Consumer complaint received 2023-03-17
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: WA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Debt settlement
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Recently I was the unfortunate Victim of an elaborate and vicious credit card / banking Scam. I was defrauded by a sophisticated well-funded fake enterprise. The criminals posing as XXXX XXXX XXXX  reps used funds from a valid XXXX XXXX account to pay off my debt. 

They deceived me into thinking I had won a big prize by first paying off XXXX $ worth of personal credit card and misc XXXX debt, from XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX then they had me deposit 2 payments totaling XXXX $ cash into a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account # XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. And then two & three weeks later they are able to reverse all the payments originally maid. 
I have since notified my local authorities, my XXXX bank, Capital One, and other creditors by phone. But unfortunately, to this date, no one other than myself has taken this matter seriously. It was then and is still now, my expressed belief that FBI Fraud specialists should be notified, and yet in recent previous phone calls I have made to both XXXX and Capital One, both companys reps expressed unwillingness at that time to assist me in notifying the FBI or anyone else. So now I am forced to put this all down in writing and report it to the FBI myself. In doing so I will do my utmost best to be as truthful and accurate as possible. 

On Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I simultaneously received an email and a phone call from a company claiming to be XXXX XXXX XXXX  saying I had won XXXX XXXX dollars. They said someone had entered my email address. The email I received from this company appeared legitimate, and the caller identification on my phone said XXXX. The following is a detailed account of the events of this deceitful scam. 


On Friday morning XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, the first day of the Scam. I took a call from a team of a man and a woman, and I could hear others in the background. We spoke on a three-way phone call. They congratulated me profusely and told me to check my email. They said I was the lucky winner from XXXX XXXX XXXX. I could hear music and celebratory cheers and excitement in the background. The main-women on the call aka ( XXXX ) asked the others in the room to be quiet, then XXXX and the main-man aka ( XXXX ) spent approx . 10 minutes explaining how I had won XXXX XXXX dollars and the implications of winning this large amount. Secondly, they said that my choice not to notify the local XXXX XXXX newspaper would mean some small additional expense on my part, along with me having to pay for insurance for my winnings to be delivered and a small handling fee. 
They played their parts very professionally, but I was still suspicious. Then they told me that XXXX winners should not have to pay any fees out of pocket, and that the first part of my winnings, along with the XXXX XXXX prize money, was that they would immediately pay-off up to XXXX XXXX dollars on any outstanding bill, debt or credit card. A moment later, I was on another three-way call with XXXX from XXXX and my credit card company. I had to provide my credit card numbers, but not the expiration date or the secret 3-digit codes on the back. XXXX from XXXX keyed in the bank and routing numbers and theoretically paid off my credit cards. I did not have XXXX XXXX dollars worth of debt at the time, so after paying off what dept I had, XXXX had me write down the XXXX XXXX account and routing numbers. He said, there was XXXX $ total for me to use to pay any debt, but not to go over that amount, because it would be rejected. 

Then I was told to take a cash advance of XXXX from my newly paid off credit card and deposit the money into a XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX account. I was under the impression that I had won the prize, but before I made the withdrawal, I called Capital One and asked if a person or company paid off a credit card, could they change their minds and take it back? The answer I was given was : Typically no, and after the payment posts and shows a new balance, then definitely- no. Which was the same answer given to me by my XXXX banker in XXXX XXXX when I asked him the same question. So, I thought I was somewhat safe in withdrawing and depositing the cash. The Scammers told me that I had to save the receipt for the XXXX deposit, as it would be needed to collect the prize money. 


