Consumer complaint received 2023-02-24
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: AZ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
This is a copy of one letter sent to my bank:

To: Ally Bank
Address: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, PA XXXX  Email: XXXX  Object: This is an Official Refund Request
Sir/Madam,
My name is XXXX XXXX, a client of your bank, I am writing to you to raise your
awareness regarding an issue that I had lately with my funds which have been
transferred to some fraudulent and illegal destination known under the name of
XXXX XXXX (The Company), which I invested out of pocket a total amount of
$XXXX USD.
So, what happened is that I made the first transaction from my banking account to my
XXXX and XXXX accounts before the money went to the perpetrator.
Let me tell you how this situation happened to me:
It all started when I received a text on XXXXXXXX one day from a strange number asking
me to reschedule their doctor appointment. After joking back and forth, and some time
communicating and establishing a relationship with XXXX XXXX, she told me about the
opportunity to invest in a cryptocoin miner and trading company. What she was saying
was seductive and attractive enough that after a week or so, I wanted to give it a try,
especially since it seemed climbing inflation and the constant hits on my 401k was going
to ruin my retirement.
I started out with my first trade on XXXX XXXX  with XXXX guidance. Somehow, I
accidently made 3 trades and won all 3. XXXX  said I was so lucky and  more or less 
chewed me out for not following her commands and making the extra two trades, even
though I didnt know how I made them. She immediately directed me to put the money
in lock down mining to gain 1.7% per day with a contract of 5 days. She assured me
there would not be any trading days in the next 5 days but that I need to get more money
into the account so I can earn a lot more on these trades and in lockdown mining. My
first trade was just short of XXXX USDT and she claimed she traded XXXX USDT and
that I need to catch up to that amount so I can make more money.
She told me that by investing larger amounts of money I could make very good profits,
and had guaranteed me that at any point in time that I want to take my money back out
that it would be possible. So due to my lack of experience and knowledge I could only
think that she was right and she knew what she was talking about. She sounded very
confident, professional and claimed to have a business degree from XXXX XXXX I continued to add money as I got a hold of it. I kept seeing how inflation
was eating my paycheck and my losses in the 401ks were not helping at all either. I
closed the 401ks thinking the profits in XXXX  trading are far better than the losses Im
taking on the market drops. Once that money was in the XXXX  account, and trades were
made, I saw how quickly the gains were adding up. I also began testing my XXXX account
and made various withdrawals to make sure I could access my money. Eventually, my
biggest withdrawal of 10k convinced me this was real. All requests were approved
within  hour and deposited into my XXXX account within 5 minutes of
initiation. A real confidence booster.
(Check Bank Statements:)



NOTE: I am unable to attach a screenshot of my transactions that I sent to the bank at this point (9 total).  I would be happy to email them for the investigation.




After all of the money I had was invested, it seemed the trading days were more plentiful
and it didnt take very long to get my account value to over XXXX  USDT. I needed
some money to pay some credit card debt so I requested XXXX USDT. It took several
hours this time  instead of just minutes  but my request went from under review to
denied. I was surprised and now really suspicious. Then, I received an email from
XXXX that told me I made XXXX USDT from XXXX XXXX and have to pay
XXXX  USDT in taxes and I cant use any of my XXXX funds until the tax penalty is
paid. It also said this will affect my credit if the taxes werent paid and Id be reported to
the IRS.
At this point I realized what happened. My heart sank. I went on my XXXX trading site
and tried to actually lose money. I made several trades that I felt were sure to fail but
none of them did. After trying to withdraw my money several times with no success, I
understood that I made the mistake of my life and that I fell victim to a scam.
Today, I feel lost because my financial situation went very badly. I am no longer able to
provide my family with what they need and have lost my entire retirement money, but I
especially feel betrayed. How come my bank, that I trusted, didnt even take the
initiative to warn me about these people, and worse, why didnt my bank just stop the
transactions since the banks system can detect the unsecured destinations of funds?
Thats why I am coming to you with this official request to refund my full lost money for
the amount of $XXXX  USD. You should either claim it from the beneficiary bank
where you allowed my money to go or you should reimburse me from your own pool
because as your client you are responsible to protect my funds.
I hope that you will not shift liability, and will assume the consequences of your mistake.
I want to stay your client for longer and keep receiving your services. For this, you have
to show maturity and act to resolve this issue without complaining about your failure in
the protection of your clients.
Looking forward to hearing a positive response from you.
Cordially,
XXXX  of XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX
email: XXXX


This is the second letter I sent to them over the same issue:

