Consumer complaint received 2022-12-20
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: LA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/22, I received a text stating that a purchase was trying to be made from my Wells Fargo account and asking me to verify if I was making the purchase. I responded stating I was not. I received a phone call from " Wells Fargo '' shortly after the text. They stated they were trying to cancel the purchases as well as a wire transfer in the amount of {$14000.00}. They stated that the wire transfer was being sent to someone by the name of XXXX XXXX and I stated that I did not know anyone by that name, and I was not the XXXX making this wire transfer. At this point I tried to log onto my online bank account and was unable to, the account was locked. I never shared my login information with anyone. I then was told by the " banker '' on the other line that they needed to send me a number of codes to cancel the wire transfer. After giving the texted code, the phone call got disconnected. I called Wells Fargo back and learned that it was not them that had called me but a hacker. I filled a claim against the wire transfer. I never heard back from Wells Fargo after filling the claim on XX/XX/22. I called to inquire about the claim on XX/XX/22 and was told by the claims department that the claim was denied. I asked to have the claim reopened since the wire transfer was in fact fraud and not made by me. According to Wells Fargo they have a XXXX-liability protection plan stating that " you won't be held responsible for and unauthorized transactions, as long as they are reported promptly. '' In my case, the wire transfer was unauthorized and reported immediately. I was told that I would hear back from Wells Fargo within XXXX business days after requesting the claim be reopened. On XX/XX/22 I received a call from the claim investigator stating that the claim was denied due to the fact that I gave the hacker the code sent to me by Wells Fargo and they were not liable for the lost money. I stated that Wells Fargo had not protected my bank account since before any codes were given someone had gotten into my online bank account and locked me out. This is how they made the wire transfer. Also, the wire transfer of a very large sum ( {$14000.00} ) was almost my entire savings account and yet, it was never flagged, and I was never contacted to verify the transfer. I requested to speak to the investigators supervisor and was told that I would hear from them within 3 business days. I have called numerous times since XX/XX/22 trying to fight the denied claim and have been told that the claim can not be reopened. On XX/XX/22, I called asking why I still hadn't heard from the investigators supervisor and they said that they would put in another request, and I would hear from them with 3 business days. As of today, XX/XX/22, I have still not heard from said supervisor. The customer service has been awful and I fear I will never hear from said supervisor since it has been over 2 weeks. At this point, I need to be refunded the {$14000.00}. It was an unauthorized transaction that was not made by me and I reported it immediately. The XXXX-liability claim protection plan should protect me. Wells Fargo did not protect me or my money by letting my online account get hacked when I have never shared any login information.

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