Grandmother’s Stolen Debit Card And Fraudulent Transactions.

My grandmother’s (77F) debit card was stolen without her knowledge earlier this week. The person who stole her card essentially went on a shopping spree around the town we live. They withdrew from multiple ATMs, purchased items at the grocery store, bought something on Amazon, and made a transfer to a CashApp account. These charges were nearly $1,000 total.

Here’s the thing, I (30F) am on the bank account with my grandmother- it is a joint account. Based on the name mentioned in the CashApp transfer, it was most likely a close family member of ours who stole her card. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. However, to keep that family member out of trouble, my grandma always turned the other cheek. This time though, her (our) account is now almost -$300, so we cannot pay her electric bill that is overdue. My grandmother swears she did not give this person permission to use her card, and she did not know it was taken out of her wallet until the bank’s fraud center called her about suspicious activity.

Her and I both have talked to the fraud center for our bank and they said they would “investigate” the transactions we said were fraud. They were vague as to what that meant and would follow-up with us on their findings.

Meanwhile, we have -$300 in this account, and my grandma is already on a very limited income with SS, so I am worried we will not have the money to get her bills paid this month.

I want to take a trip with my grandma to the bank tomorrow to get more clarity on the situation. Personally, I would like this person held accountable from stealing from my elderly grandmother. My husband feels I should file a police report, even if my grandmother does not want to file it herself.

Any legal guidance on my best next steps would be much appreciated.

Edited a typo