A Gringa No Brasil

I was bound to get robbed eventually. I just assumed I was more likely to get mugged in Tegucigalpa than to have my bank accounts wiped by some unknown person :(

Just before Holy Week, someone got ahold of my Bank of America info and emptied out my checking account. Not only that, but they withdrew more than I had so the rest was put as a charge on my credit card thanks to overdraft protection. I'm sure this would've been super stressful under any condition, but I was extra devastated because I had plans to leave on vacation for El Salvador just three days later. I spent the rest of the day on the phone with a BOA rep trying to sort out the whole mess. Apparently the money had been withdrawn from an ATM in Lima, Peru, and there were several other attempted withdrawals throughout Latin America and Florida. Obviously I was not the one to blame for these transactions so the money was returned as a "loan" that is pending the full fraud investigation, and the bank fees were canceled. Money back, hooray! Except for the fact that my debit card was canceled, and I had no way of getting a new one or accessing the money before I went off to El Salvador. My wonderful parents saved the day, though, and were able to wire money to my Honduran account :)

But wait, the story isn't over yet. Just a few days after I came back from vacation, I noticed more strange charges, this time on my Honduran debit card. My account was nearly wiped out (except for about $40) before I realized what was going on, and got ahold of Banco Atlantida to block my card. That's right, more than half of the money my parents had wired me (what wasn't spent in El Sal) was up in smoke. The next day was spent in the Peace Corps Office with a pile of paperwork and plenty of red tape. I spoke to the IT guy, thinking that my computer had a virus that was sending my banking info to some hacker - two emptied bank accounts in a matter of a week and a half is way too much of a coincidence. A virus seemed unlikely to him at which point he asked if I'd ever used both debit cards in the same place, and there was the answer. It had to be an ATM in Antigua, Guatemala, the only place I've ever used both cards. After failing to withdraw money from BOA, I was forced to use my Banco Atlantida card. Another volunteer I was traveling with used the same ATM, and also had her BOA account wiped out just before mine was hit. It seems there was a hidden skimmer on the machine that recorded the card info and PIN.

I spoke with the PC person in charge of volunteers' bank accounts, gave her a copy of my bank statement, and she took on the task of filing the official claim and dealing directly with the bank. Banco Atlantida is MUCH slower at everything than BOA so it'll probably be awhile before I find out if I'm getting reimbursed for the money I lost. Fingers crossed. They haven't even told me if I'm getting a new bank account and/or debit card. In the meantime, I got a partial reimbursement from Peace Corps (in cash). Since my whole living and housing allowance for the month of May was stolen, they had to reimburse me so that I can get by for the next month.

I also filled out a Security Incident Report Form. The Safety and Security Director passed on the story (anonymously) to the rest of the PC Honduras community since Antigua is a popular vacation spot for volunteers and a lot were there for Holy Week. I hope no one else has to deal with this headache.