Consumer complaint received 2023-05-03
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: VA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 I was sent an email telling me that my XXXX anti-virus protection was renewed for 3 years as per an agreement and that {$350.00} was debited from my checking account. I felt that {$350.00} was too much so I found a phone number to call them to cancel the transaction. I was told that the only way to get my money back was to do it online. I explained that I did not do banking online and was told that that would be the only way to get my money back. Of course, I wanted my money back, so I set my banking up on line while I was on the phone with them. Once my online banking was set up, I was told that I would have to enter the amount to be refunded. I entered XXXX, which somehow ended up being XXXX without the decimal point. The person freaked out on the phone and was flabbergasted and told me that I had just taken {$35000.00} from them. I explained that that was not my intent and I would gladly return the money. I was told that it could only be done through a wire transfer. I wanted them to have their money back so I got the information I needed from them and went to my Truist bank branch in XXXX and had the money wired to the beneficiary for which they gave me the information. I was also told to remain on the phone with them during the transaction which I did. This is one of the reasons that I do not feel that I was being protected by Truist bank. I would have hoped that being my bank for almost 30 years, they would have warned me about the possibility of this being a scam. While completing the wire transfer, it was never questioned about the possibility of this being a scam. Once the wire transfer was complete, I left and I spoke again on the phone with the person doing the scam. I was told by the scammer that since I was being so honest that they would clean by computer for free. I was asked to leave my computer on for the next XXXX hours. I was out of town on XX/XX/XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was contacted again by someone doing the scam regarding the cleaning of my computer. I truthfully do not remember what the conversation was, but it had me so frustrated with the process that I said I was going to go to my bank to see what was going on with my account. He tried tell me that the bank was going to freeze all my accounts if I did this and that I would not have any access to my account. Again, I was so frustrated with everything that I didn't care. I went to another branch of my bank in XXXX to explain what was going on. I spoke with the branch leader II Vice President, XXXX XXXX XXXX who does know me, and told him briefly what was going on. We sat down to looked up my account and he verified that there was an attempt to wire money, but it had been denied. He did tell me however that it looked like there was {$35000.00} transferred to my account. I told him that was not my money and that was why I did the wire to try to give the money back. I was told again that the wire transfer did not go through and it looked like I scammed the scammers and that everything was fine with my account. There was nothing else unusual. I also went back on XX/XX/XXXX and asked him to verify that there was nothing unusual going on with my accounts. I again was told that everything was fine and that I had an extra {$35000.00} in my account and that the wire did not go through. 

It was not until I didnt receive my bank statements in the mail as I usually would, that I went back to that same bank branch to have them printed out. XXXX XXXX XXXX did explain that since I opened my banking on-line that I was no longer receiving them in the mail like I had always done in the past. I asked him to print them out and sat down with him for about an hour to see if the money was still there. I was consistently told by XXXX that my money was still there and that it had just been moved around. I still was not seeing it and could tell that he was getting frustrated with me. After about an hour, I left to sit down with my statements and see what I could figure out. I concluded that the money he saw coming into my checking account was actually from other accounts that I have with Truist. This was verified when I sat down with another person, XXXX XXXX at the XXXX branch who went through my statements with me. At that time, I filed a fraud claim with the bank. Since then, I have been in touch with my broker and another member at the bank. I was then advised to file this police report and close all my current bank accounts and set up new ones, which I have completed. 
Since that time, I have received two letters in response to complaints that were made by branch members on my behalf. Both stating that my claims have been denied. One of the letters even said bases on the additional information you provided. I was never even contacted at that point to provided additional information. 
I have had no significant conversations with any branch members other than my investment broker, XXXX XXXX who works with Truist. On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I received a phone call by someone from Truist. That was the first time since XXXX that someone other than a branch member team, or my broker had contacted me. That conversation was them telling me that they were sympathetic and there was nothing that they could do. I told him that I did not feel my bank had my best interests in mind during this entire scam, or fraud, and that they did nothing to protect me, whether it was when I was doing the wire, or checking about my account. I told them I was not going to let this go until I got my money back. I was told that they would report my complaint, yet again, to someone higher up in Truist.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation