(WSVN) - When her husband passed away, he left her an insurance policy to help her financially, and then it was stolen from her bank account, $720,000 worth. When she couldn’t get it back, she deposited the problem with Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser to see if they could get it back.
Blanca and Jose had a wonderful life together. One reason…
Blanca Maria Valle: “We never discussed our jobs or anything like that. When we got home. it was our family life, mhm.”
Fifteen years ago, Jose was hit with Parkinson’s, a terrible disease, but he fought it.
Blanca Maria Valle: “He, he wanted to live, so also, that had a lot to do with it, you know?”
In April, Jose passed away, leaving behind a lot of memories and an insurance policy for Blanca to make sure she would be financially OK.
Blanca Maria Valle: “It was a total of about $850,000.”
Blanca deposited $800,000 into one account and the rest in another. A few weeks later, she wrote a repairman a check. He went to the bank.
Blanca Maria Valle: “And he calls me and lets me know that they had told him at the bank that I didn’t have any funds.”
The $800,000 was gone. Blanca rushed to the Citibank branch where she says they had no idea the money was being stolen at that moment.
Blanca Maria Valle: “I didn’t get an alert. I didn’t get anything from Citibank. They, as a matter of fact, they stopped the last transaction because I went to the bank, and I informed them what was going on.”
The bank blocked one $80,000 theft as it was being transferred.
But $720,000 of her insurance money was gone, taken in eight transactions in one morning by a person named Junior Douglas. Obviously a phony name, but a real crime.
Blanca Maria Valle: “I was terrified. It was when he told me about that they had stolen the money, I started crying. I panicked. I think Citibank is to blame because they should have alerted me that something was going on.”
She lost her husband in April. The money he left for her to live her life was stolen in July, devastating for a grieving widow.
Blanca Maria Valle: “Well, they say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Oh, I’m so sorry that this happened to you,’ and so forth, but sorry’s not enough.”
Well, Howard, legally is Blanca entitled to get her $720,000 back?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “Yes. The same law that protects you when someone uses your credit card without your knowledge also protects you from unauthorized electronic transactions. If they won’t return the money within 60 days, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and if that doesn’t fix the problem, sue the bank.”
We contacted Citibank, where they said they would look into Blanca’s $720,000 theft.
Two weeks passed, $320,000 dollars was returned to her.
A few days later, another $320,000 was returned. Blanca was told they had not found the other $80,000
She kept pushing Citibank. We continued to stay in touch with them, and finally, two months after it was stolen, Blanca had her $720,000 back in her account.
Blanca Maria Valle: “Oh, it feels great.”
Howard Finkelstein: “Remember to notify the financial institution as soon as you realize money is being taken. If you don’t contact them within 60 days, you are not likely to get the money back.”
After returning Blanca’s money, Citibank wouldn’t tell us who took it.
We may never know, but Blanca got what she wanted, her $720,000.
Blanca Maria Valle: “And I’d like to thank you guys. I’d like to thank Patrick Fraser for and his team for all the help. He was there for me.”
Glad we could help out. If you don’t have electronic access to your bank accounts to check every few days, make sure you get a monthly statement and read it, so you can report any thefts.
Also, sign up to get notifications for any withdrawals from your account.
And if you have a similar problem with your financial institution, the link to file a complaint is under this Help Me Howard.
Ready to withdraw from a problem? Need someone to transfer it to? Deposit it with us. See if we can help you cash in.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
Link to File a Complaint Regarding Financial Institution:
consumerfinance.gov/complaint
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
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