An Reports say that an Austin, Texas man says he was drugged and robbed while out on the town, and he is now trying to get back the thousands of dollars that he says were stolen that night.
A man named Steve told FOX 7 in Austin that he was in Downtown Austin with some friends and that they were “in no way to the point of blackout drinking.”
Steve and his friends were at Estelle’s, a drink bar on 4th Street, at the end of the night.
The station asked him what his last memory of the night was. He said it was FaceTiming his cousin to let him know he was taking an Uber.
“Then I woke up the next morning in my bed,” he shared.
He found that his credit and bank cards were gone along with his phone when he woke up.
It turned out that ten to twelve charges at three Walmart shops near Katy, Texas, added up to about $10,000.
Steve also said he found a string of $3 charges, a cash back take of more than $900, a Zelle payment for $1,000, a 7-Eleven charge, and two $1,000 ATM transfers.
Steve has talked to the Austin Police Department, his banks, and other people since the finding.
He said, “It’s been really hard.” “I’ve spent over 100 hours in my personal time trying to find the right entity that’s willing to have my back.”
The station reported in February 2022 that another man said he woke up the next morning and couldn’t remember what happened on West 6th Street the night before. When he checked his bank account, he saw that thousands of dollars were gone.
Then, in October 2022, two women were nabbed for reportedly posing as rideshare drivers in February and stealing thousands of dollars from people in Downtown Austin.
According to a police report that Fox 7 received, “a common criminal strategy in the Historic Downtown Austin area is to pick up drunk people and pretend to be their Uber or Lyft drivers.” The customers will then either be taken or driven around Austin in order to get as much money, things, or pay as possible from them.
Steve said that his bank, Chase, turned down his third claim of theft.
Chase said in the letter that it looked over claims worth more than $12,000 that were made on August 7. The claims were turned down because his PIN was used with no incorrect tries when the ATM transactions were made or after his card was reported lost.
“Further, inconsistent information was provided to us when you reported the activity as fraud,” it said. “Additionally, your device was used prior and during the processing of these transactions.”
The way Steve puts it, he feels “pretty helpless.”
“I’m hoping this message gets out to the public, at least to let them know that there is activity like this happening,” he told me. “Anyone is really eligible to be a victim of this crime.”
The station called Chase, and they confirmed what the letter said about Steve’s PIN being used without any failed tries when the ATM purchases were made.
“Clients can sign up for free account alerts on chase.com,” the person said.
Original source of the article: A man from Austin says he was drugged and robbed of a lot of money downtown at night.
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