A Stolen Wallet May Be Worse Than You Thought

Hayden Blood received a surprising call from Washington MutualWM about a year ago.

Apparently, her wallet had been snatched as she sat in a StarbucksSBUX, purse slung over her chair, on a warm summer afternoon in New York. Within an hour and 20 minutes, the thieves had used her credit cards to purchase $10,000 worth of merchandise -- including Louis VuittonLVMUY handbags and gift cards -- at a nearby Bloomingdale's. They also emptied out her personal checking account with WaMu, though there wasn't much in it.

Blood, a communications manager with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, notified all the proper agencies and companies of the fraud, recouped her losses and closed down her accounts. She went to Washington Mutual the next day to open a new personal account, but left open the joint-checking account that she shares with her husband.

Blood also placed a fraud alert on her account, which lasts for 90 days, and thought she was in the clear.

Then, on the 91st day, the thieves visited three separate Washington Mutual branches with her driver's license. They deposited stolen checks into her bank account and withdrew the pilfered funds. They also accessed her joint account, and withdrew all of those funds as well.

"We felt like we had done our due diligence, but they were apparently professionals or very savvy -- or she looked like me," Blood says.

All told, the crooks stole $20,000 from Blood's accounts, with another $10,000 of Washington Mutual's money. The bank was forced to repay Blood and ultimately take the hit, though the process was long and complicated. Not only did she have to deal with the typical bureaucracy, but happened to be vacationing in Costa Rica at the time of the fraud, making the bank wary of her tale.