CHICAGO (CVM) — A small Chicago home development company was in a major battle with its bank over fraudulent charges of more than $40,000. The owner believed the charges came from a ghost trader.
Fraudulent Charges
Jeff Benash’s fraudulent battle began shortly after his company, Lexington Homes in Lincoln Park, was asked to submit architectural drawings.
“I wanted to create a bird’s eye view of what society would look like when this is done,” he said.
The developer had hired a Canadian company, but the designs they provided didn’t live up to his expectations. He canceled the order and said he had offered to pay them for their work, but never heard back. Instead, he said he started seeing large charges on his Chase credit card from a different company based in the same Canadian city.
Discovery of Fraud
“This is the fake invoice, this is what they sent to Chase,” Benash said.
It is believed that someone fraudulently used existing seller accounts to create fake invoices. The fake merchant charged Benash’s Chase account more than $40,000. It is unclear how the fake company obtained his credit card information.
“We don’t even build mid-rise buildings,” he said, looking at the photos the ghost trader had sent him.
Filing a Complaint
Benash filed a fraud complaint with Chase, but the scammers beat him to it.
“They forged emails from my assistant. They forged them to look like we had this nice exchange, back and forth, and asked for all these things,” he said.
Benash said he contacted the original seller, who told him he had not been charged any fees. But Chase sent Benash a letter saying he had closed his case, saying the transaction was valid, and that “the transaction will stand.”
Resolution
Getting his lawyer involved didn’t help either, so Benash called the investigation team. A few days later, he got a call from Chase.
“We looked into all of this, and we found that you were right. You did not make these accusations, and we will return them to you,” Benash said in his summary of Chase’s letter.
“We had to address some discrepancies on the merchant’s end, as well as in the documentation that led us to initially validate the transactions,” Chase told the investigation team. “We apologize for the delay, but we are pleased to have resolved this issue for our customers.”
Benash was very happy to get his money back.
Consumer Advice
This is a reminder that, whether you are a business or a consumer, you should monitor charges on your online account. Dispute any suspicious charges immediately. You should also set up text messages or push alerts for large transaction amounts.
For more information on how to protect yourself from credit card fraud, visit Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Advice.
