Consumer complaint received 2022-12-29
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, {$2500.00} was fraudulently transferred from my son 's 5/3 Bank Account to my wife 's 5/3 Bank account - and the then 2 amounts totaling {$1000.00} were fraudulently transferred by XXXX to XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX with payment ID XXXX and XXXX. I immediately contacted 5/3 bank that day to dispute the charges. I was told that I could not dispute them until they posted to the account - and to call back once they posted. They came out of pending status and I contacted 5/3 Bank again and filed the dispute. The claim number is XXXX. I was told the investigation takes 10 business days and that they need the 10 days to " try to get the money back from XXXX ''. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted 5/3 and was told by a member of the Dispute Team named XXXX that my fraudulent charge claim was denied because I replied to a text about the charges with an authentication code. According to XXXX, this charge would not have been allowed to go through unless I responded to the text message with the authentication code. According to XXXX, this code was sent to my phone number ending in XXXX and was responded to at XXXX. I collected all of the phone records from XXXX XXXX  and reviewed the time in question. No messages were received or sent in that time frame from 5/3 or anyone else. I filed a dispute with 5/3 and emailed them my entire text message record as well as screen shots from my phone, clearly showing that no text messages were received from 5/3 and at no time did I ever send a verification text to 5/3. I was told they would need 30 business days to investigate.

As of the 30th business day I had not heard from anyone. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from 5/3 dated XX/XX/XXXX. The letter stated that my dispute was denied. The letter concluded with the line, " Please let us know if you have questions or would like copies of the documents we used in our research. '' On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted the dispute team and asked for copies of those documents. I was told by XXXX that there are no documents and what I received was a form letter. When I challenged this, she transferred me to her supervisor, XXXX, who confirmed that there is nothing they can send me documenting the investigation process or what specific proof they are basing their denial on. She suggested I go to the branch office and they may be able to let me look at their computer and see the outgoing text message that was sent to verify the transaction and the alleged verification that came back from me. I assured her that, having been in a 5/3 branch office, I was certain that no one there would do this for me and they certainly would not let me sit behind their computer. XXXX said that she would send a request back to the investigator to see if they could produce any documentation and that I could call back in 2-3 business days to see if she was able to obtain that. Each call is between 20-30 minutes on hold before I can speak to a member of the dispute team.

It's obvious that 5/3 will continue to drag their heals and have no intentions of returning my money. Please help!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation