Consumer complaint received 2023-06-29
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: OH
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 My husband and I received a notification from Chase Fraud Alert ( Chase Bank ) via text and email notifying him of a fraudulent charge on his debit card for {$690.00} for " XXXX XXXX. '' We talked to Chase Fraud XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX on the phone to confirm that this was not our charge and we were able to deny this charge and Chase replaced the debit card. 

On XX/XX/2023 My husband received a phone call claiming to be from Chase Fraud and the number appeared on his phone as the Chase Fraud number : XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX. The caller was a male and stated that fraudulent charges were being attempted from our accounts and that " wire reversal '' transfers needed to be made to stop the money from being stolen. The caller mentioned XXXX account numbers ( the last XXXX digits of XXXX of our checking accounts- including the account that had had the attempted fraud on XX/XX/XXXX ) and stated that funds had to be wired to a secured account Chase was setting up for us. My husband questioned the authenticity of the caller and the caller sent him confirmation text messages that were identical to the Chase Fraud text messages he received for the fraud on XX/XX/XXXX. The caller kept my husband on the phone for XXXX hours ( long periods on hold ) as he walked him through the process of creating " reverse wire transfers '' in which the recipient of these wires was named as " my husband 's name '' with our address and contact info in the amount of {$12000.00} and {$4000.00}. The caller kept my husband on the phone long enough for the wires to successfully go through. When my husband got off the phone he felt unsettled and called Chase Fraud back ( same phone number ) and reached the real Chase Fraud Dept who stated they had not called him. At this time our bank accounts were reduced to {$1200.00} with a total of {$16000.00} stolen. 

We immediately filed a Claim with Chase Bank on XX/XX/XXXX and Chase sent secure messages to the receiving banks ( XXXX XXXX for {$12000.00} and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for {$4000.00} ) to stop the transfers. It was too late- the money was gone. Chase Bank said they would investigate and keep us updated. We filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission. 

On XX/XX/XXXX Chase Bank messaged us to confirm that both receiving banks confirmed the funds were unavailable. Chase stated they would continue to investigate the XXXX XXXX {$12000.00} transfer. XXXX stated that the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX stated that they would refund our {$4000.00} if Chase would issue us a " Holds Harmless Letter '' for the fraudulent transfer- Chase Wire Research ( confirmed by their reps XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX stated that we had to go to a local Chase branch to be issued this letter by a banker. 

On XX/XX/XXXX we filed a police report with the XXXX Police Department ( XXXX, Ohio ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX we went to our local Chase Bank branch to speak with a banker in person. The banker confirmed that we had an active Claim for these fraudulent transfers and he stated that the Wire Research Team had to issue Holds Harmless letters. He called requesting the Holds Harmless Letter and was denied by Chase Wire Research. Chase Wire Research refused to issue this letter stating that this was " not a fraud but a scam '' and that we were responsible for the loss of this money. This was very different than what we were told by Chase Wire Research ( reps XXXX XXXX and XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX. We were advised to call the receiving banks ourselves to plead our case. This trip to the bank under false information regarding the Hold 's Harmless letter was a loss of work time. 

On XX/XX/XXXX we called XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and were restricted from speaking to anyone about these transfers because we are not customers of their banks. 

On XX/XX/XXXX We were contacted by Chase Bank to confirm that there was nothing further they could do regarding the {$12000.00} transfer to XXXX XXXX and we were advised to contact the bank ourselves. We informed them we had already attempted to contact the other banks and were denied because we aren't their customers. Chase stated there was nothing further they could do.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation