Consumer complaint received 2019-12-12
Company: PEOPLE'S UNITED BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NH
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
The description below is what happened to me with my bank. I sent this exact document (with some personal information removed and minor for this submission) to the bank to attach to my dispute.

XX/XX/2019 
1.	I received call from what appeared to be the People’s United Fraud Department, the first time I picked up I stayed silent on the phone to see if it was a computer talking. It was an actual person, and I hung up and searched the phone number. I realized it was the People’s Fraud Department. 
2.	They called a second time, I assumed it was because the first call did not allow them to leave a message or speak to me (since I stayed silent when I first picked up). Therefore, I thought something was actually wrong with my bank account, so I picked up the second time. 
a.	The man knew my name, that I had a debit card/account with People’s, and my address before I verbally gave him any information. 
3.	He claimed that my card was trying to be used at a XXXX   in Texas and asked if I authorized this. I said I did not and that I wanted to cancel my card. He said that he needed to verify that he was actually speaking to the cardholder before we could proceed with closing my card and asked me for information, including my username for online banking. Since he was not asking for anything that directly could give just anyone access to my banking info, and it seemed like a legitimate way to verify me without compromising safety, I did not feel as though it was a scam.
a.	He then proceeded to have People’s call me/text me/email me (though I did not see the emails until later) with codes, saying I needed to repeat them back to him to verify myself and for me to verify that I was trying to close my card. At one point, he gave me a code that I needed to type in when I received calls from People’s. I did not realize until afterwards that the codes are used to make changes to my account. 
i.	The way the scammer spoke to me seemed like a representative was guiding me through a process to close the card
ii.	The phone and text messages I received with the codes did not state that the reason why the codes were being sent were to make changes to my account, so I did not realize that he was making changes (ie. the messages did not say anything about the code’s purpose being the code to change my password). 
4.	 Because he asked for multiple codes (stating that either the code didn’t work, was just part of the multi-step verification process, or for me to approve the card closure) I felt like something was wrong, so while on my cell phone with him and as I was logged into my bank accounts on my work laptop, I called the XXXX Branch on my work phone.
a.	I muted myself on my cell phone while I spoke with XXXX   so the scammer could not hear that I was making another call.
5.	I spoke with XXXX, the manager, and hastily explained the situation. I asked her to freeze my account, as at this point, I did not know for sure if he accessed my account but I wanted to be safe. She agreed it seemed odd. She put me on hold to contact the fraud dept. from her end so they could freeze my account. 
a.	When I first was on the call with her, everything looked normal on my online account. Money was still in my savings and the amounts in both the savings and checking accounts appeared accurate to me. Before XXXX  put me on hold, I asked if I should transfer my money to my savings from my checking, she said it wouldn’t hurt to do. 
b.	While I was on hold, I tried transferring my money from my checking account to my savings. I got messages saying insufficient funds. I kept trying smaller dollar amounts but finally, the screen refreshed and showed $XXXX in my account.
6.	XXXX  took me off hold and said that the guy transferred my money before they could freeze my account. 
a.	He created people in my “people-2-people pay” to send the money to.  She told me I was “doing all of the right things by calling the bank as soon as I did and reporting that I felt there was something suspicious.” 
b.	The scammer hung up on me at this point. 
7.	XXXX  informed me that I could file a dispute with People’s to attempt to get my money back. I told XXXX  that I was not near the XXXX  branch to be able to come in to file a dispute. She called the XXXX  branch and was still on the phone with them when I left work to go to the XXXX  branch.
8.	I worried about how I would deal with my paycheck at the end of the week now that I knew my account was compromised. I asked XXXX if there was any way I could cash it and she said that she would cash it for me if the XXXX   branch refused to.
9.	I went to the XXXX  Branch and spoke with XXXX. She was ending her call with XXXX  when I walked in, and she must have seen the distress on my face, because she immediately summoned me to her spot at the counter. I gave her a brief overview of what happened.
a.	 I asked if there was a way to stop the person-2-person payment, and she said they are instant transactions and cannot be stopped. 
