Are Coinbase accounts protected from fraud?

Have you been victimized by fraud? Maybe you saw a fraudulent coinbase account opened in your name. And yet, after reporting it, coinbase just isn’t responding. What can you do next? We explain.

Tired of talking in circles with customer service? File an official claim instead:

Are accounts protected from fraud?

Yes, checking accounts are protected from fraud because of Federal Reserve Regulation E. This law requires banks to give you a refund on specific charges if they were unauthorized and if you report it within two days.

Does Coinbase reimburse stolen money?

It’s not a 100% guarantee that banks will reimburse stolen money. In almost all cases they will, assuming you haven’t done anything to compromise the security on your end. And even then, the bank has to prove that you were grossly negligent like telling a lot of people your bank password or giving them your pins but just saying that your debit card pin or your online bank password was used is not enough for banks to refuse to reimburse you for fraudulent stolen money. With CoinBase, you have to adhere to their insurance policy, especially for cryptocurrencies. 

Lost funds to scammers? Get Coinbase to act:

Contact Coinbase about fraud

The first thing you need to do when you see fraudulent activity is report it. They will ask for details about the transactions and any other information they need to follow up with an investigation.

Coinbase doesn’t make it easy to contact them though, and all they ask you to do is email them through the help page for the fastest resolution. This can be incredibly frustrating for customers who want to get a fast resolution to this and make sure that they report things immediately. There’s really no way of knowing how long it will take coinbase to respond to the email which can influence the likelihood that they will reimburse you. 

Once you report the fraud to your financial institution, don’t forget to report any fraud to the Federal Trade Commission. They need to know about fraud so that they can monitor it in the future and help you deal with unauthorized transactions.

Does Coinbase really investigate fraud?

Yes, banks actually investigate fraud, even financial institutions like coinbase have to do it. Banks will typically start by looking at the transaction data for signs of fraud like geolocations, time stamps, or IP addresses that are evidence the cardholder simply wasn’t a part of the transaction. This information can help them track down the perpetrator and press charges against them and at the very least protect other customers from fraud.

However, coinbase makes it very clear in their security sections that any cryptocurrency transactions are completely irreversible so there’s nothing you can do to stop a fraudulent payment or reverse it and customers have submitted multiple complaints to the Better Business Bureau that their fraud complaints remain unanswered and unresolved.

Related: How to Spot and Report Illegal and Unfair Banking

What can a scammer do with my bank account number?

If someone steals information from your coinbase account, they can use your bank account number with your routing number to take money out of your account. This can be by way of wire transfers where they simply send money from your bank account with those numbers to themselves, or order checks from your bank and then cash them. This is why it is incredibly important to monitor your accounts and report the fraud as soon as it happens so that even if they did order checks, they won’t be able to use them for continued fraud nor will they be able to continually transfer money from your account.

What to Do If They Won’t Help

What about situations where you’ve tried all that but the company still isn’t responsive or they don’t believe you? If you aren’t getting a timely response, contact FairShake to learn more about consumer arbitration and what legal alternatives you have.