Consumer complaint received 2023-03-03
Company: TransferWise Ltd
State: MS
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, a Customer of wise with email address XXXX My case is in regards to Wise Sending my funds to wrong account when I've already informed them where to send all my funds to and they have refused to honour their agreement which they said they would do in case that such thing happen. 


In my Case with Wise, there is no Resolution and wise has refused to honour their agreement. 

I've been asked by XXXX Ombudsman Service and XXXX  Ombudsman to contact Wise one more time for Wise to send my money to me by correcting the mistake Wise made, but Wise has refused sending my money. 


CHRONICLES OF EVENTS I signed up for Wise account and got verified with my documents confirmed on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. 

On that same XX/XX/XXXX, Someone messaged me on XXXX and said her name was XXXX from Wise and said she noticed that I just got approved in wise, she asked me for my wise email address and password to enable her make my account not to ever be deactivated which I gave. 

I discovered that the wise staff added an external bank ending in XXXX to my Wise account as she had access to my account. 

I reported this fraud hacking to Action Fraud XXXX with crime Reference number XXXX which I have also attached the document. 

I also reported this issue to XXXX  XXXX government organization with reference Number : XXXX which I have also attached the document. 


On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I notified wise by responding to Wise email informing them never to send any funds to the external account added to my account that my wise account and the external account are hacked and compromised account and the external account not owned by me. 

Well, Wise stated that the transaction # XXXX was automatically created for me by themselves and there was no notice that wise would create automatic transfer on my behalf and wise should have known that my account was hacked and an external account not owned by me was added by the hacker. 

When wise deactivated my account, wise claimed that they cancelled the automatic transfer they created for me without my consent and they said this took place on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. 

Please note that I didn't receive any email that wise has created a transfer for me, nor email that wise has cancelled my the transfer they created. 


As long as a transaction is cancelled, Wise doesn't have the right to complete a cancelled transaction when account has been deactivated because funds are always moved to balance which wise has already stated that they moved all funds to my balance when they deactivated my account. 

I didn't set up external account in wise and like I said the person who hacked my Wise account added set up and added the external account. As I indicated that someone pretended to be a Wise Agent and got my ID card and also gained access to my Wise account and hack it on XX/XX/XXXX and added an external bank ending in XXXX. I am not the original owner of this bank account and I didn't authorize wise to add such account under my profile because it's the hacker who did, so it doesn't have my authorization. 

I have stated to Wise that the transfer in question should not have been directed to the XXXX XXXX  account that was added by the hacker, but rather directed to my USD account details which I provided to Wise along with the remainder of my balance refund. 

This is because the account ending in XXXX is a compromised account which was added by the person who hacked my Wise account and it doesn't belong to me, and as such Wise is owning me because I stated to Wise during emails and calls that all few days to Wise refunding my money that all my balance refund should be sent to my USD account details. 

I told wise that the account is a compromised and hacked account, and I meant to tell Wise that the account is owned by the person who hacked my Wise account and not me. I do not really write English. 

For wise going ahead to send my funds to the hacker bank account becomes Wise error/ mistake and section 12 of Wise User Agreement which says that wise will refund all payments to me immediately. 


In wise website, wise has stated what will happen to customers balances when an account has been deactivated. Please note that wise has stated that they already cancelled the transfer they created and moved funds to my balance when they deactivated my account. 

Wise wrote on their website that " If you still have money in your wise account, we'll work on sending it to your bank account ''. 

This is the full message what Wise Wrote Remaining balances : " If you still have money in your Wise Balances when we close your account, we'll work on sending it back to your bank account. But first, we need to carry out due diligence checks ''. 

Wise has stated to me that they moved the automatic transfer they created to my balances when they deactivated my account, as such the money became part of my balance and Wise supposed to have refunded all at once and not seperately. This bank account is the one wise always ask customers to submit for " balance '' to be paid into. In my own case I submitted my USD bank details to wise because since I had a multi currency account, I can seek a refund in any currency and provide account details. 


Also, I wrote in email to Wise on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX informing wise that my Wise account had been hacked and that the external account added was from the hacker and that Wise shouldn't send any money in there. I'll show a screenshot of everything in this complaint. 



Again, for the fact that wise already moved my funds under the transfer # XXXX to my balance when they deactivated my account, then it becomes " Remaining Balance '' and wise has stated on their website what would happen to customers remaining balance after deactivation which wise said that all balance balance would be paid into a bank account provided by the customer which in this regards is always submitted to wise secured website during submission of bank process which I submitted my USD details to wise and as such, all my balance would have gone there and not seperately since I already indicated to wise on call too about before they sent me part of the funds. 

I had already written to wise in my emails dated XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I also spoke with two Wise customer support team on morning and afternoon of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX asking them if they had seen my email with the account details where I needed all my funds and pending transfers before and during my account closure should be sent to and they said Yes. If wise provide the call recording, they would see that I told wise that all my funds in the account should go to the account details I provided and I asked the customer support if they received the correct account details and they said Yes. 


This means I told wise to send all my funds to one account On XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX, I also contacted Wise on XXXX and told them that since they said they would send my money on the XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX that it had been more than 10 days without me receiving my funds. I forwarded my account details again to Wise on XXXX and an agent responded to me he/she had reached out to the team with the information to check status of my refund. I will attach screenshot. 


I also showed wise the email they sent to me on the 5th of XX/XX/XXXX which stated as follows ; " Hello XXXX XXXX XXXX, We've decided to keep your account closed. 

We have completed our checks- so we can process your refund. 
We'll return any money on your account to the refund account you told us about during the deactivation procedure '' POINTS TO CONSIDER WHY THIS IS WISE MISTAKE AND WHY WISE SHOULD REIMBURSE ME : 1. Wise Said they would return " any '' money on my account to the refund details I told them about about during deactivated procedure. In this regards, the only bank I submitted to Wise during this process was my US bank details. 

