JPMorgan Chase Blocks $100 Chocolate Purchase, Approves $49,000 Illicit Wire Transfer – Here’s Why the Bank Is Refusing To Reimburse

A couple in Atlanta says one phone call led to their entire life savings being drained from their JPMorgan Chase bank account.

Gloria and Gary Moss tell FOX 5 that they felt secure after Chase blocked a $100 purchase for chocolate months ago, requiring further confirmation for the transaction to go through.

But on February 16th, the couple says they received two text messages that appeared to be from Chase’s fraud department, telling them that one of their debit cards had been compromised.

The texts came from the same six-digit short code as every other alert from Chase’s communications system, so the message seemed legit.

Gloria called the number and says she unknowingly spoke to a scammer who sounded professional and asked for a one-time pin (OTP) code that was text messaged to her phone, claiming it was needed to cancel her card.

Gloria confirmed the OTP code, which gave the criminal the power to drain the couple’s life savings – about $49,000 – in around 20 minutes while they kept her distracted on the phone.

The Mosses say the massive transfer went through without any further contact, verification or concern from Chase, and the money was cleared via wire transfer to Wells Fargo – which was only able to return about $700 back to the couple.

In a letter, Chase defended its security systems and refused to reimburse the account, stating that the bank did call the Mosses and that someone who answered the phone verified the wire was valid.

Local police say they’re now investigating the incident and exploring whether or not someone was able to gain control of Gloria’s cell phone.

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