St. Louis Park woman says stimulus check was put in wrong account

Minnesota woman says stimulus check was deposited in wrong account

A Minnesota woman said her second stimulus check was marked as arrived and deposited, but when she checked, it wasn't in her account.

(FOX 9) - Dream Benson of St. Louis Park doesn't know if it was a mistake by the IRS or some sort of fraud. All she knows is her second stimulus payment hasn't shown up in her bank account, and she needs that money to make ends meet.

"I'm feeling pretty anxious, not knowing where your next payment of income is coming from. You don't know your next move," Benson said.

Benson said she received $1,700 from the first round of stimulus payments last April, but when she checked the "Get My Payment" portal on the IRS website, she learned the $1,200 she is supposed to get from the second round of relief has been deposited into an account that isn't hers.

"I looked at it. I kept blinking. I was like, ‘I don't have an account with those last four numbers, this can't be me. This can't be correct.'"

The IRS says anyone who has problems receiving either stimulus payment can claim the missing amount on their federal tax returns through the agency's recovery rebate credit. Benson said she has reached out to the IRS, but she hasn't been able to get a hold of anyone to help her.

"I don’t want to wait until tax time. I don't want to wait another two weeks for something that is not my problem or my mistake."

For now, Benson is surviving on unemployment, but she hopes the IRS can get to the bottom of what happened to her stimulus payment sooner rather than later.

"This is absurd to me. It should be taken seriously and urgently," she said.

The stimulus payments started going out last week and will continue through next Friday. If you haven't received yours by then, you should contact the IRS.