Consumer complaint received 2021-12-07
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX there were three unauthorized ACH debit transactions on my Chase savings account, initiated by three different XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for the total amount of {$14000.00}. I did not receive any notifications or verification calls from Chase about these transactions, so I reported them only on XX/XX/XXXX, 31 day since the statement for the period from XXXX was issued. Please see the Letter of Update on the Claim from Chase and the copy of the Savings account statement attached. There are 41 business days between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX is a XXXX calendar day since XX/XX/XXXX. The 60 day DDA fraud report requirement is arbitrary in terms of whether the day of the transaction should be included into the calculation, as well as weather the calendar days should be calculated or business. When I discovered the fraud on XX/XX/XXXX, I immediately called Chase at around XXXX in the morning. The Chase representative on the call promised to send the claim paperwork over the mail for me to sign. It was never sent to me. I waited for the paperwork for 4 days and went to the local branch on XX/XX/XXXX where the claim # XXXX form was printed out, filled up by the representative, signed by me and submitted. According to the Chase response to the CFPB complaint # XXXX the claim was denied because the transactions were reported outside of our recovery timeframe, 60 days after your statement was sent to you. As I stated above the fraudulent transactions were reported correctly according to Deposit Account Agreement ( DAA ) and should have been disputed by Chase. In addition, there are no Security alerts available for Debit transactions on Chase Savings accounts, including ACH. The exceptions are ATM transactions, Checks and Wire transfers. Please see the Security Alerts 1-5 documents attached for the full list of alerts. That is why, on XX/XX/XXXX I had no means to find out that the first fraudulent transaction accrued on my savings account, so I could report it to Chase promptly and at least stop the subsequent fraudulent transactions. There was no way for me to know that the money was stolen from my savings account until the next time I accessed my account. Since XXXX, when I opened that savings account, for 18 years I had a routine of accessing it ether twice or once a month. First, to transfer the money from the Chase direct deposit checking account to savings account. Second, to transfer a few hundred dollars back to the checking account to pay the bills. Since XXXX of XXXX I was accessing it once a month to transfer the money to Chase checking account. In 18 years of my being a Chase customer, this Chase savings account was never used for ACH, Wire transfer or similar type of transactions. No checks were ever issued for it. These three fraudulent transactions for more than 4000 dollars each, made immediately one after another by the three different XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX located at 3 different addresses were absolutely suspicious. Chase has done nothing to protect my account from these fraudulent transactions. They did not put them on hold, did not verify if they were legitimate, did not call, text or email me to confirm that it was actually I who initiated those transactions. During the first visit to the local branch, in order to prevent further fraudulent transactions, the representative closed my old savings account and opened a new one. Together with the branch representative we activated all necessary security alerts for the new savings account. For the new account the representative did not recommend the daily report for transactions on my savings account because of the pattern of one or two transactions per month for the last 18 years. The daily transaction report option was not available for my old savings account. With all security settings for the new savings account, when Chase credited and later debited my Savings account for {$14000.00} during the claim processing, no notification call, text, email or any kind of alert was sent to notify me about these transactions. Chase must acknowledge that there is a gap in its security system and return my savings permanently. In our phone conversation with XXXX, the Chase executive office specialist responding to the CFPB complaint # XXXX, she acknowledged that ACH transactions from Savings account could not be made as a payment for goods or services. How did they occur than? Does Chase have a procedure to handle suspicious transactions for savings accounts? Is there an algorithm that identifies suspicious transactions? Please provide answers in details. I would like Chase to provide any savings account alert or a combination of them that would allow me to detect a Debit transaction on the savings account other than ATM, Check or Wire transfer, immediately after it was requested or at least completed. Just having the transaction published in my online profile would require me to look at it continuously XXXX in order not to miss the fraudulent transaction. According to Chase reply to the CFPB complaint # XXXX The name on the ACH instructions as well as the name on the original authorization agreement provided by XXXX XXXX all agree with the name of the account holder. Chase uses it as a proof of legitimacy of the transactions. However, the same names might not belong to the same person. I contacted XXXX XXXX and confirmed that, they do not have and never had an account opened for my name, email address or phone number. Please see the attached Message from XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX refused to provide any further information as I am not their customer. I do not have and never had any accounts at XXXX XXXX bank. Please see the XXXX XXXX XXXX attached. I opened the case # XXXX with XXXX XXXX police to investigate this theft further. On XX/XX/XXXX Chase Temporarily credited the stolen amount to my Savings account. Feeling that Chase does not guard my money properly I have closed my Chase checking and savings accounts. If this dispute will not get resolved after this complaint, I will start the law suit in Court. In addition to the stolen sum of {$14000.00} I will add the cost of more than XXXX hours that I have spent on the calls and visits to Chase Bank, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX bank, police, FBI, etc as well as the paperwork preparation, reading emails, filing the claims at the rate of {$250.00} per hour. Other costs, including my Attorney fees will be added as well.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation