It all started a little more than a year ago. The credit union where I bank changed their name and in doing so issued me a new visa check card. You know the drill, not exactly a Visa but useable wherever visa is accepted. Fine. I gave my old card, the one with the old credit union name and logo to my daughter, a responsible 17 year old (or so I thought). With the caveat that she was not to use the card without my express permission. It’s been a good arrangement so far and I can send her on errands for me to the grocery or to gas up the car, etc. I let her gas up her car and occasionally purchase items for herself. Part of having the card was also knowing my secret PIN.
Fast forward to today. I got paid on Friday, direct deposit. I log on to my CU’s web site to pay my bills on line like I always do. I check my account first and WTF? What’s this $100 withdrawal at an ATM in the next town over? What about this one for $10 and another for $40 and another for $20. I do a mental check and realize that I’ve not used my ATM card since a trip to K-mart on Friday evening. These charges (starting with a balance inquiry) are all 10 p.m. Friday night and after.
I call the bank and they verify that the charges were made with my card. Impossible, I say, I’m holding the card right now and I’ve not been parted with it over the weekend.
I call my daughter and she denies knowing anything but something in her voice tells me something is up. Turns out that my normally bright but a little too trusting teenager gave my ATM card with my PIN to the 19 year old boyfriend of a friend so he could buy her cigarettes (a nasty habit I thought she’d quit) He gave her the card back after the cigarette purchase but she thinks she may have dropped it and that he possibly picked it up. I ask her to come home immediately. I call the bank and cancel my card so that no more charges can be made since someone obviously has both my card and my PIN.
The friend is our upstairs neighbor and she and her boyfriend (the thief) are sitting on the steps outside. My daughter confronts the boyfriend. He denies everything but I don’t believe him. My husband thinks that I’m just screwed because it’s my word against his and I don’t really have any proof that he took the card. At this point I’m mentally kissing my $175 goodbye when suddenly it hits me…
ATMs have cameras! 
Armed with this sudden insight I call the police department and give them the whole story. Meanwhile my daughter goes outside to have a little talk with the thief. Realizing that he’s been busted (or shortly will be) he tearfully confesses. My daughter brings him into the house where he cries and apologizes and promises to pay me back. I tell him I’ll think about it and I decide to let the cops come anyway. At this point I was at odds as to what to do. The kid obviously was down on his luck and his parental situation was a mess. He’d lost his job and been living out of his car for a month. While he claimed to have used my money for food I happen to know that he frequents the internet gaming center in the neighborhood and has used at least part of my cash to pay for time on line there. I may be sympathetic but I’m not stupid. (well OK, maybe giving my kid the card belies that statement)
The cop comes and I give him the whole long story. The thief is still sitting outside crying with his girlfriend. I can press charges and they’ll take him to jail or I can decide to just let him pay me back as he has promised. Meanwhile the cop decides to give him a good talking to and scare him a little bit. I should say right here that the officer, a sherriff’s deputy, was really good. Helpful and firm but not bullying with the kid. My daughter later remarked that it was like watching an episode of cops. I don’t know if that’s good or bad but he did give the kid that kind of lecture.
In the end I didn’t press charges and the thief’s father agreed to send me the money (he lives in Tennesee). I have the case # and the deputy’s card if anything else happens.
So, why is this a tale of woe, you may ask, if I’m getting my money back and the kid’s not going to have a criminal record?
Because shortly after this all took place the thief’s girlfriend dumped him. :smack: That’s gotta hurt.