A Durango woman says she had $24,000 stolen from her Wells Fargo Bank account in March.
Barbara Coeyman said that on March 12, she discovered her cellphone wasn’t working. She received a phone call from her cellphone provider, Verizon Wireless, asking her to authorize a switch to a prepaid plan, which she never asked for.
Confused by the phone call and sudden issues with her phone, she went to the Verizon Wireless store. She was told by an employee that her plan had been switched to a prepaid plan for a flip phone, which she never purchased.
After leaving the Verizon Store, she visited Durango’s Wells Fargo Bank location to make sure her accounts were safe. She learned about two unauthorized wire transfers of $16,000 and $8,000 from her bank account.
She also learned that her savings and checking accounts had been consolidated into one.
A copy of Coeyman’s bank transactions provided to The Durango Herald shows the money was wired to someone named Victor Edwards Jr.
The Durango Police department is still investigating the case. DPD Cmdr. Jacob Dunlop said detectives are aware of the person using that name, but added that fraud cases can be tricky because it could be someone using a fake name.
The police department has the man listed as “someone who may be involved,” but he hasn’t been confirmed as a suspect yet.
Coeyman believes the hackers accessed her Wells Fargo account via her smartphone and sent her account and routing numbers to the flip phone.
Wells Fargo spokesman Tony Timmons said the issue had been resolved as of Tuesday, but could not comment on whether Coeyman had received a reimbursement because of Wells Fargo policy.
Coeyman confirmed she had received a credit from Wells Fargo for the money she lost on Tuesday night. However, this came after a lengthy exchange between her and the bank regarding who’s responsible for the incident.
In May, Coeyman said she was told by one of Wells Fargo’s fraud and claims associates that she would not be reimbursed without a letter from Verizon saying her phone account had been compromised.
Coeyman tried to contact Verizon’s fraud department multiple times, but was consistently referred to the phone provider’s customer service department.
She says her dilemma with Wells Fargo led her to file a complaint with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulatory agency for national banks, before the issue was resolved on Tuesday.
Verizon spokeswoman Liz Gelardi said the company is aware of the fraud allegation and is looking into it.
Durango police has struggled to work with the two companies involved.
“Wells Fargo is saying it's a Verizon problem. Verizon is saying it's Wells Fargo’s problem. And that makes things more challenging for us to try to get information from either,” Dunlop said.
Durango police has not served Verizon or Wells Fargo with production of records yet because both companies are not cooperating. Dunlop said the case has been reassigned to a detective who will be able to spend more time on it.
Coeyman is the minister for the Durango Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango. She said the hacking created financial strain where she was without $24,000 for nearly four months.
“Financially, I was stuck for about a week. I actually couldn't pay my rent. I had to ask for a delay on my payment,” she said.
She said she’s lucky to have financial support, adding that someone without financial support would be in serious trouble.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