2. Wise didn't say they would return funds to saperate account, they said they would return it to the account I told them about and the only account was my USD account which I also submitted in email and on XXXX too and on call with customer service agent which they said they are with the correct account for my refunds. 

3. For wise to use the clause " Any money '', it covers all the money that was in my wise account at the time my account was deactivated. And wise had stated to me that they moved the automatic transfer they cancelled to my balance. 
By this, all the funds in my wise account falls into the category of " any money on your wise account '' Because of this, I want Wise to honour their agreement and return " any money '' that was on my wise wise account to one account details which I provided to them, and not seperately. 


Even On XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX, when I sent an appeal to Wise, I wrote the following to Wise " Hi wise refund to my own XXXX  bank account total amount inside got XXXX. In this statement, I was telling wise that they should refunds the automatic payment they created back to my Wise XXXX account details which wise provided to me as a multi currency account. 
The reason I asked wise to refund back to my Wise XXXX  account inside my wise account which wise provided to me was because I didn't want Wise to send my funds to the XXXX external account that was added by the hacker. 

Also wise stated they cancelled the automatic transfer they created and moved funds to my balance as I instructed. 

I submitted my bank details for all my leftover proceeds to go to and I expected wise to send all my funds in there and not to send some of my funds to a hacker 's account who had illegal access to my Wise account and added the bank account which wise sent the funds to. 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, wise sent me an email that they have completed all the checks and that they would be sending my balance to the account I provided for refund. 


Since then I kept on calling wise and sending them email instructing them that all my funds should go to the bank account I submitted during the submission of bank process on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. 

I sent several emails to Wise with instructions informing them that they should not send any of my funds anywhere except the account details I submitted and I wrote the account details again on the email to Wise. 

I sent similar email again to Wise on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX and in the morning of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX but yet wise did not refund my money. 

In the evening of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I called wise and spoke with two customer support team and the name of the one I could remember is XXXX who told me that they had already received my correct account details and assured me that all my leftover funds in my account including the one that the hacker added an a fake bank ending in XXXX that was cancelled would be sent to the correct account details I provided. 

I asked him to mention the correct account details for refund in their system to me to enable me double check if it was the one and he called the exact account details that I provided and assured me that he would pass to the payment teams to recheck and issue my refund to the right bank. 

Exactly 8-10hrs after my call with XXXX, I got email from XXXX who informed me that {$3800.00} USD has been refunded to me in the account details I provided. 

I told XXXX that I already emailed wise instructing them to send all my money to one account and not separate account and I already spoke with XXXX and another person and told them my correct account details that I needed all my funds in one account details which I provided. 

Then this is a mistake from Wise sending my funds to a wrong bank not owned by me which was added by the hacker and it's a compromised bank owned by the hacker. 

I responded to XXXX email that the account that they sent the other funds to ending in XXXX that was attached to my Wise account was a hacked account by a hacker and a compromised account and I told them that I don't have access to it because it's compromised and not mine. By this I meant that I'm not the owner of this bank as it was added by XXXX the hacker who said she was working for wise. XXXX told me that completed transfers can not be recalled. 

This is not my mistake, I already gave instructions on call to XXXX telling him that all my funds should go to the account I provided and not seperate account. 

I want Wise to release the call record I made with two customer support on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX which was about 8-10hrs before my funds was sent to see that I informed Wise staff that my funds should only go to the correct account I provided to them. 

Also, my sent email to Wise few days before the XXXX XX/XX/XXXX indicated that instructed wise that all my funds should only go the account details I submitted to Wise for my refunds. 


In regards to this, this becomes an error and mistake from Transferwise and as such their user agreement of section 21. 6 in XXXX should be followed for Wise to reimburse my money immediately. 

Also Wise Customer Agreement Section 12 of XXXX also stated the following " In case of unauthorized payment or mistake due to our error, we shall at your request immediately refund the payment amount including all fees deducted by us ''.

The section 12 of XXXX  User Agreement also said that " if we do not reasonably meet our commitments to you, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer '. 


Wise has to meet up with this agreement and commitments to me and wise is to reimburse me for the loss and damage I have suffered because it is their error and mistake. 


I want Wise to honor this agreement and refund me my funds because it is transferwise error and mistake. 

This is a mistake from wise and I will quote the Customer Agreement Provided by Wise to me as at the time of signing up an account. 

In the customer Agreement, Wise states that if they make such mistakes and a customer complain about the mistake to them within 13 months that they would refund the amount to the customer. I want Wise to honour that Agreement and refund me. 

The agreement ; In wise Customer Agreement XXXX and XXXX where my account falls into, the section ( 21.6 ) states as follows " Our liability to you for unauthorised payments or our mistake. In case of an unauthorised payment or mistake due to our error, we shall at your request immediately refund the payment amount including all fees deducted by us ''.

Also subsection ( e ) of same section states that " If you dont let us know about the unauthorised or incorrectly completed transaction within 13 months from the date of the payment transaction ''. 

In this regards, it is the same as Wise XXXX Customer Agreement of Section 12 ( d ).

Wise said customers should notify them of incorrect completed transactions within 13 months. 

In my case, I notified Wise the same day wise made the error. 

As such I need wise to refund me all fuds to the refund Bank details I provided to them which is the same bank account Wise sent my {$3800.00} to. 

In conclusion, I need this mistake to be corrected by wise and the money to be sent to my USD bank details I provided to wise during the submission of bank details and an compensation from Wise immediately. 

In Wise Response to my complaint on XXXX XXXX, Wise has stated that they will give me a compensation at the end of the case, I need the compensation with my funds immediately

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