Consumer complaint received 2021-12-02
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
Ive been a loyal customer at Wells Fargo since XXXX. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from a Wells Fargo phone number ( via caller ID ) in which an automated operator asked me to confirm some recent account activity. It called out transactions and I pressed the prompt to indicate that I had not authorized said transactions. I was then asked to hold and a live representative came on the line. The representative called out the last 4 digits of my account number to verify himself..the same as any other bank representative. I told the representative that I didnt authorize any of the transfers he asked about. He then told me that Wells Fargo had a hold on my account, but I needed to send myself the amounts in question to prevent the fraudulent activity. In retrospect, I see this was a scam, but in the moment, I thought I was speaking to a Wells Fargo bank representative. The person then sent me a link via email ( that he already had -- again -- things like this made the situation feel urgent -- - I didnt have to verify any information... they had it already ). The email had a security code that they needed me to verify -- I did that. They walked me through a XXXX transfer to myself -- my name -- my phone number -- my email address... everything was my information. As soon as I clicked send, the information transposed to a XXXX XXXX Bank account ( in my email ). I immediately realized that this was a scam. I called Wells Fargo within minutes to explain the situation. They told me there was nothing they could do at that time. XXXX is an app directly attached to the Wells Fargo app -- -again, giving me a false sense of security that this app was safe to use. After this situation, I did research on XXXX to discover that XXXX is financially backed by Wells Fargo. If that is true, why couldn't Wells Fargo stop the transfer since I called literally 5 minutes after the fraud was detected? Also in my research, I found that this is a pretty big scam going on all across the country. If Wells Fargo knew this, why havent they sent an email to customers so that we are prepared and aware of this cyber crimes? 

I am a XXXX XXXX Veteran, a XXXX survivor, and a man who has worked tirelessly for my entire life to provide for my family. Id had an extremely difficult week personally and this just slipped past my radar. Ive contacted Wells Fargo a number of times throughout the weekend and this morning only to be told that there is nothing they can do to assist me at this moment. They basically said they can investigate but are unwilling to provide a credit for my mishandled funds. Ive trusted this institution as a reputable bank and am frustrated with the lack of urgency and understanding regarding my situation. I cant understand why they would leave me and so many millions of people unprotected from scams like these. The holidays are quickly approaching as are all my other financial responsibilities so I cant afford a hit like this. I feel that fraud protection should absolutely cover this mishap and protect loyal hard working Americans like me and many other people who may also become victims to cyber bank crimes like these. I fought for this country and cant believe that 1 week after XXXX XXXX, a bank that flies our countrys flag would leave me unprotected from this robbery. As a customer, I expect Wells Fargo to uphold security measures to protect me and my money.

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