Where can you get a 'second chance' bank account?

How did money get transferred from my bank account?

• My mom had my cousin transfer like $10,000 from her checking into another separate account. Within a week there was a transfer of $2,650 that went into something called Garrett Costello. The bank called and asked if we made this transaction and we said we did thinking it was the $10,000 transaction. My bank will not look into getting us back this money since on a recorded line we said we did this transfer. I have asked the bank and wrote to them with no action taken. This happened 6 months ago. I don't know many people that can afford to lose $2,650 for nothing. How was this transfer taken from the account to a place I never heard of and is there any chance that I will ever get this money back?

• Answer:

  I would guess that to make that transfer someone somehow got your bank account number (or perhaps mistyped the account number they were trying to enter and happened to end up with a valid number that was your account). I seriously doubt you'll ever get that money back. The bank apparently suspected it was not a legitimate transaction if they called you, but once you said it was OK you essentially made it a legitimate transaction. Had you taken the time to verify that the transfer they were asking about was for the correct amount and going to the correct account, you'd have learned that it wasn't and the bank would likely have denied that transfer and you'd still have your money. Unfortunately it's a very expensive lesson, but now you know that if a bank calls and asks if a transaction is legitimate, you want to ask questions and make absolutely sure it is before you say yes. Banks do not normally call you unless they suspect something is wrong so a call like that from a bank should put you in "extreme caution" mode.