Consumer complaint received 2022-04-07
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card

Complaint:
While XXXX at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) awaiting case disposition from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, I became the victim of identity theft. As a condition of deferred adjudication, I was further remanded to attend a XXXX day inpatient XXXX facility, XXXX XXXX, from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. This incidence of identity theft consist of the individual hacking into at least XXXX XXXX accounts, stealing my credentials and gaining access to my Texas XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) unemployment, US Bank Reliacard, XXXX and XXXX accounts, submitting fraudulent change of addresses to each financial institution and the use of a US Bank Reliacard and theft in the total amount of {$11000.00}. Of the {$11000.00}, {$9300.00} was through XXXX via XXXX external transfer to an account held at XXXX Bank and {$2000.00} withdrawn from my US Bank Reliacard. With regards to the fraudulent activity that occurred through XXXX, CFPB complaint ID XXXX was filed and resolved in my favor on XX/XX/XXXX. Unemployment payments fraudulently stolen total {$7000.00} of which {$2000.00} occurred through the US Bank Reliacard. My legitimate unemployment claim began in XX/XX/XXXX, shortly after the XXXX pandemic began, and this account with US Bank XXXX XXXX in XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX when I received my first round of unemployment benefits. The funds fraudulently withdrawn and spent through the US Bank Reliacard account were through XXXX different US Bank XXXX, the first used during the month of XX/XX/XXXX and the second used during the month of XX/XX/XXXX. After a XXXX month period of being locked out of the US Bank Reliacard account from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX due to a password placed on the account by the individual ( XXXX ) who perpetrated the fraud and identity theft, I regained access to my US Bank Reliacard account in XX/XX/XXXX and requested monthly statements for the period of fraudulent activity to determine the amount of fraud that occurred through the account. Upon receiving these statements, I promptly initiated the dispute claim process on XX/XX/XXXX for which is the present matter of this complaint. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, during a telephone conversation with a US Bank account XXXX in which I requested the monthly statements, I was informed that the individuals who perpetrated the identity theft and fraud through the account also attempted to initiate a fraudulent dispute claim for transactions that the perpetrators had conducted through the account. In other words, the individuals who committed the identity theft, fraud and forgery not only stole funds from the account through fraudulent ATM and debit card transactions but also attempted to increase the amount of money they stole from US Bank through the account by initiating a fraudulent dispute claim. It is imperative to note that this fraudulent dispute claim was initiated on XX/XX/XXXX ; I was not released from XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX upon which day I was remanded and immediately transferred to a XXXX inpatient XXXX treatment facility During the first XXXX days at the treatment facility, I was not allowed to use the telephone and subsequently was limited to XXXX phone calls. During these short phone calls between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, I attempted to alert US Bank of potential fraudulent activity that XXXX be occurring through the account as I had learned of similar fraudulent activity occurring through my Chime bank account and with my XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX unemployment benefit claim. Due to the account password, however, I was not allowed to request for my US Bank Reliacard account to be frozen and my attempt to report fraudulent activity to US Bank that was occurring through the bank and my US Bank Reliacard account for the month of XX/XX/XXXX was thwarted by US Bank employees. I was also informed that until I was able to verify my identity, which would need to be done to remove the password on the account, I would not be able to initiate any dispute claim for any fraudulent activity that XXXX be occurring through the account. At the time, while a resident at the inpatient treatment facility, I was unable to verify my identity as I did not have my social security card, birth certificate or Texas state drivers license. Additionally, while at the treatment facility, I made several unsuccessful facsimile transmissions to verify my identity, but due to technical difficulties these facsimile transmissions were not accepted by US Bank as verifiable proof of my identity. Such facsimile transmission and acceptance by US Bank of verifiable proof of my identity was not made until mid XX/XX/XXXX. In spite of all this, US Bank initiated a partial dispute of all the fraudulent transactions that occurred through my US Bank Reliacard account on XX/XX/XXXX and made a determination of resolution finding that the XX/XX/XXXX transactions were erroneous and fraudulent in nature and credited my account on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$1000.00}. 

