State Sen. Bill DeSteph recently met with leaders of Navy Federal after publicly calling them out in August over fraud victims who have been forced to pay back personal loans they didn't take out.
WTKR has continued to expose issues with victims of fraud being forced to repay personal loans they never took out.
Federal prosecutors call it the parking lot scam.
Victims hand their phone over to a stranger who says they're in need — then money is transferred out of their account. The problem has plagued the community for several years.
DeSteph said during the meeting they spoke about all different kinds of scams not just the parking lot scam.
He described the meeting saying, "had a fantastic meeting. We went through a lot of the details of some of the stuff that you and I had talked about. We spent some serious time talking about, okay, what's been put in place? How are they getting away with this? What are the other things we're looking at? What are some of these other scams and things that are happening? And how can we make sure that Navy Federal customers are protected," DeSteph said.
Watch previous coverage: 8 out of 10 defendants have pleaded guilty in connection with "parking lot scam"
He said they discussed new measures in place.
"They've put processes and procedures in place to help crack down on this," DeSteph said.
But said many of the tactics to combat these crimes weren't disclosed.
"I will tell you that I can't, and they wouldn't disclose publicly what they're doing, because as soon as they do that, then the fraudsters go and figure out a way around it," DeSteph said.
DeSteph said one of the issues is that banks have been trying to compete with payday loans.
"Banks are trying to compete with payday loans so they need to make it simple and easy. Well, if you make it too easy, then that's where a lot of fraud pops in. When you crack down on it, that's where you've now made it more difficult, so hopefully that will resolve the issue for the future, but you still have to take care of the problems of the past and they're trudging through the problems of the past. Maybe not as quick as I want them to do, or as quick as you would like them to do, but they are trudging through them," DeSteph said.
Watch previous coverage: True Crime 757; The parking lot scam plaguing Navy Federal customers — and costing some thousands
We reached out to Navy Federal about their meeting with the senator, and they issued the following statement:
"We appreciate Senator DeSteph taking the time to meet with us to discuss these important issues. We continue to invest in member education and awareness efforts to help members recognize and avoid increasingly sophisticated scams. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement to support investigations and efforts to hold the criminals accountable. We value the constructive dialogue with Senator DeSteph. While we cannot comment on individual member matters, we remain committed to helping members avoid costly scams and criminal activities."
Meanwhile, attorney Gary Byler, who represents dozens of victims of fraud, said he continues to file more lawsuits against Navy Federal. Those are cases that Navy Federal said they can't comment on.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
