ATLANTA — People are reaching out to Channel 2 Action News investigates from all over the country after seeing the story of an 86-year-old woman who had nearly $50,000 stolen out of her Fidelity retirement accounts.
“Somebody was asleep at the switch. Somebody was not doing their job, or this would have never happened,” Nancy Smith told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.
In September, three new joint accounts were created in Smith’s name.
Each of the accounts was linked to a different person Smith said she did not know and had never met.
“Eleven different transfers had been made by these three bogus people,” Smith said.
Smith said she never authorized the transfers or the changes to her accounts.
Robin Gunnink reached out to Channel 2 Action News from Wisconsin.
“My 96-year-old mom had the same thing happen to her. On Oct. 11, a joint account was opened in her name. There was a withdrawal of $20,000. $10,000 was immediately put in another Fidelity account and left the Fidelity platform. She has not gotten it back,” she wrote.
Mark McConnell contacted us from Renton, Washington. He said in October he discovered someone else’s name was added to his Fidelity trading account.
“This person had had access to my account for over a month,” McConnell told Gray.
McConnell said that while no money was stolen, he has filed three complaints with the Federal Trade Commission about the incident with his Fidelity account.
TRENDING STORIES:
- What we know about Luigi Mangione, Ivy League grad and person of interest in CEO’s murder
- Police identify victims in apparent murder-suicide inside DeKalb County apartment complex
- Sources: Georgia QB Carson Beck likely out for Sugar Bowl with elbow injury
“There’s something wrong. And the problem is, is they’re not being open and transparent,” he said.
A Fidelity representative told McConnell it was not fraud in his case, but instead “a representative processing error.”
Fidelity wrote, “We confirm that the appropriate steps were taken to close the impacted account and transfer the assets to a new account.”
McConnell worries that his personal information could have been compromised.
“All I want to know is if anybody clicked into my account one and two, did they download anything? Because I now need to protect myself,” McConnell said.
It is important to note that account maintenance errors, such as this one, are rare.
In October, Channel 2 Action News introduced you to another Georgia retiree who had $32,000 stolen from her Fidelity accounts.
“I don’t know how you are safe. I really don’t know,” Deborah Neal said.
In that case, one crook posed as Fidelity on the phone with Neal, while an accomplice was on the phone with the real Fidelity pretending to be her.
Last month Neal’s money was returned to her account by Fidelity.
More than two months after her money was stolen, Smith said she’s still waiting for a resolution from Fidelity.
Smith said a manager told her on the phone to “lower her expectations.”
“My mother would be ashamed of me if I said what I would like to have said because I couldn’t go to the Methodist church after that,” Smith said.
While Fidelity will not discuss individual cases, a spokesperson tells Channel 2 Action News fraud investigations can take several weeks.
Fidelity sent the following statement to Channel 2 Action News:
“To protect customer privacy, we do not discuss individual matters and work with our customers directly to answer any questions they may have concerning suspicious activity. We understand scams can impact individuals and their families and encourage everyone to take steps to protect themselves and their accounts, including monitoring accounts frequently for suspicious activity and contacting financial institutions directly should anything out of the ordinary, including phone calls or texts from unknown parties, occur.”
©2024 Cox Media Group
