Valeina Allison got a call from her bank on a busy morning twoyears ago about a wire transfer from her company's account. Shetold the manager she hadn't approved the transfer. The problem was,her computer had.

As Allison, chief executive officer of Sterling Heights,Michigan-based Experi-Metal Inc., was to learn, her companycomputer was approving other transfers as she spoke. During hoursof frantic phone calls with her bank, Allison, 45, was unable tostop this cybercrime in progress as transfer followed transfer. Byday's end, $5.2 million was gone.

She turned to her bank, a branch of Comerica Inc., to helprecover the money for her metal-products firm. It got all but$561,000 of the funds. Then came the surprise: the bank said theloss was Experi-Metal's problem because it had allowed Allison'scomputer to be infected by the hackers.