7 On Your Side

Lost check fraudulently cashed twice leaves Wells Fargo customer out $10,000

ByMichael Finney KGO logo

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Lost check fraudulently cashed twice leaves North Bay woman out $10K

Not only did the check go to the wrong person, but somehow they were able to deposit it twice, costing the American Canyon woman $10,000.

AMERICAN CANYON, Calif. -- Imagine checking your bank account and seeing $5,000 missing. Then, while trying to get that money back, another $5,000 goes missing. That's what happened to a Wells Fargo customer who then turned to 7 On Your Side for help.

"I was losing sleep," Rowena Pagtakhan told 7 On Your Side. Why? "Because I was at the end of the rope," she said.

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She was out $10,000. Five thousand dollars had been taken from her Wells Fargo account, and then another $5,000 went missing.

Pagtakhan says she was doing all the bank asked. "So I was transferred from one department to another. Many phone calls. I had to eventually go to the branch to get it straightened out. Then at the branch, I learned that somebody got a hold of the check that I deposited. and it clearly was made payable to me," she said.

This happened not once but twice. The story is complex, but Pagtakhan says a $5,000 check made out to her was mistakenly given to another person, who cashed it. And then somehow another $5,000 followed that. Unable to get things resolved with the bank, she contacted 7 On Your Side and we went to work.

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Scammers have caught on to banks' warnings to their customers, and tell their victims they'll receive a fraud alert warning -- but to ignore it.

"All of a sudden," Pagtakhan said, "they were actively contacting me, and then all of a sudden they made the correction as they should have."

Wells Fargo had quite the case to unwind and in a statement to 7 On Your Side said: "... we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and worry they encountered during the time it took to solve this fraud event." The bank said it can't discuss specifics, but it was not a typical situation.

"So I want to thank you for it, because now I can sleep better," Pagtakhan said.

And 7 On Your Side wants to thank Wells Fargo for taking a look at this and unwinding a very odd situation.

Take a look at more stories and videos by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.

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