Debit card skimming wipes out Long Island man's life savings, he says. Now he wants the bank to help get it back.
NEW YORK - A Long Island man says his life savings were stolen from his bank account, and he says he's been waiting a year to get it back.
Grant Holihan believes his card was skimmed in Woodside, Queens. He says the thieves then made purchases from Pennsylvania to Las Vegas. Holihan says he was out running errands when he got the call from the bank.
"They let me know that they discovered a purchase in Las Vegas. I've never been to Las Vegas," he said.
Holihan, 27, works construction and suspects his debit PIN was skimmed at an ATM near his job site. He says Chase agreed to close the account, but then, he says, came the rest of the charges.
"It was four different Giant supermarkets in Pennsylvania, where he took out a little over seven grand in under an hour," Holihan said.
He says his savings of $7,087.41 were wiped out, all while his card never left his side.
"I've never given my PIN out," he said.
But more surprising to him than the theft was what he says was the bank's response. He says Chase refused to reimburse more than a fraction of the charges.
"They still deny my claim, and it's been over a year later, and I still haven't seen my money," he said.
"This customer's claim was denied because the charges were authorized with their PIN and verified via phone call," JPMorganChase told CBS News New York.
Holihan insists he was in New York the whole time and says he has the receipts to prove it.
Different laws cover credit and debit
National Consumer Law Center senior attorney Carla Sanchez-Adams says that, when it comes to consumer protection, credit and debit fall under two different federal laws.
"The law that applies to credit cards, the Truth in Lending Act, is more protective than the Electronic Funds Transfer Act," Sanchez-Adams said. "I always caution and advise consumers who have the ability to have credit cards to use those to make payments because they are much safer than any other type of payment. But not everybody can get a credit card."
Overall, she says, an account holder can't be blamed for negligence should a thief get ahold of their PIN. She recommends:
- Monitoring accounts daily and reporting unfamiliar charges immediately
- Using chip technology where possible
- Keeping an eye out for unusual-looking hardware at payment terminals—when a card reader appears loose, crooked, or bulky, a card skimmer could be in place, a device retrofitted to steal information.
Holihan just wants the bank to do the right thing.
"It's not even a thousandth of a percent. It's nothing to them," he said. "To me, it was my entire life savings at the time."
You can email Elle with Queens story ideas by CLICKING HERE.
