FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — An 86-year-old Fayetteville woman says nearly $50,000 was stolen out of her Fidelity retirement accounts and she has been trying for more than two months to get the money back.
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“Somebody was asleep at the switch, somebody was not doing their job, or this would have never happened,” Nancy Smith told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.
In September, three new joint accounts were created in Smith’s name. Each of the accounts was linked to a different person Smith says she does not know and has never met.
“Eleven different transfers had been made by these three bogus people,” Smith said.
Thousands of dollars were sent in each transfer from Smith’s Fidelity retirement accounts first to the joint accounts, then to other accounts in those individuals’ names.
“Then they would empty their account into God knows where,” she said.
Smith says she never authorized the transfers or the changes to her accounts.
“For them not to even give me a call or require these people to have a signature, I just absolutely cannot believe it. But it’s true,” Smith said.
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In October, Channel 2 Action News introduced you to another Georgia retiree who had $32,000 stolen from her Fidelity accounts.
“I don’t know how you are safe. “I really don’t know,” Deborah Neal said.
In that case, one crook posed as Fidelity on the phone with Neal, while an accomplice was on the phone with the real Fidelity pretending to be her.
Last month Neal’s money was returned to her account by Fidelity. More than two months after her money was stolen, Smith says she’s still waiting for a resolution from Fidelity.
Smith says a manager told her on the phone to “lower her expectations.”
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“My mother would be ashamed of me if I said what I would like to have said because I couldn’t go to the Methodist church after that,” Smith said.
While Fidelity will not discuss individual cases, a spokesperson tells Channel 2 Action News fraud investigations can take several weeks.
Fidelity sent the following statement to Channel 2 Action News:
“To protect customer privacy, we do not discuss individual matters and work with our customers directly to answer any questions they may have concerning suspicious activity. We understand scams can impact individuals and their families and encourage everyone to take steps to protect themselves and their accounts, including monitoring accounts frequently for suspicious activity and contacting financial institutions directly should anything out of the ordinary, including phone calls or texts from unknown parties, occur.”
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