Thief Drain Couples' Nearly $50K Bank Account After Stealing Their Mail

WOODLAND HILLS (CBSLA) — In the middle of a November night last year, a masked thief quietly and methodically walked into the mailroom of a Woodland Hills condo complex.

He used a master key to open a section of the mailbox and slyly transferred the contents in a backpack and walked out.

A Woodland Hills couple claim that within the stolen mail was one of their newly issued debit cards. Within four days, Rezza Massoumi and his wife's bank account was drained of nearly $50,000 before their bank notified him of the potential fraud. They are now calling on their bank and the police to catch the thieves and get their money back.

"I was shocked," Massoumi said. "I am like, 'Who is using my debit card? This is a mistake.' And then I logged into my Blue Vine account, and at that time there were over 68 transactions."

The thief and another suspect took the stolen debit card and spent most of the money at locations only a few miles away from the couple's condo. The thieves spent more than $10,000 at the nearby Topanga Mall making stops at Nordstrom, Ferragamo, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.

"It looks like somebody just went and got them a very nice Christmas shopping spree," said Massoumi.

The suspects, a man and a woman, were also seen at a local smoke shop. It is unclear if the man is the same suspect from the mailroom. But when not only the suspects but also their car's license plate were caught on camera at a local smoke shop, Massoumi thought this ordeal would be put to rest quickly. However, in the four months, since that video surfaced, Blue Vine told Massoumi that they still have no update for him and while the police have a few leads they haven't identified the suspects.

"It seems like nobody is willing to do anything about it, and now I am out a good portion of my life savings," said Massoumi.

Massoumi said the bank told him that the thieves needed his social security number to create a pin for the debit card. He said he does not know how they got it but some of the charges on his card were to places that sell personal information such as White Pages, Been Verified and Nuwber.

"I just want my money back," he said. "I want to start my business, and I want to support my family. That's it."

Blue Vine has not yet responded to a request for comment.