Mom keeps illegally monitoring my bank account, what to do?
My mom keeps monitoring my personal bank account (a checking account that belongs only to me) via an employee friend of a large national bank chain that I bank in. I bank at a top-10 bank in the USA whose name everyone has heard, but I live in a different state than my mom. I reported this activity to a personal banker, who checked the online logs for activity in the state/address that my mom resides in. He found nothing. I then proceeded to open another bank account in a completely different top-10 US bank and withdrew most of my money into this new bank account. A few weeks later my mom asked me why I withdrew almost all my money from my original bank account.
I want this (presumably illegal) surveillance to stop and I would like to pursue any and all legal means available to me — either against the bank or against my mom or both (if possible). The personal banker I spoke to told me that he does not see any login activity attempting to access my bank account records from the state that my mom lives in, so he said that possibly the only other alternative could have been a bank teller/cashier that my mom knows who could have checked my account from a different database system. Apparently, personal bankers and tellers/cashiers have access to different database systems.
In any case, could anyone please advise me on my options — both in terms of putting an end to this surveillance, properly reporting it, bringing the employee responsible to justice, and pursuing any appropriate legal action available to me under these circumstances.
If you’re under 18 there’s not much you can do. As a minor, your kinda just stuck. There are routes to go, but not many.
If you’re over 18, here’s what you can do.
Now these steps won’t help you not anger your mother. They’re “what you can do” but it doesn’t mean you “should”. Keep in mind that it might be better just to have a conversation. In that conversation, if you think you need to say, “I will file a complaint with the FBI, and have you arrested if you don’t stop! You’re breaking the law and invading my privacy.”
Again these are drastic steps to take. More moderate steps may be advisable.
Has the monitoring stopped now that you are at a new bank? Presumably it has.
If it has stopped, then let it go. Its your mom and while the relationship might be somewhat dysfunctional, it is the only mother relationship you have. Do you really want her criminally prosecuted?
She may have done you a favor by pointing out the security loop holes present in your old bank. Thanks mom!