Bank argh

Okay, this has happened twice now. Someone has done an electronic transfer from our bank accounts to pay their bills. I don't know who this is, but it's happened twice in six weeks. The first time, the payment was from Sprint; someone's cell phone bill for $50. I went in to the credit union, signed an affidavit saying this was an unauthorized transfer, the money was refunded and we're done. But then this week, I check my account again online and there was a debit for $188 to Citi-something.

So I called them up and asked what was going on. I told the teller I thought we were being targeted for fraud, and I didn't want to come in once every six weeks to repair this damage. Was there anything they could do to stop this from happening again? No, not really, she says. You get 60 days to report suspicious activity, and that's our consumer protection right there. I'm thinking, why should I have to monitor this so closely (not like I don't; I'm checking all my accounts regularly for just such a situation as this). But still, isn't there anything they can do to make sure it doesn't happen to us again. No, no, I don't think so, she says.

So I ask her, can't I just close the account and then reopen another with a different number. That should stop the unauthorized charges, right? I mean, the numbers would no longer be the same. Oh, sure, she says, we can do that no problem. That's right. The numbers would be different, and so they couldn't continued to withdraw. I can do that for you right over the phone.

Uh, yeah. So why didn't you mention this possibility when I asked repeatedly if there was anything you could do for me?

It's not rocket science, people.

I hope this does the trick. I've been there twice now signing affidavits and switching accounts around and transfering money. I hope this fraudster is now stopped in his tracks.