CFA: money card fraud goes unrefunded

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A local woman says her Wal-Mart money card was compromised and now she's out more than $2,000.  

"Annie" tells Eyewitness News that the company wasn't moving fast enough to get her her money back - so she called 12 for action.

She purchased the card at the Seekonk store and loaded her entire tax refund loaded onto the card to use it as needed.

When she finally did want to use it to make purchases, she logged into her Wal-Mart account and found that the money was gone.  A number of charges had been made on the card and were still pending, so she called customer service.

"I said put a stop payment on them, and they said 'we can't do that,'" Annie said.  "We have to wait for them to go through and then you have to contact the merchant."

It turns out that all those transactions were made in Pennsylvania - and Annie says she's never been there.  So, she filed a police report in the town where the purchases were made.

According to that report, the store manager turned over surveillance video, still photos and receipts, and says the person was seen purchasing baby formula with a stolen credit card.  

When contacted, that police department confirmed that they were conducting a fraud investigation regarding a Wal-Mart money card, but wouldn't say anything more than that.

Despite that apparent evidence, Wal-Mart still hasn't stopped the transactions or refunded her money.  Call 12 For Action contacted the company; a spokesperson says they're looking into the case to figure out exactly what happened, and are doing what they can to get her money returned.