Someone stole my debit card information and paid off their $375 ComEd bill with my money. The funds were posted to their ComEd account, not mine - which ComEd confirmed when I called them. I shut down my card immediately, reported the fraud, and disputed the transaction. Some days later, I received a response in the mail from PNC saying that they had completed their "investigation" into the fraud, and determined that the charges were valid - meaning, MINE. This meant they would not protect me, and my funds would not be rightfully returned to me.

When I called PNC to ask for their reasoning, I was told: 1) the person who made the charges had both my card number and the 3-digit number on the back, and 2) I had a "relationship" myself with ComEd. Here are the problems with this "investigation":
A) a hacker can (and did) take both my debit card number and the back 3-digit number from any number of online vendors that I purchase from - so this does not preclude a fraudulent transaction.
B) The vast majority of people in this geographical area have a "relationship" with ComEd, since they hold a virtual monopoly on electrical service. But all ComEd accounts are tied to an address, and had they placed a substantive phone call to ComEd, they would have been able to trace the fund deduction to someone else's account - someone with another name, and another address - clearly not me.
C) I also received a notice from Footlocker in the mail, telling me that they were cancelling my orders, due to problems with payment. I have never purchased from them in my life; yet, someone had placed 3 orders at Footlocker with my card the very same week as the ComEd charge. Fortunately, I had cancelled my card before Footlocker pushed the charges through, and it never posted to my account - otherwise, I would be out those funds, too.

PNC does not allow their "investigation" decisions to be appealed (even though it was a pathetic and incomplete), and they wouldn't accept my Footlocker notice as evidence of further attempts at fraud. PNC will not have your back. To them, "fraud protection" is a nice phrase that looks good on paper, and will give you a false sense of security. Watch your back.

Someone stole my debit card information and paid off their $375 ComEd bill with my money. The funds were posted to their ComEd account, not mine - which ComEd confirmed when I called them. I shut down my card immediately, reported the fraud, and disputed the transaction. Some days later, I received a response in the mail from PNC saying that they had completed their "investigation" into the fraud, and determined that the charges were valid - meaning, MINE. This meant the funds would not be rightfully returned to me.

When I called PNC to ask for their reasoning, I was told: 1) the person who made the charges had both my card number and the 3-digit number on the back, and 2) I had a "relationship" myself with ComEd. Here are the problems with this "investigation":
A) a hacker can (and did) take both my debit card number and the back 3-digit number from any number of online vendors that I purchase from - so this does not preclude a fraudulent transaction.
B) The vast majority of people in this geographical area have a "relationship" with ComEd, since they hold a virtual monopoly on electrical service. But all ComEd accounts are tied to an address, and had they placed a substantive phone call to ComEd, they would have been able to trace the fund deduction to someone else's account - someone with another name, and another address - clearly not me.
C) I also received a notice from Footlocker in the mail, telling me that they were cancelling my orders, due to problems with payment. I have never purchased from them in my life; yet, someone had placed 3 orders at Footlocker with my card the very same week as the ComEd charge. Fortunately, I had cancelled my card before Footlocker pushed the charges through, and it never posted to my account - otherwise, I would be out those funds, too.

PNC does not allow their "investigation" decisions to be appealed (even though it was a pathetic and incomplete), and they wouldn't accept my Footlocker notice as evidence of further attempts at fraud. PNC will not have your back. To them, "fraud protection" is a nice phrase that looks good on paper, and will give you a false sense of security. Watch your back.