Metro families who were victims of bank fraud get money back following Channel 2 investigations

ATLANTA — Some metro Atlanta families are getting their money back after months-long battles over bank fraud following a Channel 2 Action News investigation.

On Thursday, Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray got text messages and emails from two different people whose stories we had shared in the past couple of months.

Both wanted to share the good news that they were finally getting their money back.

When we first introduced you to the Lee family earlier this month. Their bank theft case had become a bit of an obsession for Suzanne Lee.

[HAVE A STORY FOR 2 INVESTIGATES?: Submit your tip here]

She was forced to investigate the wire transfers from her bank account herself after the Lees lost their arbitration case with Chase for the money stolen from their account.

“Probably all day, every day for a while,” Suzanne Lee said is how often she worked on getting her money back.

Someone walked into a Chase Bank branch bank with a fake ID and a Social Security number that didn’t’ match theirs and sent a wire transfer draining their account of $30,000.

MORE STORIES FROM 2 INVESTIGATES:

• A metro man had his car repossessed because it was stolen. Problem was -- he bought it legally
• Senators fighting to get trains back on track instead of blocking Ga. families
• Army officer says squatter moved into her DeKalb home while she was on duty, now he won’t leave
• Caught on camera: Pollutant released into air, EPA says
• Atlanta woman hit with $17,000 water bill despite no leaks

“You had someone go into the bank, pretend to be you, steal all your money, and the bank says, ‘Tough?’” Gray asked the Lees.

“That’s pretty much exactly,” Justin Lee said.

But the Lees say that changed after our investigation aired.

They are bound by a confidentiality agreement, so can only say that they have now come to a settlement agreement with Chase they are satisfied with.

In February, we told you how the owners of paper supply company MetroBag in Paulding County had been receiving bank statements for months for a Navy Federal Credit Union account set up in their company name by fraudsters depositing stolen MetroBag customer checks.

But for months, Navy Federal Credit Union refused to act to close down the fraudulent account.

“It’s so obvious it’s almost laughable,” victim Mark Verrone said.

Now this week, after a more than five-month battle, Metrobag finally has its money back too from Navy Federal Credit Union.

“It’s tens of thousands of dollars of our money that’s stolen,” Verrone said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Mom arrested after infant found in plastic bag had ‘history of concealed pregnancies,’ deputies say The sheriff said she had a history of concealed pregnancies; however, they haven’t found additional criminals acts like this.

©2023 Cox Media Group