Consumer complaint received 2022-01-31
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On Mon. XXXX XXXX, 2022, I was the victim of scam artists who stole {$3000.00} from one of my Wells Fargo accounts and {$500.00} from another. 
It's worth mentioning that I have been a Wells Fargo customer for 25 years and have never before experienced the type of fraud I describe below. 
The fraudulent event began with someone sending me a text message at XXXXXXXX XXXX Pacific Time, using the name Wells Fargo, asking if I'd authorized a {$3500.00} XXXX payment to someone and to reply " YES or " NO. '' I replied " NO, '' then at XXXXXXXX XXXX, called Wells Fargo and a representative told me no such transaction was underway and she also asked me to look at the phone number from which it was sent -- ( XXXX ) XXXX. I immediately knew then, it was a scam. Unfortunately, 15 minutes later, at XXXXXXXX XXXX, I got a phone call from a number which appeared on my caller ID as " Wells Fargo, '' from ( XXXX ) XXXX, one of the numbers I've saved to my contacts. The young man on the line identified himself as someone from the Wells Fargo claims department and told me I needed to go to my Wells Fargo app, because the unauthorized transaction was taking place and then only by paying myself through using XXXX, through the Wells Fargo app, could I prevent the loss. 
The young man told me that someone in XXXX, Georgia was trying to run this scam and had been trying, with an XXXX, to get me to send money into a XXXX XXXX account. 
The person posing as Wells Fargo representative got me to create on XXXX, a recipient named after myself and he instructed me as to how to transfer the {$3500.00} there. 
At XXXXXXXX XXXX, I got a text alert from " XXXX, '' a number from which XXXX has previously texted me alerts when I get payments, saying that " New XXXX recipient [ my name ] added. 
While still on the phone call with the perpetrators of the scam, I then received a flurry of other text messages, adding to the confusion. 
At XXXXXXXX XXXX, I received a text from " XXXX '' identifying as XXXX XXXX, with a XXXX code, " XXXX '' to enter to make the transaction. 
At XXXX XXXX, also from " XXXX, '' I got another text, which included a link to the phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX, saying " [ my name ] sent you {$300000.00}. We'll deposit this XXXX XXXX with XXXX payment to your XXXX XXXX account. Reply HELP for help. Press STOP to cancel. '' At XXXX XXXX, also from " XXXX '' I received an identical text, only this time the amount was for {$500.00}. 
At XXXXXXXX XXXX, I got a text from " XXXX, '' purportedly from XXXX, which said, " NEVER share your verification code via call or text. If someone asks for the code, it's a scam. Your code is XXXX. 
Unfortunately, I didn't realize the incoming call was part of a scam until two things happened : the representative used profanity in speaking with me, and I could see that next to my name on the XXXX page, it had the words " XXXX, signed in as [ my name ]. '' I told the person after he cursed that I wanted to speak to his supervisor, at which point another person claiming to be a supervisor got on the phone and told me that the call was being recorded and if that person were found to be using profanity, he would be terminated. As I began doubting the phone call 's legitimacy, I asked the " supervisor '' if I could put him on hold, as I had a plan to then call the bank. It was at that point, the " supervisor '' disconnected the call. 
I immediately called Wells Fargo back, confident that bank officials would hear my story and either immediately issue me provisional credit while they investigated my case, or would reimburse me, as they did twice last year after confirming that scammers indeed fraudulently used my ATM card number, for much smaller amounts. 
Wells told me that its online customer service department would handle the case, rather than the fraud department, because it was what it called a " money movement event, '' because it appears as though I sent money to myself, and could take up to 10 business days to either issue provisional credit or reimburse me. 
After several days of calling the bank and holding for inordinately long times, on Thurs. XXXX XXXX at XXXXXXXX XXXX Pacific Time 10 days AFTER I got scammed I and I suspect thousands of other Wells Fargo customers, got an email from the bank with the subject line, " Protect Yourself From Fraud in the New Year. '' The message acknowledged that a " Pay Yourself '' scam was happening and specifically mentioned XXXX. Remarkably, this email contained MANY identical details I had shared with Wells Fargo bankers. 
I then had hope the bank would reimburse me because it clearly and directly acknowledged that what happened to me and perhaps other customers was fraud. 
But when I called the bank 's Online Customer Service department the next day, Fri. XXXX XXXX, I was told that the case had been closed and that because the bank found that there was " no bank error or fraud, '' I would not be reimbursed. 
How could no fraud have taken place when the bank admitted as much in an email to me and other customers? 
I asked that question and asked to be transferred to a bank supervisor. The banker transferred me to someone who, after I asked her what her position was, told me she was not a supervisor. When I started describing my situation, she disconnected the call. 
Since that time, I have filed two complaints with Wells Fargo by phone one on Mon. XXXX XXXX with a compassionate local branch manager who was willing to hear me out, and another on Tues. XXXX XXXX, with the a banker in the bank 's fraud division. 
Allow me to be blunt : I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX and am not independently wealthy. Losing a {$3500.00} sum and having the bank, of which I've been a loyal customer most all of my adult life, essentially blame me, a victim of a scam, has caused me not only severe financial hardship, but also extreme stress and XXXX 
I will not rest until I recover the hard-earned money I was cheated out of, to which the bank seems callously indifferent. 
Thank you for your attention and help.

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