Having had an Etrade account in the past, one of the things that I don't think everyone here understands is that Etrade is both a bank and a broker (which are completely separate) and if I understand the OP correctly this wasnt money from your ETrade brokerage cash account. If the funds were stolen from your Etrade bank account then none of the advice as it applies to brokers is relevent. This is no different then if someone took money out of a checking account without your permissions. AFAIK banking laws are pretty favorable to individuals so I suspect once you establish that fraud was committed ETrade will be forced to return the money to your account. Time to get some things in writing (exactly what happened and when) and start pushing them - I suspect they will roll over.
That's why I never put money in a "virtual" bank. At least with physical banks you can walk in and cuss out the local bank manager and have him solve the problem.
Shift the blame? Casual? And how would you know this Nkhoi? What if this gentleman posting in here has a kid with a drug problem, an about to be wayward spouse, or untrustworthy domestic help with access to his machine? Maybe Etrade has acted prudently in locking this account down. Geo.
Doesn't wire fraud fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI ? Contact the FBI and let them contact Etrade to gather the information on where the money was wire to and also to get the picture of the person who withdrew the funds from the bank. Banks have camera which take picture of ppl who are in the teller's line or using the ATMs.
I agree.... Since they aren't making good they should give you all the info on the fraudulent transaction....account numbers....banks involved etc.... I wonder if the police investigate something like this....I don't see why not.....if they do have the detective assigned to the case call etrade.... Nick
Am I correct to assume that your personal computer was not fully protected/secured against possible intrusions when you left to go on vacation? Please correct me if I am reading this wrong, but by them calling you while you were on vacation to report to you suspicious activity and even to suggest to you that you check your computer for spyware etc, didn't it cross your mind that someone had comprised your personal computer? If I am reading what your saying correctly, then I can't blame them for closing down everything and not fully telling you everything at this point due to if it was coming from your computer, they can only go by the fact that everything originated from your personal computer.... Whatever though, I sure hope you can get this straightened out and not be responsible for the monies but it might be tuff if you left leaving your computer vulnerable to intrusions.... Good Luck..
You've received lots of interesting advice, thus far. Unfortunately, most of it is leading you on a wild goose chase. The first question that I have is: Is this account with ETrade, a brokerage account or a savings account (ETrade Bank), because the governmental regulatory agencies are not the same. For the balance of this discussion, I will assume that it is a brokerage. You have the right to arbitrate your claim under NASD rules, and ETrade, as a member of NASD must permit the arbitration. Your customer agreement with ETrade almost certainly, as does every brokerage customer agreement in the U.S., contains a section whereby you waive your right to litigate account-related issues in court, and whereby you agree to the jurisdiction of the State of wherever ETrade wants this arbitration to take place -- usually NY. So, small claims court, and/or any other court is out -- you must arbitrate any civil complaint. Now, as to the complaint itself, you could have a tough road, because supposedly you were informed that your account was compromised, and you have admitted that you took no action. This is known as being contributorily/comparatively negligent, which means that your negligence will offset ETrade's in any computation of damages, assuming you can prove negligence. However, it's just possible that you weren't contacted by ETrade at all. Perhaps you were called by the very persons who stole your money, in order to assess your ability to quickly discover the theft, after it occurred -- in other words, when you were contacted, perhaps the theft hadn't even taken place yet. Anyway, usually, a company like ETrade will notify you both by phone and in writing of unauthorized activity, and it is almost inconceivable that they would not immediately issue you an new password and userid, if they were suspicious about account activity. To the extent that you believe that a criminal theft has taken place, you can certainly contact the FBI and file a complaint. You can also contact the Securities and Exchange Commission, because if ETrade's procedures are actually as lax as you describe, then they will probably get their ass handed to them by the government. If you are intent on doing this all yourself, then you need to find out who at ETrade deals with fraudulent/unauthorized transactions, and then write them a letter detailing the events and asking for them to investigate. The letter should state that if you do not receive a response within 10 calendar days from the date of its receipt by ETrade, that you will file a complaint with the SEC and the FBI. Send the letter certified mail, return receipt requested. The letter should not be hostile -- it should just state the facts and demand a timely response. Remember that the first person who reads your letter will be an assistant to an assistant who really has no power to help you. You have to work the system. This is not a case of fraud against you, it's a case of fraud against Etrade. Against you, it's a case of theft by deception. ETrade may be negligent for permitting the fraud, and you may have some damages for your $4K plus interest and attorney fees and arbitration costs, but you are not gonna get some big score, unless the person who stole from you has deep pockets, and he/she is actually caught and convicted. One more place you can go. Some local law enforcement agencies in bigger cities have internet crime units. If so, then you may be able to get a complaint filed locally. However, this crime probably didn't occur in your jurisdiction -- it was probably interstate, and that means the FBI.
It's possible that hackers have wired your funds to somewhere else. Which means you have the most vulnerable computer in the world. I'm surprised that someone said your funds were wired. That person is probably getting slapped in the same way Moe slaps Curly. I think this has been marshalled to their legal department, hence why they can't talk about it. However, somebody correct me if I'm wrong: that doesn't make you liable. You sign your life away when it comes to datafeed outages and trade executions. But when it comes to wiring monies without your permission, that's a different animal, which may explain the runaround by Etrade. My bet that in the near future, your account will be returned to you with the money in full. Sometimes, the best debuggers for computer security are those who aren't privy the cat and mouse game going on between the hackers and Microsoft.
This is absolutely good advice, I know several partners in various downtown chicago law firms and they agree finding a similar case will help your case tremendously. Good Luck. Dont forget to report them to the BBB and anyone else you can think of. Cmon 4K. Pocket Change for them. You always hear the Brokers are out to rob us but this is ridiculous.