Investor loses $12,145 in scam, Charles Schwab denies reimbursement

Jazz Powell-Loggins usually does not answer calls from numbers she does not recognise. But on July 13, she decided to pick up one such call. The person on the other end claimed to be from Charles Schwab security and told her that someone was trying to sell money from her account. Powell-Loggins said the caller was speaking loudly and repeatedly told her that he was trying to help her. “And it was panic, panic immediately,” she told ABC7. She said she struggled to understand what was happening as the caller kept getting louder. About two minutes into the call, Powell-Loggins interrupted the conversation because she had to answer a call from her doctor. Soon after, an alert appeared on her phone saying that a wire transfer had been completed. The entire amount in her investment account, $12,145, was gone. The loss was devastating for Powell-Loggins, who said she had been saving the money with a specific goal in mind. “That was devastating for me,” she said. “Because my job was to make sure that my son got out of college with no debt and to help him, fulfill his dreams.”

Powell-Loggins said the money was especially important because her family was already facing financial pressure. She said that her husband is battling cancer and that medical bills are increasing. She is also on disability after suffering an injury while working at a big-box warehouse store. After discovering that the money had been transferred, Powell-Loggins appealed to Charles Schwab. Five weeks later, she received a letter from the company. The letter said Schwab’s security guarantee “covers losses from unauthorized activity in your accounts”. However, the company said its investigation found that Powell-Loggins had provided a verification code to a third party, allowing the wire transfer to be completed. Powell-Loggins strongly disputed that finding. “But you guys are blaming me for an incident that I clearly told you I had nothing to do with,” she said. She also insisted that she had not given the scammers any information during the call. The case raised questions about how scammers could have obtained information that might have helped them target her account.

Security experts said that information such as bank account details, routing numbers and even PIN numbers can be available for purchase on underground marketplaces known as the “dark web”. Jasika Bawa, Project Lead for Google’s Chrome Security, said short PINs can also create security risks. “I would just say, many pins are very short, like four digits. It can even be brute-forced by an attacker,” Bawa said. She explained that brute-forcing means repeatedly trying possible PIN combinations until one works. According to Bawa, scammers in Powell-Loggins’ case may have been using the frantic phone call to divert her attention while activity was taking place in her account. Bawa said banks can send alerts when money is moved. However, a person who is already dealing with a stressful and confusing phone call may fail to notice those messages. “There might be informational alerts from the bank that would say, 'Hey, by the way, like, you know, $1,000 was just moved from this place to another,'” Bawa said. “But while you're on the phone, you know, being bombarded with this, like, stressful information from the attacker, you might miss that kind of information.”

ABC7 contacted Charles Schwab about the case. The company declined to provide anyone for an on-camera interview but issued a statement. “We sympathize with Ms. Powell-Loggins, whose experience is an unfortunate example of growing imposter fraud,” the company said. Schwab advised clients to be cautious, remain vigilant and protect their personal information. The company did not answer follow-up questions. The questions included what Schwab could have done to prevent the incident, whether a withdrawal involving an account’s entire balance should trigger additional scrutiny, and what evidence the company had that Powell-Loggins provided a verification code to the scammers. Powell-Loggins continues to deny that she shared information with the callers. “I've shown nothing but integrity and hung out with this company. And for them to tell me, we believe you have something to do with it. We're not giving you back a dime. Good riddance. That was devastating to me,” she said. She has decided to continue pursuing the matter. Powell-Loggins is taking her case to arbitration and has contacted local police and the FBI.