The only account action I was able to initiate with US Bank during XX/XX/XXXX was to report the US Bank Reliacard as stolen for which US Bank mailed out a new US Bank Reliacard to the same fraudulent address submitted to US Bank between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Further, XXXX was not until as late as XX/XX/XXXX when I received a response to an information and documentation request made on XX/XX/XXXX in correspondence dated XX/XX/XXXX that US Bank disclosed the XX/XX/XXXX dispute claim in writing. Although this date was verbally disclosed to me by US Bank customer service representatives in previous telephone conversationsduring these telephone conversations I discussed with each representative that the XX/XX/XXXX dispute claim was fraudulent in nature and that on that date I was incarcerated and could not have initiated the dispute claim and that there was no way possible for me to have benefited from the transactions which I was XXXX was not until I received the XX/XX/XXXX letter with supporting documentation enclosures that I became firmly aware of US Banks egregious and grossly inappropriate handling of my genuine dispute claim and rebuttal request. As one would surmise from the XX/XX/XXXX correspondence which was requested in regards to a dispute claim or rebuttal request that should have been initiated on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, each and every single request for initiating a dispute claim or request for rebuttal as just outlined between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX was ignored, as the XX/XX/XXXX correspondence states it is being presented in request for denial of a dispute claim and rebuttals to a dispute claim initiated on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$860.00} ; again this is the fraudulent dispute claim in question. The genuine dispute claim for which I requested supporting documentation on XX/XX/XXXX should have been initiated on any of the aforementioned dates, including dates of request for rebuttal, between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX as well as the day of the request for disclosure of supporting documentation and information of XX/XX/XXXX and as well as XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX when I again contacted US Bank and requested that a new and separate dispute claim be initiated only for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions and stated to US Bank that such a genuine dispute claim would not be a rebuttal to any previous fraudulent dispute claim initiated on XX/XX/XXXX or any genuine dispute claim or request for rebuttal initiated by myself between the dates of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ; I made this request stating all the facts mentioned above and with the comment that this is a complicated matter of identity theft, and that at this late date of resolution, it would be in both parties best interest to start a new and independent dispute claim for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions. US Bank has persistently faltered in every attempt I have made to settle this issue with the bank as it has not initiated any dispute claim for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions that dates back to the genuine dispute claim date of XX/XX/XXXX to the present, and during many of the telephone calls that I have made to discuss the dispute, obtain status of the dispute resolution, request supporting documentation, initiate the rebuttal process or request status of the transmission and receipt of pertinent facsimile transmissions, have encountered extreme opposition to the resolution of this matter with either my telephone call being ignored by the customer service representative immediately saying upon answering the call Are you there, hello, I can not hear you, I am going to hang up now, please call back, and the employee hanging up the phone while I am loudly speaking into an unmuted phone, Hello, Im here, can you hear me! ( between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX this has happened at least XXXX times ) having my phone call dropped or transferred out to space by subordinate and supervisory US Bank employees alike when being told that I am going to be placed on a XXXX to XXXX minute hold and the call being dropped and forwarded to an end-of-call survey, ( between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX this has happened at least XXXX times ) and once being angrily told by a US Bank customer service representative when I requested to speak to his supervisor that he did not have to do anything I asked him to do or that I told him was required to be done because US Bank is part of the US government, and on a several occasions, days apart, being told the the dispute department systems were down and I could not obtain a status update regarding my dispute claim. Further each and every document which US Bank has stated it mailed has not been received, implying that US Bank employees have downright lied to me when I have called requesting dispute claim status updates and was told that the dispute claim or rebuttal was denied and not found in my favor and such determination was sent to me in writing. Additionally, I was told on several occasions that I should have received a dispute claim form for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions, just as I had received and submitted a dispute claim form for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions, However, at the late date of submitting this complaint which is almost an entire year after the fraudulent transactions occurred, XXXX months after the fraudulent dispute claim date, and XXXX months after I attempted to initiate a genuine dispute claim with US Bank for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions, I still have not yet received said dispute claim form, nor any correspondence in regard to any dispute or rebuttal with regards to the XX/XX/XXXX transactions other than the XX/XX/XXXX correspondence which itself points back to the fraudulent XX/XX/XXXX dispute claim. In fact, it is mind boggling and dumbfounding to hear each and every time I call US bank with regards to this matter that they received a dispute claim form for the transactions in question ( the XX/XX/XXXX transactions ), for which XXXX Banks dispute department is inappropriately relying upon to deny my dispute claim and subsequent request for rebuttals, when in fact said dispute claim is only for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions. With all these facts presented, it is not a stretch of ones imagination to surmise that US Bank has grossly failed in its representation of fiduciary duty of care and adherence to federal law and regulations, and has not made a thorough attempt to adequately address my reporting of fraudulent banking activity as well as appropriately respond to my genuine dispute claim for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions. 