This Scam started on a Friday morning, XX/XX/XXXX. During that day I was in constant contact with fake XXXX reps. I even called their office and was automatically put on hold and listened to the XXXX XXXX about making dreams come true. In one phone call I was told that we were to meet at my local XXXX XXXX  at XXXX XXXX  in the XXXX  and that two XXXX reps were driving in from XXXX airport. They were to come by my house first and then meet me at my local XXXX XXXX  and at that time they would deliver the funds. Then, at around XXXX XXXX  the same day I was called again by XXXX, she was apologizing to me and sadly said that her reps coming from the airport were in a serious car accident in XXXX and that they both needed medical attention and that the delivery of my prize would have to be postponed until the next day. But because of the inconvenience, she said they would put another XXXX $ in the XXXX XXXX account for me and that I could use to pay off anything I desired. I told her I did not have that much debt, and she said I should pay off a friends debt or save it until I needed it. XXXX said, XXXX provides the funds this way because this money would not be considered taxable income and it would help to lessen the tax burden of winning XXXX XXXX dollars. She did a good job of selling the idea. We even said a prayer for her injured reps and agreed to talk in the next morning. 
The next day was Saturday and there was excitement and anxiety both mine, and the Scammers over completing the transaction before the bank closed early on a Saturday. They said the insurance I had purchased for the day before was only good for the previous calendar day and that I would need to deposit more money XXXX $ into the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account. They sent me pictures of my house and said they would be coming to my home soon, and that I and a friend, if I desired, would follow them to the bank. But first, I had to make an additional payment. When I complained, they said I could pay just XXXX $ & they would cover the other costs until I received the winnings at the bank, at which time we would square up. 
The Scam surely counted on me the victim, not sleeping much the night before because of the expected excitement of thinking I was a Big Winner. To increase their deception, I do remember in hindsight, that I was immediately able to use the XXXX XXXX account money they gave me to pay my XXXX phone bill. I used it to pay my internet bill, I bought TABS for my car, and even supposedly paid off 2 really high heating & utility bills. At that time, the XXXX XXXX account numbers they had supplied appeared to be active and viable, so I thought it was legitimate. ( But, 3 weeks, later, all payments were eventually reversed ). 
On Sat XXXX, XXXX  at approx. XXXX XXXX  the Scammers called and had elaborate story of how due to the car accident, the delivery of prize money would have to be delayed again. They were now saying it would be Monday at the earliest before I could receive my prize. Then on Monday, they apologized again and said it would be later in the week. At that point I was becoming disillusioned with these people, but still held out some hope and, the XXXX XXXX account money they supplied me to pay off my bills seemed to be working fine. ( But in fact, I now know the only bill that stayed paid was XXXX $ for the TABs on my old truck. ) In the meantime, as stated previously, I had made multiple calls to Capital One and other credit card companies trying to gain confidence that once the XXXX XXXX payments were posted, that they Could Not Be Reversed. On at least two occasions, both Friday and the following Monday, during that critical part of the scammers deception, I was assured by Capital One Employees that once the payments had posted and the available balance was updated, NO ONE COULD REVERSE THE PAYMENTS. 
Obviously, this has not been the case, as all of the payments made to Capital One, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and others, from the XXXX XXXX account in question ( that the Scammers had supplied to me ) were ultimately reversed with no explanation. It did take more than 3 weeks or more for some payments to be reversed. This long delay is confusing and highly suspicious to say the least. It should not be that easy to reverse all those payments, which leads me to believe that the Scammers have people inside the banking community helping them to swindle innocent people. 
I believe I was targeted partially because of my vulnerability. I am currently unemployed and somewhat XXXX. I have applied for Social Security XXXX, and I am awaiting XXXX to repair a painful and debilitating XXXX XXXX  injury. Additionally, after the scammers had theoretically paid off my credit cards, I was immediately offered more credit, which I should not have had accepted, but I did. In my defense, at the time I was under the impression that my other credit cards were paid off and that I had money in an account to pay future bills. 

After the painful realization that I had been so thoroughly Scammed, I now find myself in the unfortunate place of having very little income in which to pay down the majority of my debt. My bank account has been drained and overdrawn, my credit has been frozen and or, restricted. I may now be facing personal bankruptcy. It is my hope that justice be served and that others will not have to go through this nightmare of frustration.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief