Woman loses $8,000 in savings account due to hacking

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (KGO) -- When you deposit money into a savings account, how safe is it? A Marin County woman thought her savings was secure, until she found out hackers were using her money to pay their bills. This story will send you scrambling to your bank statements.

A viewer in San Anselmo socked away thousands of dollars in a savings account. She never realized a crook was quietly draining the account when she wasn't looking. To make matters worse, her bank said it was too late to get the money back.

The last time she checked, Kim Starr had about $8,000 in her savings account. That's why she was so surprised to get and email from her bank saying she had insufficient funds. The notice said there weren't enough funds to cover her latest purchase, but she hadn't bought anything.

She rushed to check her Wells Fargo statements and was shocked to find a bunch of strange charges. There was a $1,036.10 payment for something called "Schwan's Frozen Food," but she had no idea what Schwan's was.

She found another $800 charge for more frozen food, then a $700, $600 and $500 charge all to Schwan's just during the month of December alone. She also found payments to PG&E, Charter Communications and Recology that she didn't make. Thieves were using her account to pay their own bills.

"It was just distressing to realize that, you know, somebody else was just... dipping in and using it however they wanted," Starr said.

The crooks siphoned $8,000 from her account over six months until there was nothing left.

"I felt violated. Like how did this happen? This is my savings account. Who has access to it? How did they get access to it?" Starr asked.

No one at Wells Fargo could explain it. Police are investigating.

"I was told there are a thousand ways that they can get access to the account, which was even more distressing," Starr said.

Wells Fargo reimbursed her for only the first two months of fraudulent charges, which totaled about $3,200. By law, she'd be entitled to more if she had reported the crime right away. But Starr says she didn't even know someone was draining her money.

She contacted Seven On Your Side and we contacted Wells Fargo. The bank looked into her case again. Turns out, Schwan's and the other merchants paid back that stolen money. Wells Fargo returned it to Starr after all, telling us, "We continuously monitor accounts for unauthorized transactions, and it is very important for customers to monitor their accounts frequently. The sooner we're aware of unauthorized transactions, the faster we can act to prevent fraud."

Starr will sure be checking hers.

"Just, you know a hard lesson learned. So I was very happy when I got it back," said Starr.

Central Marin police are now investigating leads on who was ordering all that frozen food. This is another reason to check your statements often.

By law, if you report an illegal money transfer within two days, the bank must reimburse you for all but $50.

Here are links to some of the bank rules:

Regulation E - Sec. 205.6 Liability of consumer for unauthorized transfers

Regulation E - Compliance Guide to Electronic Fund Transfers