Texas Man Loses $49K in a Banking Scam. His Account was at Chase Bank

A Texas man received a call from a person claiming to be from Chase Bank and informing him that his account had been compromised and the only way to protect his funds was to transfer them to a "safe" account to protect his money.

Chase bank (stock image)

Texas Man Fell For a Scam Losing $49K at Chase Bank

CBS19 News reported that in December 2022, a Texas man named Angel Pineda received a fraudulent phone call, but said they were calling from Chase Bank, and that his bank amount with $49,000 had been compromised.

Angel Pineda; credit: CBS19 News

After the individual informed him that his account had been compromised and that he urgently needed to transfer his funds to a "safe" account in order to protect them. This is not standard operating procedure for a bank. That's because he was on the phone with a scammer.

The phone call didn't surprise Angel because he was used to getting fraud alerts from his bank, like when he made his regular car payment. 

He said:

"They were just like your account is not safe, it's compromised," said Pineda. "So we need to make sure your money’s secure and move it to a new account." -Angel Pineda, Chase customer

Feeling nervous and confused, Angel followed the instructions of the caller and transferred the funds to the account provided. It was only later that she realized she had fallen victim to a scam and that he had lost most of his savings because he trusted the scammer.

The scammer even asked for personal information over the phone to create a new Chase Bank account and he complied. 

"So there wasn't any reason for me to suspect anything," said Pineda. "Then I got the notification for fraudulent activity for a small amount and I was like no it's not me." -Angel Pineda, Chase customer

Angel says he finally got a call back from a legitimate Chase Bank associate who plans to review his case and call him up with an update. 

It is important to always monitor your bank account and statements for fraud activity. If possible, use two-factor authentication to log into financial accounts.