COPLEY, Ohio — A veteran who fought for our country in the Gulf War found himself in another fight after becoming the victim of credit card fraud and identity theft.
Somebody racked up more than $20,000 in charges in a foreign country on Robert Smith's credit card. For more than a month, the 54-year-old vet from Copley struggled to get the unauthorized charges reversed. That changed after News 5 got involved.
Smith proudly served in the U.S. Navy during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
"I was a boiler tech in the Navy," Smith said. "We were on the front line the Gulf War."
During that time, he dealt with tragedy as part of a Navy team that responded to the USS Iwo Jima after that ship experienced a steam leak, killing 10 sailors.
"I had to go down in that plant to shut it down and make sure, and it was bodies down there. That really affected my life," he said. "I dedicated my career to those veterans that died."
Smith suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder because of that incident. He said he's considered a disabled veteran due to PTSD and congestive heart failure.
Last month, Smith said he was exploited when five separate charges, totaling $20,005.18, appeared on his Navy Federal Credit Union American Express credit card.
He told News 5 it happened after someone posing as a credit union employee convinced Smith to enter a code on his phone.
According to a Copley police report, the con artist told Smith not to access his account for 24 hours. Smith isn't sure how it happened, but he believes his personal information, stored on his phone, was unlocked during the call, giving the scammer access to the credit card number.
The charges were all made at a UPS store in Istanbul, Turkey.
"The only time I went to a UPS store was to ship something in Copley. Never been to Turkey," Smith said.
While Smith made multiple calls to request the charges be reversed, Navy Federal Credit Union refused initially.
The credit union messaged Smith last week. It read, in part, "We regret that our investigation did not yield a more favorable outcome. This matter is closed."
Copley Detective Mike Yovanno said he spoke with someone from the credit union fraud department to ask if there was anything further the police department could do to provide information to help with a refund.
Yovanno said he was surprised when the fraud department claimed there was evidence to suggest Smith authorized or benefited from the transactions.
"We had no reason to believe that Smith was nothing other than an identity theft victim, Yovanno said.
On Wednesday morning, News 5 emailed the communications department for Navy Federal Credit Union, asking for a statement and if there was anything that could be done to help the veteran.
Smith said he received another email about an hour and a half later, indicating the charges had finally been reversed.
The email reads, "We have taken another look at the account, and we are pleased to inform you that your More Reward American Express claim has been accepted and we have honored your claim. Provisional credit in the amount of of $20,005.18 has been issued and it is now permanent."
Smith said he was happy and relieved that "the right thing was finally done."
"It's because of what News 5 did, after you contacted them," he added.
In a statement to News 5, Chip Kohlweiler, SVP of Security at Navy Federal Credit Union, said:
"Navy Federal values the privacy and security of our member's financial information very seriously. As a result, if a member has specific questions on their account, we ask them to please call us toll-free at 1-888-842-6328. At Navy Federal, we provide the necessary tools to educate member on how to avoid scams and fraudulent transactions."
Deven Weckerly Lamber from Akron Better Business Bureau said people need to be alert when answering calls from unknown numbers.
"You always want to avoid giving information to anybody that you didn't call personally," Weckerly Lambert said.
She said if you think you've been scammed, monitor your accounts, file a police report and reach out to your bank or credit union.
"What I would recommend is you definitely want to read through those protections with your institutions and your account managers just to make sure you know ahead of time what exactly you're going to need to do."
Weckerly Lambert also suggested visiting the BBB's website to learn more about its scam tracker and scam recovery guide.