It is imperative to note and restate that when I made the information request on XX/XX/XXXX it was in regards to a request for disclosure of information and documents relating to the denial of the dispute claim and/or refusal to accept a rebuttal and reopen the investigation into the XX/XX/XXXX fraudulent activity that US Bank lead me to believe was conducted and closedeither as a result of a genuine dispute claim that was initiated during telephone conversations on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX or that a rebuttal with regards to my genuine dispute claim for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions that should have been initiated by facsimile transmission of additional information on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. The correspondence from US Bank in response to my XX/XX/XXXX request for disclosure of dispute claim information and dated XX/XX/XXXX states that it is in fact for the fraudulent dispute claim initiated by the individual ( XXXX ) who perpetrated the identity theft on XX/XX/XXXX and in the amount of {$860.00}. The genuine dispute claim I have persistently attempted to initiate with US Bank, based on the lack of responses to any and all communications regarding my genuine dispute claim request relating to the XX/XX/XXXX transactions and dated on or after XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$1000.00} indicates that US Bank has guffawed at my honest and diligent attempts to recover the monies stolen through my US Bank Reliacard account. In addition to the copious amounts of documentation I submitted by facsimile transmission on the aforementioned dates to US Bank in regards to the fraud that occurred through my US Bank Reliacard account, further proof of evidence that the transactions conducted through my US Bank Reliacard during the month of XX/XX/XXXX were in fact erroneous and fraudulent in nature is XXXX Banks own determination on XX/XX/XXXX in regards to the dispute claim initiated on XX/XX/XXXX that the transactions that occurred through my US Bank Reliacard account during the month of XX/XX/XXXX were in error and the partial resolution of the XX/XX/XXXX dispute claim in my favor, with provisional credits made to my account in the total amount of {$1000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. 

This complaint is being filed against US Bank as a result of XXXX Banks failure to find the transactions that occurred through my account during the month of XX/XX/XXXX erroneous and fraudulent in nature and to return the stolen funds to me. I have provided ample and sufficient evidence to US Bank to prove that I was detained at XXXX, remanded to 90 days treatment, and supporting documentation to show I was the victim of identity theft and fraud including emails, correspondence indicating an unemployment overpayment of {$5500.00}, police reports, federal reports ( to XXXX, FTC and the IRS ) and affidavits/sworn statements regarding the identity theft, and to further prove that I did not and could not have authorized nor initiated the fraudulent transactions that occurred through my account. In further support of my complaint, I would like to draw the investigators attention to the fact that US Bank found a dispute claim for XXXX of XXXX periods of fraudulent transaction ( the XX/XX/XXXX transactions ) erroneous and resolved the dispute in my favor on XX/XX/XXXX, however, due to to the pervasive nature of the fraud and identity theft that has occurred, US Bank has inappropriately, lacking professionalism and in a breach of fiduciary duty of care, failed to adequately address and investigate my genuine dispute claim for a period of transactions that occurred in XX/XX/XXXX. In fact, when I filed a dispute with US Bank on XX/XX/XXXX, I firmly stated that I was disputing transactions for the periods of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Below is a timeline of telephone calls and facsimile transmissions that the basis of this complaint ( please note phone calls and attempted facsimile transmissions from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX are not included ; although I do have detailed and itemized notes to create a timeline for this period, those notes are filed away in boxes and I am presently moving into a new residence ; I am able to provide the information contained below because it has all been stored in electronic format ) : XX/XX/XXXX Facsimile transmission to verify identity and remove account password XXXX XXXX Facsimile transmission to verify identity and remove account password XX/XX/XXXX Phone call to initiate dispute for XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX transactions. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX transmission as written confirmation for disputed transactions. First submission of relevant documentation and supporting evidence for dispute claim. 
XX/XX/XXXX Phone call requesting status of dispute claim. Informed dispute for XX/XX/XXXX transactions determined in my favor and investigation was ongoing for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions. 
XX/XX/XXXX Call requesting status of dispute claim. Informed investigation ongoing. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX transmission as written confirmation regarding XX/XX/XXXX transactions. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Call requesting status of dispute claim. Phone call was dropped during the processing of the dispute claim. Called back and informed that the dispute claim investigation was ongoing. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX requesting status of dispute claim. Informed investigation was ongoing, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX transmission requesting rebuttal and reopening dispute claim investigation. Second submission of relevant documentation and supporting evidence for dispute claim. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Call requesting status of dispute claim. Informed dispute closed and claim not resolved in my favor; when I requested to speak to the dispute department the call dropped/terminated. On a subsequent call, I was informed the system was down. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX requesting dispute claim status and dispute claim form. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX transmission with request for rebuttal, reopening of dispute claim investigation and request for dispute claim form for XX/XX/XXXX transactions. Third submission of relevant documentation and supporting evidence for dispute claim. 
XX/XX/XXXX Facsimile transmission request for rebuttal, reopening of dispute claim investigation, request for dispute claim form for XX/XX/XXXX transactions and status update as to dispute claim and previous rebuttal request XX/XX/XXXX Call regarding dispute claim and rebuttal as well as request for dispute claim form for XX/XX/XXXX transactions as well as US Bank correspondence dated XX/XX/XXXX stating dispute claim denied. Informed dispute claim still under investigation. 
XX/XX/XXXX Call regarding and status of dispute and rebuttal, information request for sup [ porting documentation relied upon in unfavorable determination of dispute claim. 
XX/XX/XXXX Request to initiate dispute ( in response to information disclosure dated XX/XX/XXXX ). Phone call was dropped during the processing of the dispute claim. 
XX/XX/XXXX Request to initiate dispute. Informed call notes from XX/XX/XXXX do not indicate dispute initiated. Phone call was dropped during the processing of the dispute claim. 

