Fraudulent Withdrawals : Is Someone Else Spending Your Money?

We've all heard of email scams that generally begin with the words: "Congratulations, you've won a large sum of money." The email then proceeds to outline the steps you--the recipient--should take to submit your bank information (including your routing number and your actual account number) to the sender of the email so he or she can make sure you receive your large sum of money. In actuality, emails like this are a scheme to get your information from you so that identity thieves can siphon money out of your bank account and into their own. Instead of a large sum of money, you will quickly find yourself with $0.

What you may not be aware of, however, is that this process has now evolved to include "telemarketers" who pose as your bank or financial instituition so they can access your account information and drain your bank account before you even realize what's happened. Never give your personal information out to someone who has called you. Your bank should already have your account information on file and shouldn't have to call and ask you for it. Unless you call your bank personally, and you are confident that you are talking to your actual bank, sensitive account information should NEVER be given out over the phone. This is the most important and yet easy way to prevent identity theft.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has created the "Telemarketing Sales Rule" to help protect consumers from fraudulent telemarketers. If you regularly review you bank statements--making sure that every purchase posted to your account really was authorized by you--then your chances of becoming a victim of bank fraud are slim. However, slim and none are not the same things.

No two banks will handle bank fraud in the exact same way. But banks that are under the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) Code must comply with clearly outlined regulations for how they handle the matter. The legal action you will need to take depends on how the money was stolen from your account. Money taken by electronic funds transfer falls under federal jurisdiction because the crime could have been committed in any state. In other cases, where money was stolen by check or another non-electronic form, that crime will fall under state law in the state in which the crime was committed.

Because each act of bank fraud may be handled slightly differently than the one before it, make sure you read the latest information on bank fraud at www.ftc.gov.