I have searched ACAT fraud on this forum, and it appears there is a great deal of skepticism that people are actually victims of this fraud and the belief that real people do not really lose money in this form of fraud.
I have been a poster here since 2014. I don't post a lot, but enough that you should be able to identify me as a real person on this forum.
I discovered that our taxable account at Vanguard had been slowly pilfered of approximately $100,000.00 in stocks transferred by ACATS to 2 different brokerage accounts that were not mine over a period of time.
These stock transfers were taken out of our account each time we received a dividend beginning in May 2024. We hold a substantial amount of Vanguard Tax-managed Balance Fund. In October I compared our account balance to that of the end of the year and was surprised to find that our Vanguard Tax managed Balance fund was way down in value.
It actually took a lot of digging on my part to finally figure out what was going on in that account. Every few months 750 shares of that fund were transferred to either Fidelity or Interactive Brokers. Transfers were made 3 times before I realized it was happening. I contacted Vanguard as soon as I discovered it and they immediately locked down my account.
We had no emails or text messages letting us know this was happening. My husband and I both get text and emails regarding any activity normally, but we got nothing about these transfers. We have had 2 factor identification active on our accounts for at least a couple of years. None of that mattered. I was told by Vanguard that ACATS would not trigger any of that as the withdraw came from another broker that verified to them that it was me doing the withdrawl.
We got the October transfer returned to us in November. I was told we might not get the May and July transfers back because they were done over 60 days before I discovered them. My account was kept locked up for several months by the fraud team. We finally did get the other 1500 shares returned in January.
So, we ultimately did not lose money on this, however, had this gone on another quarter or two, I am not sure we would have been made whole.
I know several members of this forum say they only look at their accounts once a year or less. ACATS fraud is easier to spot when they take it all, but the slow take away did escape me even though I look at our accounts pretty regularly. I obviously am not that savvy, but if the 60 day rule is really a thing, we all need to be more vigilant.
We obviously had identity theft which I am fighting on several fronts. Our local police and state police have been involved and they have contacted the FBI due to the amounts involved. Several brokerage accounts have been opened in our names, but only one company contacted us to verify the account with us - that was Schwab. Fidelity informed me that there are several bank accounts open in our names as well. The police investigation confirmed this was done by someone not associated with us or close to us. They believe it involves international fraud, or at least the money ends up leaving this country for another country.
No one has been able to tell me how to locate the other accounts. They don't show up on our credit reports. I have locked down our credit and put fraud alerts with the credit companies and our banks and credit cards and our other investment companies.
I still feel like we are sitting ducks.
I have been a poster here since 2014. I don't post a lot, but enough that you should be able to identify me as a real person on this forum.
I discovered that our taxable account at Vanguard had been slowly pilfered of approximately $100,000.00 in stocks transferred by ACATS to 2 different brokerage accounts that were not mine over a period of time.
These stock transfers were taken out of our account each time we received a dividend beginning in May 2024. We hold a substantial amount of Vanguard Tax-managed Balance Fund. In October I compared our account balance to that of the end of the year and was surprised to find that our Vanguard Tax managed Balance fund was way down in value.
It actually took a lot of digging on my part to finally figure out what was going on in that account. Every few months 750 shares of that fund were transferred to either Fidelity or Interactive Brokers. Transfers were made 3 times before I realized it was happening. I contacted Vanguard as soon as I discovered it and they immediately locked down my account.
We had no emails or text messages letting us know this was happening. My husband and I both get text and emails regarding any activity normally, but we got nothing about these transfers. We have had 2 factor identification active on our accounts for at least a couple of years. None of that mattered. I was told by Vanguard that ACATS would not trigger any of that as the withdraw came from another broker that verified to them that it was me doing the withdrawl.
We got the October transfer returned to us in November. I was told we might not get the May and July transfers back because they were done over 60 days before I discovered them. My account was kept locked up for several months by the fraud team. We finally did get the other 1500 shares returned in January.
So, we ultimately did not lose money on this, however, had this gone on another quarter or two, I am not sure we would have been made whole.
I know several members of this forum say they only look at their accounts once a year or less. ACATS fraud is easier to spot when they take it all, but the slow take away did escape me even though I look at our accounts pretty regularly. I obviously am not that savvy, but if the 60 day rule is really a thing, we all need to be more vigilant.
We obviously had identity theft which I am fighting on several fronts. Our local police and state police have been involved and they have contacted the FBI due to the amounts involved. Several brokerage accounts have been opened in our names, but only one company contacted us to verify the account with us - that was Schwab. Fidelity informed me that there are several bank accounts open in our names as well. The police investigation confirmed this was done by someone not associated with us or close to us. They believe it involves international fraud, or at least the money ends up leaving this country for another country.
No one has been able to tell me how to locate the other accounts. They don't show up on our credit reports. I have locked down our credit and put fraud alerts with the credit companies and our banks and credit cards and our other investment companies.
I still feel like we are sitting ducks.
Statistics: Posted by ww340 — Mon Feb 03, 2025 7:13 pm — Replies 6 — Views 564