10.	XXXX  helped me file a dispute. 
11.	Later at home, I was on my personal email and saw the emails in my junk mailbox from People’s United that my account had changes made to it. I saw the 3 transfers that were made ($500, $500, $323) under “XXXX  [my last name]” and “[my first and last name]” 
a.	I have never used this method of transferring money before. Prior to these fake profiles, there were no contacts in my person-2-person settings.
XX/XX/2019
1.	The next morning, I tried calling XXXX, but she was unavailable. I spoke to XXXX at the XXXX Branch briefly to ask if my mom’s account could be compromised, as her personal info appears on my bank statements. He said he was not sure of all of the details so he suggested I wait for XXXX   to call me back. 
2.	I called the XXXX  Branch to ask the same question, I spoke with XXXX  since she was the supervisor I dealt with the previous night. She informed me that my mom’s account and info was safe since the scammer only had access to my online banking. 
3.	During this conversation, she said “I actually have some good news for you, [my name]. The money is back in your account. It looks like they were able to stop the person to person transfer payments.” In return, I asked, “Can I come down to the bank now to open a new account and transfer my money out of the old account?” Her reply was that yes, I was all set to come down and get my money out. I thanked her for the help and service she and XXXX  (XXXX) had given me. She replied with, “that’s our job, to serve our customers.” Immediately after I hung up, I left work to go to the XXXX   branch and met XXXX  at the counter. 
a.	At no point during this phone call did XXXX  mention any type of freeze on my account. She also did not mention if there would be a holding period of any sort on the returned money.
4.	When I arrived, XXXX  set me up with XXXX  to help me transfer my funds into a new account. XXXX  was not in the cubicle with us while XXXX  set me up. 
5.	While making my new accounts, XXXX  was confirming my personal information that is on my profile with me. She asked me to confirm the phone numbers associated with my profile, I gave her my cell phone and home phone numbers. At this point, she said that there was another number listed: (XXXX)XXXX. This appears to be the scammer’s number, as I am unfamiliar with it and I did, in fact, receive an email the previous night from People’s stating a phone number was added to my account. She removed that number from my profile. 
6.	XXXX had to call the fraud department to have my old account with my returned funds “unfrozen” so we could transfer them out of the compromised account. She was on the phone with the man on the other end, so I could not hear what he was saying. XXXX jotted notes during the phone call.
a.	At the end of the phone call, XXXX  told me that my dispute is still being processed and the person on the other end of the line informed her that the transfers were force posted in order to determine the amount of money taken. 
b.	XXXX  had mentioned to me that the transactions were held in some type of a queue and force posted. The person on the line from the fraud department said that the dispute was still being processed and “to remind her [me] that she gave the scammer the code” as if to make me feel like it was my fault for being coerced by a nation-wide scam. 
c.	While setting up my new account, she had hand-written withdrawal slips for the amounts she could see posted on my old checking and savings. 
i.	I do not have those slips, but while she was on the phone with the fraud department, I noticed that the amount for the savings appeared to be the correct amount that was in there prior to the scammer transferring the funds to my checking, but the amount for my checking appeared to be too high (~$1,400). After her phone call ended, I told her that I felt the number she wrote on the withdrawal slip for my checking was wrong, and she said “Ok, you are probably thinking of the same numbers I see on my screen now.” I could not see her screen, so I am not sure what the amount was. 
7.	After the phone call, she went back to the counter. I couldn’t hear exactly what she told XXXX, but I overheard XXXX   saying “Oh I feel so bad.” However, she did not come speak with me to apologize or explain what had happened.
8.	I decided to not proceed with making any new accounts/profiles and got the remaining cents from my old savings and checking accounts. XXXX  closed my old checking and savings.
9.	 I asked XXXX  what else I can do to make sure my dispute remains on track and is complete from my end, including if I should file a police report or if it would help me to call corporate People’s United. XXXX said to “definitely get a police report and hold off on calling corporate to see how this plays out.” 
10.	I went directly to the police after being at the XXXX   People’s Branch to file a report (can provide case #). While explaining the events of what happened, the police officer pointed out the fact that I was on the phone with the bank before the scammer transferred the money. He suggested I question when the liability passes to the bank.

