Bank fraud is on the rise. When a close friend shares their banking problems with you, you begin to realize how close the problem is. A close friend who cares for our 100-year-old mother checked her bank account on Friday and noticed that the balance had gone down. He stopped at one of the bank’s branches to find out what was going on, and while he was at the bank, the balance dropped to less than two dollars. Alarmed, she showed the statement to the bank teller, who reviewed the account. “I’m sorry your accounts have been frozen, please take a seat and we’ll find someone to help you.” Three hours later and several consultations, no one came to his aid.

After four hours of waiting, he went back to checking his balances on his cell phone. Two checking accounts and one savings account showed negative balances of more than $ 888,000.00 each! More than 2.6 million and there is still no explanation from the bank. They would just tell her that the manager was busy with other issues and call her. As of noon on Saturday there are still no calls. We paid you cash to have a family reunion on Sunday with no credit cards or cash debit card. You are trying to get a lawyer, but over the weekend it will be difficult to get help.

I normally check my accounts once a week, but now it will be a daily habit or at least every other day. One tip: avoid using debit cards to make purchases. This may have been how the fraud happened or that someone from the bank decided to take a long vacation.

I also asked about the possibility of opening an account to have a current and ATM card in another bank or even change banks. The hold on any first time deposit is ten days while they do a check with other banks, and if there is an account frozen, they will not open an account for you until the existing account is unfrozen. I currently have accounts at three different banks with small balances at each for flexibility.

With the ability to transfer funds between accounts, it makes sense to keep business and hobby funds separate from household expenses. One last point, automatic deposits to a problem account are also not available, so be sure to stop automatic deposits if the problem occurs. These problems will only get worse as social media grows. A difficult fact of life that we will all have to live with.