To: Ally Bank
Address: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  Email: XXXX
Object: This is an Official Refund Request
Sir/Madam,
My name is XXXX XXXX, a client of your bank, I am writing to you to raise your
awareness regarding an issue that I had lately with my funds which have been
transferred to some fraudulent and illegal destination known under the name of XXXX XXXX XXXX (The Company), which I invested out of pocket a total amount of
$XXXX USD.
So, what happened is that I made the first transaction from my banking account to my
XXXX and XXXX  accounts before the money went to the perpetrator.
It all started when I received a text on XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX. We communicated
for a couple of weeks and she always seemed positive, happy and busy with her business
and her son. After about 2 weeks of communication, she asked me if I wanted to trade
crypto currency with her.
I was already aware of this type of trading because of my interaction with XXXX XXXX  but
thought two sources of trading could be good. I agreed, and she helped me set up an
account with XXXX. She showed me her winnings on these trades and it was quite
large. She told me if I put about XXXX or XXXX XXXX  into my account, she could help me make
nice earnings like hers. I did add more eventually expecting to make money like I
appeared to be on my account with XXXX XXXX
(Check Bank Statements:)



NOTE: I am unable to attach a screenshot of my transactions that I sent to the bank at this point (9 total).  I would be happy to email them for the investigation.



I tried to withdraw $XXXX USD from my account and my order was rejected. I had no
idea why, and nothing was said. I was at this point already suspecting fraud and wanted
to get at least a small chunk of my money out if it were possible. I told XXXX XXXX that I had
a home equity loan in progress that would be approved in 3 weeks, that I plan to invest XXXX, and that I need XXXX now to pay a credit card bill and questioned why my request
could be rejected, after all, it is my money.
She told me to put a request for the entire balance in addition to the XXXX The next day, I
had a status on both of my withdrawal requests (XXXX  and balance XXXX) as
pending. I asked online support why it was pending and that is when I received a tax
due notice from them, that I cant do anything with my account until I pay the taxes due
(XXXX USDT) on earnings of XXXX USDT. I knew I was the victim of another
scam.
Today, I feel lost because my financial situation went very badly. I am no longer able to
provide my family with what they need and have lost my entire retirement money, but I
especially feel betrayed. How come my bank, that I trusted, didnt even take the
initiative to warn me about these people, and worst why didnt my bank just stop the
transactions since the banks system can detect the unsecured destinations of funds?
Thats why I am coming to you with this official request to refund my full lost money for
the amount of $XXXX USD. You should either claim it from the beneficiary bank
where you allowed my money to go or you should reimburse me from your own pool
because as your client you are responsible to protect my funds.
I hope that you will not shift liability, and will assume the consequences of your mistake.
I want to stay your client for longer and keep receiving your services. I hope you will
show maturity and act to resolve this issue without complaining about your failure in the
protection of your clients.
Looking forward to hearing a positive response from you.
Cordially,
XXXX  of XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX
Email: XXXX


After about a month the bank hadn't responded so I sent an email reminder.  About 2 or 3 weeks later they called me and said my request for refund was denied.  So, I sent them another challenge letter that shows the bank's policy on scam where the bank says if money is suspected of being used in a scam, the bank can hold the transactions and will notify the account holder.

To: Ally Bank
Address: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
Email: XXXX
Subject:This is an Official request for a refund
Sir/Madam,
My name is XXXX XXXX, I am writing to respond to your answer wherein you
declined to provide me with a refund after I was defrauded.
I am now writing to appeal that decision. In refusing a refund, you justified your
decision that you cannot refund me the money that I lost, that you have done your best,
but you have not been able to do so.
I want to point your attention to your own Terms and Conditions that can be found by
the link:ALLY Bank online banking services agreement  XXXX  XXXX XXXX  Based on the foregoing, I can safely say that I did not receive any goods and services
promised to me at all. Also, I received absolutely no fraud protection from your
organization. Why do I, as a client of your bank, do not feel any difference when
transferring funds to you, from transferring funds directly to scammers? At the same
time, I am still obliged to pay for your services, which you undertake to perform, but in
every possible way avoid this.
I want to note that the bank is a party to the essential transaction because money came
from my account in your bank and banks should have knowledge of the persons to
whom I submit money which is a standard KYC  procedure for any bank.
I state that you didnt take reasonable care regarding my transaction. It is clear that
your Bank is supposed to provide security procedures regarding its clients accounts. But
I didnt notice any protection from your side, I didnt receive any calls from you, you
didnt block my transactions and didnt question any of them. In my point of view a
transaction to crypto exchange while it is not a part of my usual pattern of purchases
definitely fits the description of a suspicious transaction.
In this case, I am the customer, the transfers were made due to fraud and have been
coerced by trickery. I couldn't have known in advance how this story would unfold for
me since I was using your service.
I have been a client of your bank for years and I always had the deepest trust in your
bank, but now I feel that you are just trying to avoid your responsibility. At first, I got
scammed by the fraudsters and now the bank where I trusted my funds is not willing to
help me in this situation. I rely on your fair consideration of information provided in
this letter.
I want to stay with your client for longer and keep receiving your services but for this
you have to show maturity and act to resolve this issue without taking the initiative to
go to your regulator complaining about your failure in the protection of
your clients.
Looking forward to hearing from you a positive response.
Regards,
XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
Email: XXXX

Again, I was told no.  So I sent a claim to DOJ early in XXXX  and have heard nothing yet from them.

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