NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – A New Smyrna Beach couple received a fraud alert message from their bank about suspicious activity on their account.
Despite disputing the charge, $950 was withdrawn from their account.
Austin and Jessica Reaves are still trying to understand how it happened.
“I think the bank should have protected me in that situation, and they didn’t,” Austin Reaves said. “It was clear fraud.”
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Their bank, Wells Fargo, also flagged the charge as suspicious.
The Reaves received a high-priority notification in their account from “fraud detection” asking them to review recent card activity.
At the same time, they got a text message asking, “Do you recognize the declined transaction of $950 to Coinbase on card 3585? Reply Yes or No.”
The Reaves replied “No,” but the bank’s system responded, “invalid command,” and…
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.