Please note that the attached enclosures include a claim filed with XXXX for the same instance of identity theft and loss that was filed on XX/XX/XXXX. Although the Assurant claim mentions the US Bank transactions, the claim was not filed for the US Bank fraudulent transactions that occurred during the months of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX and was filed only for the XXXX fraudulent transactions. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX denied all claims as the transactions occurred outside the policy coverage dates and I eventually recovered the monies for which the claim was filed directly from XXXX. This claim and the denial of this claim should have no bearing on any determination with regards to any dispute claims filed with US Bank or the underlying financial institution, XXXX, for which the claim was filed. The attachment is enclosed herein as it includes relevant law enforcement documents which have been previously submitted to US Bank. 

My position for this complaint is ( XXXX ) due to my incarceration and remand to XXXX, as well as being locked out of the account due to an account password being placed on the account by the individual ( XXXX ) perpetrating the identity theft and fraud and thus not being able to request for my US Bank Reliacard account to be frozen or to report the fraudulent activity occurring through the account until XX/XX/XXXX, and also relying upon a representation made by a US Bank customer service representative through a verbal statement during a telephone conversation held either in XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX indicating that I would have up to XXXX year to file a genuine dispute claim for any fraudulent activity that occurred through my account, the XXXX period for me to report fraudulent activity to US Bank does not begin until XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, the date upon which I regained full and complete access to my US Bank Reliacard account and was able to verbally request for all monthly statements during the period of potential fraudulent activity to be sent to me so as to determine the dates and amounts of fraudulent transactions, and as such to appropriately report any and all fraudulent activity through genuine dispute claims and requests for rebuttalsNOT including the fraudulent dispute claim initiated on XX/XX/XXXX that was NOT initiated by me NOR requesting rebuttal of the fraudulent dispute claim dating back to XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX within the XXXX period ; ( XXXX ) it is apparent my account was used as a pass-through account for the fraudulent activity that occurred during the months of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, and that the underlying evidence upon which to determine fraudulent activity occurred for the month of XX/XX/XXXX is exactly the same for the fraudulent XX/XX/XXXX transactions ; ( XXXX ) US Bank failed in its XXXX XXXX XXXX care and is in violation of Federal law and regulations and has fallen short of professional conduct in its handling of my genuine dispute claims, has potentially failed to initiate investigation into my genuine dispute claim dating back to XX/XX/XXXX for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions, has inappropriately relied on its own faulty internal documents as a result of the fraudulent XX/XX/XXXX dispute claim and as a result has failed to initiate an appropriate dispute claim for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions ; ( XXXX ) US Bank is downplaying this XXXX XXXX XXXX theft and fraud and is not reporting the incident adequately to law enforcement. Additionally, US Bank has vehemently and scrupulously failed to provide documentation it relied upon in making its determination for any all dispute claims and rebuttals that were initiated on and after XX/XX/XXXX with regards to the XX/XX/XXXX transactions, only providing a dispute claim form for the XX/XX/XXXX transactions as a result of the XX/XX/XXXX dispute claim, and in its response dated XX/XX/XXXX to my request for documentation made on XX/XX/XXXX provided documentation relating to the fraudulent dispute claim initiated on XX/XX/XXXX. This lack of response to my request for supporting documentation for denial of the genuine XX/XX/XXXX dispute claim or for subsequent genuine dispute claims or requests for rebuttal submission with regards to the XX/XX/XXXX transactions as detailed above, coupled with a lack of professional conduct during telephone calls that were either dropped or transferred out to an end-of-call survey while in the middle of the telephone dispute claim submission process, is representative of US Banks inadequacy to XXXX XXXX and determine the fraudulent activity that occurred through my US Bank Reliacard account and XXXX XXXX this dispute claim in my favor. 

Additional specific information regarding transaction amounts and dates is provided in the attached documentation pertaining to XXXX Banks own disclosure of documentation and information it relied upon in denying the fraudulent dispute claim initiated on XX/XX/XXXX as it contains a monthly statement of account transactions in the total amount of {$1000.00}.

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 monetary relief