CINCINNATI --
PNC Bank says it will help customers who had fraudulent charges from their accounts during the National City Bank changeover.
Some customers have reported thousands of dollars disappearing from their accounts without their knowledge, and the bank has decided to monitor all accounts for potential threats.
PNC spokesman Fred Solomon said the incident involved former National City Bank customers' debit cards in the Cincinnati area, and additional security has been placed on those accounts.
One customer said she lost nearly $3,000 from her account in a matter of hours and another woman lost $4,500.
A PNC Bank customer who asked to be called "Susan" for the purpose of this story said she got a rude awakening when she tried to withdraw some cash from her account.
"I got a notification on the screen that I had insufficient funds," Susan said.
When she later checked her account online, what she thought was a small mistake turned into big mystery.
"I realized there was almost $4,500 gone from account from places in the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Hong Kong," Susan said.
Susan said that like many people, she used to be a National City Bank customer until the recent switch.
"What I was told was the charges were being made on my old National City debit card that wasn't going to be turned off until the end of April due to the switch," Susan said.
More than a dozen other customers contacted News 5 after this story aired Wednesday night to say that they had lost anywhere between $1,000 and $10,000 in the last week or so.
On Thursday morning, Solomon told News 5 that it appears that the security breach occurred at a National City Bank vendor prior to the bank's acquisition, and he believes the hole has been fixed.
Solomon said that anyone who reported losses to PNC before 6 p.m. Wednesday will get their money restored to their account today. Anyone who does so Thursday will see their money returned Friday.
PNC said all fees associated with any fraudulent activity on the card will be refunded. Any overdraft fees will be refunded, and PNC will provide information to customers about help get returned check fees charged by other companies refunded as well.
The bank said customers should continue to monitor their accounts for suspicious charges for the next few weeks in case some charges are posted later.
If you have any questions, you can call PNC Bank at 1-888-PNC-BANK or
to report a problem.
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