MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A Frayser woman woke up to find her bank account over drafted for a rental car in another city that she knew nothing about. 

Tasha Dowdy told FOX13 she got a text from her bank at 2 a.m. informing her that she’d been charged $1,285 for Hertz car rental in Oklahoma City, nearly 470 miles away from her Frayser home. 

“What business is open at two in the morning, and like Hertz airport is not even open to like rent a car,” Dowdy said. 

She didn’t authorize it so her bank, SoFi, froze her card, but the mysterious texts kept coming through. She was charged $1,400 then $1,500, $1,600 and $1,700. But, she said, a $1,900 charge did go through and over drafted her account. 

“Like, if I don’t have $1,858, how do you let that go through? It should have declined. Period,” Dowdy said. 

The Memphis woman told FOX13 that she was forced to work extra shifts to cover for the loss. “They need to give me my money back because I didn’t authorize the transaction,” Dowdy said. 

She tried to dispute the charge with SoFi but the bank denied her claim, saying no unauthorized activity had occurred. SoFi told FOX13, “Keeping our members’ money safe is a top priority. We encourage members who are concerned about suspicious activity to immediately contact SoFi and provide information that allows us to fully investigate.”

FOX13’s Your Money Advocate Kate Bieri reached out to Hertz and was able to get the company to send Dowdy a check in the mail for the money. 

To help protect yourself from fraudulent charges, it’s recommended that you use a credit card because it’s much easier to dispute fraud than with a bank or checking account.