XX/XX/2019
1.	I called the XXXX  branch and spoke with XXXX  to ask about cashing my paycheck, since I could not deposit it. She asked how much it was for and who I work for. I told her the check is around $X,XXX and that I work for a local accounting firm, but our payroll is run through a payroll service, XXXX She said that she “is not comfortable cashing that amount and is unfamiliar with my company.” I mentioned that XXXX  said she would cash it for me. XXXX  said that I should call XXXX  and have XXXX  call XXXX  back regarding this so XXXX  would feel more comfortable about the situation.
a.	I called XXXX  and left a message about this. As it was her day off, she did not get back to me or XXXX.
2.	I also asked XXXX  if there was any way to get a bank check for my rent if I gave the bank the cash for it. XXXX   said I could not because I do not have an open account and suggested I go to XXXX  or XXXX to cash my paycheck and get some sort of money order for rent.
3.	After all of this, XXXX  said “I’m really sorry I told you your money was back in your account. I saw an amount in there and I was so excited to tell you.” 

XX/XX/19
1.	I called the People’s fraud department to check on the status of my dispute. It was later in the evening. I spoke with a woman who seemed to be a customer service rep, as she told me that the people who deal directly with my case are out for the night.
2.	She couldn’t tell me much about my specific case, but she explained to me the process of going through a dispute. 
a.	She told me “at the end of 10 business days, People’s will issue me a credit for the amount of the dispute.”
3.	She suggested I call before I email XXXX since emails can get lost.

4.	After I hung up from the fraud department, I checked my email and saw a strange email from XXXX 
a.	 A $XXXX transfer from XX/XX/19 was being returned to my account “due to not being able to locate the account or payee.”
XX/XX/19
1.	I called XXXX  to question the email. She called back after investigating it and calling the fraud department to check on any other updates regarding my dispute.
2.	She informed me that the transfer return is legitimate. No other updates on my dispute.
3.	I requested that she add my police report case number to my dispute file.
4.	XXXX  said that the $XXXX was pending (since my account is closed), so I went to the XXXX branch to open a new account and have the money posted to my new account.
5.	As of now, my dispute still applies to $XXXX.

XXXX
1.	I called the fraud department to get a status update on my dispute. I was informed it is still under review. She suggested that instead of emailing this document, I fax it.


Key Facts: 
•	I was under the pretense that I was speaking to my bank as the number that called me is the Fraud Department. This classifies as a scam.
•	The scammer had some of my information prior to contacting me, he knew my name, address and that I had an account and online banking login at People’s. 
•	I was on hold while XXXX  was speaking to the fraud dept. actively trying to freeze my account before the transfer occurred. The bank was not fast enough in shutting down my account and the scammer was able to make three transfers.
•	I took due care to contact the bank as soon as I believed my account was compromised, before the transfers occurred.
•	XXXX  is a firsthand witness to the fact that XXXX  told me that my money was available in my account the morning after the scam occurred, since she was the banker that XXXX   set me up with to transfer my money to a new account. I later called XXXX  and filled her in on this happening as well.
•	With a new number added to my account, the scammer potentially would be able to make changes without my authorization.
•	I believed I was speaking with someone at the bank in which I have trusted for many years and the scammer used fear that my card was compromised to get information from me. I may have given the code to access my account but I was not aware that I was authorizing changes to be made to my account. The texts with the codes did not say that the codes were to make changes to my account.
o	Additionally, according to the Consumer Deposit Account Agreement, the consumer has the responsibility to safeguard special codes. I looked further into the agreement doc to examine what People’s means by this (bullets taken directly from the agreement PDF):
	YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO SAFEGUARD SPECIAL CODES 
•	It is very important for you not to tell your, PIN, password, and/or CAC to anyone else and not to write it down where other people may see it. DO NOT WRITE YOUR PIN ON YOUR PEOPLE’S UNITED ATM CARD OR DEBIT CARD! 
•	Your failure to safeguard your PIN, password, or CAC, may prevent you from recovering losses caused by unauthorized ATM Transactions, Online Transactions, or Telephone Transactions on your account. Furthermore, if you permit someone else to use your PIN, password, or CAC, you are liable for any transactions made by that person, even if that person exceeds the authority you have given them. You must give us notice in writing to revoke such permitted use.
	At no point did I give ANY of the listed codes out. This agreement does not mention verification codes sent by People’s (and if it does, please tell me the page number). I upheld my responsibility to safeguard what People’s refers to as ‘special codes’ and I never permitted anyone to use my pin, password, or CAC. 

Questions/Defenses:

	The victimization statements regarding the ‘releasing code’ were emotionally disruptive and absolutely irrelevant. As my trusted institution, I expected a level of protection and duty of customer support throughout this process. I acted with expedition and full faith that Peoples United was in fact protecting my assets. 
-	Under Reg- E, negligence does not reduce the consumer’s rights. In this situation, my actions clearly were as timely and responsible as possible. I called to report the issue while I was still on the phone with the scammer, before the transfers appeared to have occurred. I attempted to get help from the bank before it happened. The bank was made aware of my compromised account at before any transfer occurred. Where is the liability on the bank for not being able to freeze my account timely? Why couldn’t the transfer payment be stopped?
-	I was told by the Sales & Service Supervisor that everything was all set with my money and my account and went in to open a new account. I went in person to the bank, which I trust with my money and I trust their guidance as their job is to service customers. I was given incorrect information that impacts my financial stability. What kind of liability does the bank hold for giving incorrect information regarding a customer’s bank account?
-	I could not find a direct line to connect me with a live person immediately. I had to listen to an entire list before being given the option to speak to a representative. In my case, time was of the essence. Had I not had to waste time until I got to the directions to contact a live person, my account could have been frozen in time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief