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As most of you already know, I was robbed at gunpoint a week ago Thursday. The thug ended up with my debit/credit card and managed to get the real PIN# from me, after I told him a false one, by using the very effective technique of moving the gun from my ribs and jamming it in my neck, since, at that point, I thought he was going to get in the car with me and make me drive him to the ATM.
I called the bank at the police station twenty minutes later, before I even gave the officer my statement, since all the money I have in the world is in that account. I was assured that the card was blocked and cancelled. So I called the next morning to ask if he'd taken anything out between the time it happened and the time I reported it. I discovered that he'd withdrawn $700 dollars in three transactions within three minutes, one right after the other, at 12:30 a.m., almost FIVE HOURS after I reported it stolen and was assured it was blocked!!!! And the kicker was that he had the nerve to take it from my own bank's ATM! I was told I'd have to go to my local branch and fill out an Affidavit of Unauthorized Electronic Transfer, which I did immediately, providing a copy of the police report. I was told that afternoon that there was no record of my calling the night before, and that the card was NOT blocked until they called while I was filling out the Affidavit to make sure it was blocked! I repeat, NO RECORD!!!!!
So now over a week's gone by and nothing has happened. My boss, an attorney (I'm a paralegal) has called several times on my behalf and each time is told that the "crime prevention" department at the Michigan headquarters is "working on it." Friday we called, and the woman didn't even realize that the card and the PIN# had been stolen until we directed her to that part of the police report! She then said that she was told that "they're working on getting the film from teh ATM surveillance camera." WHO CARES, I thought, why the fuck do they need that, they have the police report. What, they think it's a scam I masterminded to get a few extra bucks? If I were criminal and stupid enough to do that, I'd sure find a way to get a helluva lot more than $700 bucks, I said sarcastically. And what, I'm gonna mastermind a scam like that and then be stupid enough to take the money out myself so the camera can see me? I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO!
And no one can tell me how he managed to get $700 out within three minutes when you're only supposed to be able to withdraw $500 within a 24-hour period! And no one seems to give a damn either, both at the local branch and at headquarters, since I can't seem to get any serious action. Even my boss can't get anything out of them right now. That money should NEVER have been allowed to have been withdrawn, that's why I called right away to block the fucking card! Infuriated does not even begin to describe how that makes me feel.
Meanwhile, I'm out $700 bucks, which was most of the money I'd planned to use for my vacation with my son. We were going to go to Hersheytown, PA, where he wanted to go, and then Gettysburg, where I wanted to go. I have not had a vacation in over a year. This was the week we were supposed to go. I have this week off, and now I don't have the goddamned money to go anywhere with the kid. And even if I did have the money, the thought of traveling alone right now scares the hell out of me. I don't even want to take walks alone right now, let alone drive out of state for several days.
I feel tremendously violated, both by the thug who mugged me and believed he had the right to MY money, to almost a whole paycheck's worth as a matter of fact, and to take it out from my own bank's ATM, and by my bank, which so far doesn't seem to give a damn and is
acting like the whole thing is MY fault and that they don't want to be bothered with it. They should NEVER have allowed that money to be withdrawn, both the amount, which was over the daily limit, and the fact that the card should have been blocked by then and that they have no record of my call right after the mugging. The bank is going to give me my goddamned money back, or they are going to be facing a nice little civil suit asking for not just the money itself but for compensatory costs. And since my boss is an attorney, I won't need to worry about legal fees.
Another thing I hate, every time I see a young black man I experience a momentary fear, then a double-checking to be sure it isn't him. I hate that, I know in my head that that's racist and unfair and I'm ashamed of it, but I can't help it emotionally. I've been told that that will eventually go away.
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