Fresno tea lounge hit by stolen debit card fraud, gets community support

A stolen business debit card drained thousands of dollars from Isla Tea Lounge in Downtown Fresno after Mikayla Lo and Alicia Lieu found the card or wallet tied to the account was gone and unauthorized charges appeared on the account.

Lo and Lieu said the outpouring of support from customers and neighbors mattered almost as much as the money. After they posted about the fraud, dozens and dozens of people sent messages of encouragement, giving the tea lounge a quick boost at the same time it was trying to absorb a costly hit.

Their business began with a shared idea from their time at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Lieu said she had been homesick and wanted a place that reflected tea, family and Asian heritage, while Lo said finding the brick-wall storefront during ArtHop made the concept feel real.

Fresno Police Detective David Lomeli said businesses often face strict reporting windows, sometimes as short as two weeks to 60 days, and the clock starts the moment a card goes missing or a statement shows an unauthorized charge. Within the first 24 hours, the safest move is to call the bank immediately, freeze or replace the debit card, review every recent transaction and document the amounts and dates of anything unfamiliar. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says unauthorized electronic fund transfers shown on a statement generally must be reported within 60 calendar days after the statement is sent, and the FDIC says losses from a lost debit card are generally capped at $50 if the bank is notified within two days, with liability rising to $500 if it is not.

The Fresno Police Department has public identity-theft guidance, and city leaders have already backed small-business security with a $100,000 camera grant program launched with the Fresno Chamber of Commerce. Police have warned about stolen card information being used in discounted resale schemes on social media, and the Department of Justice said a Fresno card-skimmer case involved nearly $200,000 in losses to local victims.