Batavia resident loses almost $2K to identity theft

A resident of Ridgelawn Trail in Batavia reported unauthorized ATM withdrawals totaling almost $2,000 after receiving a fake fraud alert on a bank debit card, according to a Batavia police report obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from Shaw Local News Network.

A woman claiming to be from Chase Bank called the resident on Feb. 6 to say there had been fraudulent activity on their debit card, according to the report.

The resident read the debit card number to the caller, the card’s PIN and the home address, according to the report.

The caller told the resident a new card would be sent.

The resident noticed debits in the amounts of $140, $750 and $942 were made, for a total potential loss of $1,972, according to the report.

The resident notified police Feb. 11, who advised the person about identity theft monitoring, contacting the three credit bureaus and keeping an eye on bank accounts, according to the report.

The Federal Trade Commission collects reports about identity theft information on its website, www.identitytheft.gov.

Consumers reported to the FTC that they lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023.