Paper or Pretense — Did JPMorgan Chase Commit Electronic Banking Fraud, Or Was It Simply A Mistake That Affected 27,000 Alltel Customers?
Did JPMorgan Chase Commit Electronic Banking Fraud, Or Was It Simply A Mistake That Affected 27,000 Alltel Customers?
Iconoclast Publisher Provides Personal Story
As He Tries To Break Through Corporate Walls
CRAWFORD During the lead-up to the Christmas holidays, a third-party bank electronically cleans out your personal bank account takes every penny and then some, keeps the money several days, then electronically returns it, calling it a mistake then hides behind structures of unaccountability by developing smokescreens of disinformation stories that don’t add up, conflicts in what the public is told when specific answers are sought.
Couldn’t happen in America where banking protocols are tight. Right?
Wrong!
The can of worms was opened for this publisher following my receipt of a letter from JP Morgan Chase bank in mid-December, prompting an investigation to determine the five w’s of what actually happened.
My two-year contract for personal cell phone service was with Alltel and was on the verge of expiration. Alltel normally would send me a detailed statement monthly, which I normally paid via personal paper check, written on one of my personal local bank accounts.
I received a letter dated Dec. 10, 2007, from JPMorgan Chase, Alltel’s bank in Phoenix, Ariz:
Dear Alltel Customer:
We are writing to make you aware of an error we made in processing your check payment to Alltel in November. JPMorgan Chase processes the checks Alltel customers send as payment for their monthly Alltel service. Recently, in debiting your checking account for an Alltel check payment, we made a duplication error that we want to make you aware of.
Your check made payable to Alltel, originally presented to your financial institution for payment between Nov. 19, 2007, and Nov. 29, 2007, was presented for payment a second time Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007, in error. This means your checking account has been debited twice for a single payment.
Please know this is not an Alltel error but, rather, an isolated banking error.
We have notified your financial institution of this error and requested their assistance in processing a credit to your account.
If you do not already see the credit for the duplicate payment in your checking account, you may contact your financial institution directly to inquire if the credit is being posted to your account. Or, you may call the JPMorgan Chase customer service department at 1-866-528-0686. We will ask you to verify your checking account information so that we may work directly with your financial institution to process the credit to your checking account.
If this event caused an overdraft in your checking account, JPMorgan Chase will reimburse you for the overdraft fee. Please contact JPMorgan Chase customer service at 1-866-528-0686.
We sincerely apologize for our mistake and any inconvenience it may have caused. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this matter.
Respectfully,
Chris Wilburn
Vice President, Treasury Services
It appeared to be a form lette
