MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Mt. Juliet couple is sounding the alarm about Apple Pay schemes after she said she lost close to $3,500.

Janki Patel and her husband, Chetan Patel, told FOX 17 News their bank, Bank of America, refuses to pay them back.

The Mt. Juliet Police Department (MJPD) is investigating the incident.

The Patels are a one-income household in Mt. Juliet, with two young children, and piling bills.

“I have bills. My children have needs. There are tuition fees,” Janki said.

Janki said it has been almost four months since nearly $3,500 was taken from them through Apple Pay.

“It’s very alarming,” Janki said.

RELATED COVERAGE | Two teens accused of cellphone pay schemes, targeting Nashville’s tourists, residents

Chetan said he first found out something was wrong on March 21.

“I received an alert from my mobile banking app. There was a charge for close to $1,000 at Lululemon,” Chetan said.

Chetan said he then asked his wife if she had made the purchase, which came as a shock to her.

“I’ve never spent $950 in a single transaction,” Janki said. “You never anticipate it happening to you.”

The Patels said they did their own digging, finding out the transactions started on March 18, with purchases under $500 at different stores, including Target.

Which is why Chetan said they didn’t get an alert.

The couple says they have been robbed of more than just money.

“This has impacted not only in terms of the time, energy, hours,” Chetan said.

The Patels said they have been met with hurdles every step of the way while trying to get their money back.

Bank of America, they said, denied their claims not just once, but three different times.

“Without proper explanation. Without proper investigation. That’s beyond frustrating to me,” said Chetan.

“Infuriating,” added Janki.

The Patels ended up going to the Mt. Juliet Police Department the first week of May for answers and filed a police report to get to the bottom of what happened.

Police said they cannot disclose details of the case, but they can weigh in on what people should do in situations involving Apple Pay schemes.

“I would definitely recommend using a credit card with your Apple Pay as opposed to your debit card account,” Mt. Juliet police spokesperson Mackenzie Rinehart said. “I would not recommend putting your personal information on an unidentified website.”

RELATED COVERAGE | Don’t fall prey to card skimming, cybersecurity expert offers tips to guard financial info

As MJPD continues to look into the Patels’ case, Chetan never stopped trying to get a resolution.

He told FOX 17 News after countless phone calls to Bank of America and the MJPD stepping in, a Bank of America representative revealed a crucial detail in this theft claim.

A bank representative identified the phone Apple Pay was attached to as being used out of Dallas, Texas, said Chetan.

“The representative asked me, you know, for the Apple Pay, what was the phone number where this Apple Pay was stored? So, my wife, she uses an Apple phone, and it was stored on her phone. [We] shared her phone number, and they confirmed that this is not the number where the Apple Pay was stored. It was another iPhone which does not belong to us. The card was added as Apple Pay onto that phone, but they do have [a] location. It was based out of Dallas, Texas,” said Chetan.

FOX 17 News reached out to Bank of America, asking why the bank cannot recognize the charges as fraud and give the Patels their money back.

We are still waiting to hear back.

In the meantime, the Patels are spreading awareness.

“So, this is also, you know, in the hope that it would help other people who are in a similar situation,” Chetan said.

Mt. Juliet police said it is incredibly hard to prosecute these cybercriminals, so FOX 17 News will continue to press Bank of America for answers.