COPLEY, Ohio — A veteran who fought for our country in the Gulf War found himself in another fight after becoming a victim of credit card fraud and identity theft.

Someone racked up over $20,000 in charges in a foreign country on Robert Smith’s credit card. For more than a month, the 54-year-old Copley veterinarian struggled to get the unauthorized charges overturned. That changed after News 5 got involved.

Smith proudly served in the United States Navy during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

“I was a boiler technician in the Navy,” Smith said. “We were on the front lines during the Gulf War.”

During that time, he faced tragedy as part of a Navy team that responded to the USS Iwo Jima after that ship experienced a steam leak, killing 10 sailors.

“I had to go to that factory to shut it down and make sure, and there were dead bodies there. It really affected my life,” he said. “I have dedicated my career to fallen veterans.”

Smith suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder because of this incident. He said he was considered a disabled veteran due to post-traumatic stress disorder and congestive heart failure.

Last month, Smith said he was taken advantage of when five separate charges, totaling $20,005.18, appeared on his Navy Federal Credit Union American Express credit card.

He told News 5 it happened after someone posing as a credit union employee convinced Smith to enter a code on his phone.

According to a Copley police report, the scammer told Smith not to access his account for 24 hours. Smith isn’t sure how this happened, but he believes his personal information, stored on his phone, was unlocked during the call, allowing the scammer access to the credit card number.

The charges were all charged at a UPS store in Istanbul, Turkey.

“The only time I ever went to a UPS store was to ship something to Copley. I’ve never been to Türkiye,” Smith said.

While Smith made several calls asking for the charges to be dropped, Navy Federal Credit Union initially refused.

The credit union sent Smith a message last week. It read in particular: “We regret that our investigation did not lead to a more favorable outcome. This case is closed.”

Copley Detective Mike Yovanno said he spoke with someone in the credit union’s fraud department to ask if there was anything else the police department could do to provide information to help with a refund.

Yovanno said he was surprised when the fraud unit claimed there was evidence to suggest Smith had authorized or benefited from the transactions.

“We had no reason to believe that Smith was anything more than a victim of identity theft,” Yovanno said.

News 5 sent an email to Navy Federal Credit Union’s communications department Wednesday morning, asking for a statement and if anything could be done to help the veteran.

Smith said he received another email about an hour and a half later stating that the charges were ultimately dropped.

The email states: “We have reviewed the account and are pleased to inform you that your More Reward American Express request was accepted and we have honored your request. An interim credit in the amount of $20,005.18 was issued and it is now permanent.”

Smith said he was happy and relieved that “the right thing was finally done.”

“It’s because of what News 5 did after you contacted them,” he added.

In a statement to News 5, Chip Kohlweiler, senior vice president of security at Navy Federal Credit Union, said:

Deven Weckerly Lamber of the Akron Better Business Bureau said people need to be vigilant when answering calls from unknown numbers.

“You always want to avoid giving information to people you haven’t called personally,” Weckerly Lambert said.

She said if you think you’ve been scammed, monitor your accounts, file a police report and contact your bank or credit union.

“What I would recommend is that you definitely want to read through these protections with your institutions and your account managers, just to make sure you know in advance what exactly you’ll need to do.”

Weckerly Lambert also suggested visiting the BBB website to learn more about its scam tracker and scam recovery guide.