. Never give out your PIN number or keep it written anywhere in your wallet.
  2. Set up an online banking profile and check your activity regularly.
  3. Carefully examine your monthly statements.
  4. Generate an automated notification for any large transactions from your account.
  5. Check your credit reports.

The most important thing is to stay vigilant and monitor your finances. If you suspect that someone may have opened additional accounts or loan applications under your name, you can contact the FTC at 877-438-4338 or online at identitytheft.gov. Anyone can fall victim to scammers, but thanks to modern technology we now have more protection than ever before.

Refund Stolen Money

Read More

Top 9 Tips To Avoid Make Money Online Traps

We do more things online than off it – be it connecting with others or making money. The internet of all things offers you dozens of opportunities for making some money. Nevertheless, with better opportunities come bigger troubles.

Humans are attuned to draw meaning from a person’s body language. Duping people becomes difficult in real life, because body language is hard to control and fake. On the internet, however, this hurdle is easily crossed by scammers, fraudsters or anyone else trying to manipulate you.

Without any real interaction, deceivingsomeone becomes very easy.  Cyber-scams have been on the rise in the recent years.  Surely the internet has opened the floodgates of money-making opportunities, but tricks and traps have become commonplace for online workers.

There are many easy ways to make money online. However, prudence should be practiced so as to not fall victim to scams and traps. Here are some online money making traps to avoid.

  1. Match Betting Sites

There are numerous sites that let you bet for or against the teams playing in real time. If the sites selected are genuine, you might be able to win some good money in betting. Caution should be practiced here – the sites for betting should be genuine and should not make you pay a registration fee. These should be verified and authenticated. Most countries have licensed betting sites, so you should try to gauge which ones are genuine before registering and loading your wallet.

  1. Paid Search On The Web

Many websites provide cash for searching on the web.  They have paid links, which allow them to pay out for searches. These could all be a sham. You should only search on the tried and tested sites which do not provide paid links.Such links might induce viruses in your devices. Very few paid searches are genuine and completely safe to use.

  1. Online Surveys

Online Surveys are a very popular method of generating side income for cash-strapped students, home-makers, senior citizens or anyone who has some time to spare in their day. Companies like to know how their product or service is faring in the market. They pay marketing research agencies to conduct market surveys.

Many websites invite you to participate in surveys that pay cash. It merely takes a few minutes to fill the form. Based on the survey complexity and duration, your pay will vary. The rewards can be in form of cash or coupons. Genuine websites don’t ask for a registration fee from you. You do not have to pay for something that you’re supposed to earn from.

  1. Job Emails

Many times you may have come across emails that promise you a good salary while working from home – the idea is obviously appealing. Unsolicited emails of such sort are mostly unscrupulous. However attractive the opportunity appears, be wary of it.

Do not respond to such emails.If you participate in such transactions you’ll become what’s known as a money mule, and guilty of money laundering or of aiding and abetting criminal activity. If you get caught, you could face a hefty fine and potentially, a criminal record.

  1. Online Shopping and Secondhand Selling Sites

There are legitimate buyers and sellers and then there are scammers that misuse the anonymity of internet to deceive unsuspecting shoppers. If you are selling on an ecommerce platform, ensure the website has positive reviews and a community where people share their experiences, and share warnings about possible suspicious sale and purchase activity. Otherwise you may lose money as well as your product.

Here’s the telltale sign of a scam. Buyers often a higher price than agreed and ask you to refund the amount later, or overseas buyers are willing to buy items which are commonly available (like chairs, couches etc.). Offers that sound too good to be true, are generally so, hence be diligent in how you deal with such miraculous deals.

  1. Online Market Trading

Many online trading platforms let you trade stocks online. Only the trusted and most used websites should only be used for online trading purpose. Generally, fake sites show schemes like “earn $1,000 in 5 minutes”, which are too good to be true.If done right, trading can make you a handsome side salary or even become your main income source.

  1. Investing in Bitcoins and Cryptocurrencies

2017 year saw a gigantic surge in cryptocurrency trading across the globe. Many websites offer to purchase the most profitable cryptocurrencies for you, and promise exponential returns – beware of such sites. Invitations to these websites might usually appear as pop-ups. Cryptocurrency trade is not easy; it requires understanding the currencies and the market sentiments.

  1. Geo-targeted Ads

Be wary of ads that give area specific rags to riches stories. They might be showcasing a legitimate heart-warming tale like “this man who was homeless in (your area) turned his life around in just 30 days, if he can, so can you”. Avoid clicking on such links; they are the definition of a scam.

  1. Automatic Membership Renewal

Membership websites and subscription products give out free trials mentioning to “just pay for the shipping”. The subscription of these websites is automatically renewed. It might be in your best interest to go through the website carefully, read the return, refund, cancellation policy and read customer testimonials on the website before subscribing and giving out confidential information about yourself.

  1. Refundable Dollar Subscriptions

Any websites which provides this kind of a subscription stating the $1 you invest will be refunded is basically checking for your willingness to pay. Personal information is what they are really after.

Concluding Remarks

Some other definite ways in which you can save yourself from money making traps are by registering only at renowned job exchange websites. Online scams may have bigger consequences than only the loss of your money. They could spoil your reputation, cause social embarrassment, and wreck your spirit for entrepreneurship forever.