Consumer complaint received 2020-10-09
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: DC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
1. I intended to purchase information from a person who purported to have information that would aid me in my job search/search for clients.  That person claimed to be in XXXX, CA. I have a phone number for that person. 
2. I agreed that the information would be shipped to me in hard copy.

3. I agreed to transact through XXXX XXXX. 
4. I paid in advance, as was required by the supposed seller. However, to protect myself, I used my Chase Visa to complete the transaction, because Chase sold me the card claiming that I had fraud protection for all purchases I made with the card. No disclaimers for XXXX XXXX were ever offered to me, either by XXXX XXXX or Chase Visa.

5. I paid in full, including for all shipping charges. The package should have weighed less than 1 lb, per the person who supposedly was  selling the information to me, and it was to be shipped via XXXX. I have proof of that, within a text message chain. 
6. Someone claiming to be working for the person who sold me the papers with the information I wanted called me the day the package was to be shipped, and demanded that I send him {$520.00} more. 
7. After trying to get that person to put me in touch with the common carrier he claimed to be using ( because he admitted that he was not trying to ship via XXXX  as had been agreed upon ), he refused. 
8. I let that person, the supposed shipper of the package, know that I considered the transaction canceled because I was not going to pay more for shipping, and I let that person know that I now was fairly certain that I was the victim of a scam. I have a phone number for this person, as well as proof of what I write above, in a text message chain. 
9. I went to XXXX XXXX and requested a refund of my money, and the person in control of the account to which I paid my money, the account into which XXXX XXXX  put money, after clearing the charge on my Chase Visa, refused my request for a refund.

10. I attempted to contact XXXX XXXX, and there is no way to get in touch with anyone at XXXX XXXX. I still have not heard from that company, other than receiving notice that my account had been closed because I requested return of the money, as I noted in " 9 '' above.

11. I filed a fraud claim with Chase Bank, offering all kinds of information/evidence. I have text message chains which clearly confirm all of what I have noted above. No one from Chase bank ever
contacted me for that information/evidence.

12. Chase Bank sent me a notice nearly two months after I filed the fraud complaint, which stated " We consider the disputed charge ( s )  valid. Chase bank never even attempted to go any further than correspondence with XXXX XXXX, which was simply the credit card clearing entity. I had not transacted with XXXX XXXX. I transacted with a fraudster that XXXX XXXX allows to continue to use its app, despite the fact that XXXX XXXX closed my account. 
13. I sent all the evidence I have to Chase Bank, and I have heard nothing from the bank. It has now been over two weeks since I sent that letter to the bank 's address, " Cardmember Services, XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, DE XXXX. 
14. A week after sending that letter, I received a call from someone from Chase Bank, who claimed that the letter had not been received. I live in Washington, DC, which is approximately 160 miles away.

15. Around the same time that I sent the letter to Chase Bank, I filed a claim with the FBI, via the Internet Crime Complaint Center and I  thought I accomplished filing a complaint with the CFPB. However, the complaint with the CFPB is not showing up associated with my account on the CFPB site.

16. Today, I filed a second complaint with the CFPB. 

Just from the information Chase Bank furnished me when it denied that I had been defrauded, I confirmed that the person who controls the bank account is not the person with whom I originally contracted, and that the woman who supposedly controls that account uses at least two different names. I have called both phone numbers for her, furnished to Chase Bank by XXXX XXXX, and she has not returned my calls. Those phone numbers are in MO and in XXXX CA. I am fairly certain that she does not exist, and that there is actually no bank account at all.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation