‘That wasn’t me’: Woman gets a $3K charge from Costco. Then she demands answers after Chase Bank refuses to refund her

What could possibly be worse than a hacker stealing $3,000 from your credit card? Your credit card company refusing to help you, that's what.

In a viral video, TikTok user Natalia Smith (@nataliamsmith) said it all started when she woke up to a text from Chase saying she had spent $2,999 on a gold bar at Costco.

Naturally, she said she called up the bank, said it was fraud, and canceled her card. Simultaneously, Smith explained that she was getting hundreds of spam emails, which made her realize that her email address had been leaked by a hacker.

At first, she said Chase was helpful, as the bank reversed the charge on her card. However, she was later informed that her card was getting recharged because Costco had apparently found that the purchase was legitimate. This is because the item was sent to her old address and signed for by someone named Vanessa.

Costco refuses to help

Fed up, Smith then said she filed a police report. Chase also told her that they needed confirmation from Costco saying that the order wasn't authorized by her. Smith reluctantly called Costco and was sent to the online order team. They allegedly told her nothing could be done because the order had been delivered. Costco added that it used public records to verify, meaning that the fraudulent order passed a verification check.

Costco's only advice was for Smith was to file a police report and change her password.

"So basically, at this point, I'm coming to TikTok for help because I don't know what to do," she said. "Like I'm waiting for the police report to be filed and see what happens there. But Chase isn't going to refund me the money until Costco confirms that it's fraudulent. Costco won't confirm it's fraudulent because it managed to go through somehow on the ordering system."

Viewers share their own advice

In the comments section, some viewers advised her to file a police report, while others said that she should contact Costco's CEO.

Commenters also agreed that Costco was at fault.

"Account takeovers happen!" one wrote. "I work in credit! They should have refunded for you!"

Another added, "I would think Costco is at fault since you don’t have that address on file. So unfair."

The clip amassed 11,100 views. Smith didn't immediately respond to the Daily Dot's request for comment via TikTok comment.

Watch on TikTok

What happened next?

As explained in a follow-up video, things improved for Smith. She explained that while she was unable to prove the fraud via her Gmail, Costco was reluctant to charge back her card.

Instead, Smith gathered other evidence, including proof that her billing address wasn't that delivery address, a bill proving her current residence, and a picture of her driver's license to prove that she has a different signature to "Vanessa." This, combined with the police report smith filed, was considered enough evidence by Costco to reverse the charge.

However, while the situation was resolved, Smith was left with questions.

"I did ask both Chase and Costco, like, why was the payment able to go through without a correct billing address?" she said. "Like, it was my old address, and it wasn't in my Costco account, and it wasn't on my Chase account. So, like, why did the payment go through? And neither could give me a straight answer."

In other follow-up videos, she remarked how buying gold from Costco could be a good investment and urged viewers to report credit card fraud right away instead of waiting like she did.

Chase and Costco didn't respond to the Daily Dot's request for comment via email and contact form respectively.

Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.

The post ‘That wasn’t me’: Woman gets a $3K charge from Costco. Then she demands answers after Chase Bank refuses to refund her appeared first on The Daily Dot.

dailynoti coindeskcrypto cryptonewscrypto bitcoinmymagazine mybitcoinist cryptowithpotato mycryptoslate fivenewscrypto findtechcrunch journalpayments nulltxcrypto newsbtcarea