What To Do About Fraudulent Transactions On Your Online Bank Account

If you have found any discrepancies in your statement, it's important to record these fraudulent statements. This could be anything from withdrawals you may have missed, transactions that haven’t shown up in your account, or transactions that you didn’t make that do appear in your statement.

When dealing with unauthorized transactions in particular, here are a few steps about what to do if you have an online bank account, such as MoneyLion.

Contact Your Bank

If you’ve gone through your bank statement and found fraudulent transactions, follow up with your online bank to resolve the issue. They should be able to let you know if the transaction was made through a credit or debit card, or if it was transferred electronically. This is critical because with a transaction through a debit card, you can simply cancel the card.

With electronic transactions, you will, unfortunately, need to close out your account. While inconvenient, it's best safe than sorry in these situations. When investigating the charge, your bank should already have a temporary freeze on the account while sorting things out. Don’t worry this shouldn’t affect your FICO FICO credit score

Contact Other Parties

After working with your bank, the next step is to contact other parties involved, such as companies or people that have mischarged you. Some vendors will help press fraud charges that you can use to file with the police, but it depends on the vendor and what charge was made. By checking your transactions as frequently as possible, you can catch a fraudulent charge while it’s still pending, saving you the time it takes to dispute the money credited to your account. Always review and be on the lookout!

File A Fraud Or Police Report

If there are significant changes, you might need to file a police report with your local police department. Visit your nearest police precinct, call in or file a report online. When calling, make sure to call the non-emergency line to have an officer help you.

Switch To Your New Account

If you had to close your account because of electronic fraudulent transactions, the last step is to switch your information into the new account or card. Switch everything directly into this account, and switch everything that was directly depositing from that account, including Netflix NFLX accounts to mailing subscription memberships.

Preventatively Secure Your Finances

When a thief gets a hold of your social security number, or individual taxpayer identification number, they have the ability to file a tax return to claim their fraudulent refunds. Download a firewall or antivirus protections this spring to help amp your security. Take some time to make sure your security software is updated for the highest available technological protection. Make sure your social security card is stowed away somewhere safe, and shred any miscellaneous documents holding private information.

Only 45% of credit card fraud was accounted for in 2014. Although this is a scary process, you are not alone. Try to seek immediate help from your bank, police and vendors for the best possibility of restoring your funds.

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