LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has been fighting with a bank for more than two months after she says scammers stole her student loan.
Katie Hoffman said Chase bank refused to listen to her. Her student loan was meant for living expenses, and she said the loss of it places undue stress on her when she should be celebrating her upcoming graduation.
“Being a student and the wire transfer money that was stolen, $7,500 of a FAFSA student plus loan,” Hoffman said. “So, that was my money to live on while I finished school, and now I’m kind of left high and dry.”
Hoffman will graduate in May with a doctoral degree in occupational therapy. Yet she says her experience at UNLV went sideways when she received a text in February.
“When I received that text message, I went ahead and answered that text message, which I’ve received before for fraud,” Hoffman said.
The message claimed to be Chase alerting her to wire fraud. She says she clicked on a link, and then her phone rang. She said the number calling was the same number that was on the back of her Chase bank card.
She said she answered some questions over the phone, such as the names of two of her closest family members. Hoffman said the purported representative told her she’d receive a call the next day. That call never came.
She noticed $7500 in her account was gone, and Hoffman said she started getting a sinking feeling.
“Here I am still fighting Chase for information and for my student loan to be returned to me,” Hoffman told 8newsnow.com.
Hoffman reported the incident to several federal and state law enforcement agencies. Chase denied her claim. The bank told her she “authorized the transfers” and then added that “There was no bank error on our part.”
In a statement to 8newsnow.com, the bank said “We tried to recover the funds without success. We urge all consumers to ignore phone or internet requests for money.”
Chase provides tips on preventing fraud which include:
- Consumers should protect their personal account information, passwords, and one-time passcodes.
- Never click on suspicious links or grant anyone remote access to your phone or computer
- Banks will never call, text, or email asking for you to send money to yourself or anyone else to prevent fraud.
- If you want to be sure you’re talking to a legitimate representative of the company that contacted you, call the number on their official website.
- If you want to be sure you are talking to a legitimate representative of your bank call the number on the back of your card or visit a branch
- To learn more about common scams and ways to protect yourself visit: www.chase.com/security-tips