Our bank has recently been involved in two fraud losses that involved family members, namely mother and daughter. The mom opens a savings account and deposits a sum of money into the account. Within 15 days after opening the daughter with the mother's driver's license in hand visits our drive-thru motor branch and makes a withdrawal from the account (she also has the account no. written on the form and uses the DL No. of her mom for the transaction). Our CCTV is black and white and hard to discern the customer conducting the transaction in the far lane (there are 4 lanes). Upon discovering the fraud some three days later, the daughter attempted three more such transactions and was caught at one of our other branches in the drive-thru. The mother claimes she does not know how the daughter got access to her DL or to the account info. But when confronted by the local PD, the mom decided not to file any charges against the daughter.

How do other banks handle such situations as this when family members are involved and no one wants to prosecute. Do we just hand over the money or is there more to it?
It looks like a scam to me to beat the bank out of some money! The girl has a police report of other petty crimes and outstanding warrants. The mother also knew the girl had problems with the law (she's only 20) but resembles her mother to a tee! I believe its a scam and a fraud on the bank and both are part of the whole plot.

Help! Anyone with any experiences with this sort of fraud?

Two things come to mind - 1. These transactions, of course, should never have been conducted. 2. If the mother won't file charges she shouldn't receive a return of the funds. I did verify this with our security officer and that's how we would handle the situation.

I thought you could require a police report be filed before reimbursing the customer? (thought right now I can't remember where I heard that) Either way, I would also like to know the answer to this question.

This isn't Reg. E. I would be hesitant to reimburse if the customer tied my hands so that I couldn't prosecute or collect my funds. I'd work through counsel to ensure this was allowed, but I'd fight mom on this one. I'd also contact other local banks to see if they have seen the same scam.

If Mom is unwilling to prosecute, yet wants her funds we would let her know that we would press charges against her. In many cases like this one, the family members are willing to accept the loss to protect the family member involved.

Tina posted the answer - you have to be aggressive with the mom – her daughter will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if reimbursement is demanded. You cannot force the mom to prosecute, but you as a holder in due course must recovery the funds and save the rest of us from the same situation - as they probably have done this to other banks!

Think of it as banking community service.

If the mother doesn't want to prosecute but wants her money, have her sign an affidavit of forgery, refund her money and prosecute the daugther since the bank is now the finacial victim of this crime. Mom may not have any choice about testifying if she is receives a subpoena. You didn't mention the dollar amount, is it large enough to get local law enforcement interested. My rule of thumb in families is we don't want to get between family members and we normally deny any claims involving them. Good luck.

We have always required a police report prior to refunding any fruad claim. If the victim refuses to prosecute a family member, equity would not allow them to recover the funds.

And for heaven's sake, get rid of the damned account!

Folks:

Who ever said that banking was dull? Family-related crimes are among the most costly crimes to the institution -- and typically, there are no winners. You might add a version of the following process to your policies and procedures if the family member wants his/her money back:
1. Require that the victim file a crime report with the local law enforcement agency -- and that you get a full copy of this report;
2. If it meets the SAR threshold, file one;
3. Gather all appropriate evidence (e.g., video, checks, photocopies);
4. Insist that the victim write, sign and date a statement that includes wording that he/she did not give permission for the suspect to [describe act here];
5. Write a security report that requests prosecution;
6. Refund the victim's money if you feel that it's appropriate;
7. Forward your report to the prosecuting attorney's office and request that a criminal complaint be filed against the suspect;
8. Conduct an asset search on the suspect;
9. File a civil action against the suspect, independent of the criminal complaint; and
10. Track the cases' progress.

If the victim wants no action taken and/or refuses to cooperate with your investigation, don't refund the money. Modify these steps to fit that situation -- and please remember to write a security report, anyway. These things have a habit of resurfacing later . . .