Fact: STRS not at fault; bank subcontractors are!

From RH Jones, October 11, 2007

To all:

A weekly newspaper, the Barberton Herald, ran an article on 10/04/07, page 4, Norton Police, Thursday, Sept. 20 – A Johnson Road woman said she received a call from her bank informing her there was fraudulent activity on her checking account, with two checks being cashed in California. She says she was told she was one of 24 victims from the teacher’s retirement account. That worried me, so I began checking into it. My findings, though limited, indicated that the problem was not caused by STRS; a sub-contractor of the Key Bank caused it. Sandy Knoesel of the STRS graciously assured me that as soon as the STRS found out the problem they began working with Key Bank. She said, “… Some individuals who taught or are teaching in the Akron Public Schools were having problems with unauthorized access to their bank accounts. We confirmed that STRS Ohio did not have any data stolen and did not cause this problem. …” Also, She indicated a Key Bank subcontractor had caused the problem. And according to one of the victims who e-mailed me, the Key Bank had to change her bank account. Basically, between the bank & their teacher customers the problem has been straightened out. Perhaps teachers should change their accounts to a teacher’s credit union.

My conclusion is that we retired & active educators need to always BE CAREFUL & STAY ALERT. In these times, especially in money matters, we cannot lower our guard.

RHJones, a proud CORE member