Beware of BB&T

Here is a new twist on identity theft.

BB&T is a major banking institution in the states.  They are not our bank, but we do have to deal with them once a month.  Once a month Pooldad visits a branch and cashes a check in order for us to pay our rent.  Every month we pay the $5 fee to cash the check because we do not have an account with them.  And every month Pooldad is asked by the teller to open an account.  He ALWAYS says no.

We didn't like BB&T, but now we HATE BB&T and someone [hi Kumar] is going to be fired today.

And here's why:
Last Friday [July 29th] we checked our mail before leaving on our mini trip.  Imagine Pooldad's surprise when he opened two pieces of mail from BB&T.  The first one was a welcome letter, thanking him for opening an account.  The second one was his new pin number for an ATM debit card that went with the account.

He was NOT happy and immediately called BB&T's 24 hour banking line.  He got a recording at 5:30 pm but was able to leave a message.  When no one called back, Pooldad called two more times on Monday.  He still could not get a live person, so again left messages.

Monday night we received the ATM card in the mail with his name on it.  Tuesday he tried again to call them. Finally, yesterday afternoon, I got through to a live person, who sent me along to the check fraud department, where they sent me along to the fraud department and from that department I was sent to yet another department only to be told that they couldn't give me any information since I wasn't the account holder but that my husband could call back.  Which he did when he arrived home from work.

This is when he was told that he had opened an account on July 26th at a branch located in my old hometown.  Now, he had cashed the check at that branch on that day, but he DID NOT open an account and he told the fraud department person that.  She suggested we call the branch and discuss it with the manager.  Which he did.  And he discovered that the teller's name that he dealt with was Kumar [so tempted to put his last name here] but he wasn't in at the moment. The manager called him and requested he come back to work to discuss the matter.

While we waited for that phone call Pooldad told me that there was one thing out of the ordinary that happened the day he cashed the check.  The teller had taken his driver's license and the check away from the window saying he had to call the account holder and verify that it was okay to cash this check for Pooldad.  The teller was gone for a few minutes, came back and gave Pooldad the cash.

When the manager called back she told Pooldad that Kumar had come back into the bank and was insistent that Pooldad had opened an account on the 26th and he had the signature card to prove it.  At this point I asked the manager if their tellers worked on a bonus system for opening accounts.  She hemmed and hawed and gave me some lame answer that "no, it isn't a bonus system per se, but they can receive promotions and whatnot by hitting their quota every month."

Ohhhkay then.  I asked for a copy of the signature card and the manager said she couldn't do that as it was privileged information.  I responded that since Kumar was so SURE my husband opened the account then the card was my husband's privileged information and they could release it to us.  She said she had to call us back.

The next phone call we received was from the manager's boss who repeated that they couldn't send along the signature card but that Pooldad could go to the branch and look at it there.  Finally, after going around and around with her she agreed to email me only the signature line of the card so we could see for ourselves the [forged] signature.  We thanked her and let her know we would call her back as soon as we had it.

We laughed.  The signature isn't even close.

For those of you who don't know our last name does not start with an "M".*

And for those of you who do know our last name have fun laughing at this.

The funniest part is it is an obvious forgery copied from Pooldad's driver's license.  How do we know that?  Well, when they print up the licenses in VA they have a habit of cutting off the bottom of the signature, so all the loops and whorls that would be on the bottom of the signature are chopped off.  Which is exactly what the forged signature looks like.  Busted Kumar. So busted.

When we called back the head manager and informed her that we could prove this wasn't Pooldad's signature and we were going to do so on Wednesday she said fine, she would meet with us at the bank at 9 am.  We asked her to immediately close the account and this is where it truly confirmed our suspicions.  She said it had already been closed on July 30 th and that there were never any funds in it.

Now, I ask you, who opens an account with NO money [is that even possible?] and then closes it 4 days later while on a mini vacation where there is no cell service, no internet and no BB&Ts?

Yeah, that.

So, along with a visit to the bank we will also be visiting our local police department to file a report for fraud.

Be careful out there Tadpoles.  And if you can, avoid BB&T at all costs.  Evidently they hire criminals.

Have a good one! and keep smiling!

*I have no problem posting this forged signature because it isn't even close to Pooldad's - heck I defy anyone to figure out what his name is from that scratch.  And if you know his real name, as some of you do, please do not post it in comments. Thanks!