Consumer complaint received 2020-01-14
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I was the victim of robbery and assault walking down a popular street in XXXX Georgia. I was hit over the back of the XXXX  with a handgun and robbed of my wallet, watch, and phone. The assailants fled the scene and I was left there XXXX XXXX. Thankfully a bystander happened to see me and came over and helped me get to the hospital where I received XXXX XXXX in the back of my XXXX. As I had states earlier, my phone was stolen and this is where it gets out of control as they were able to use the facial ID on my phone ( when I was knocked out ) to gain access into my phone. My Wells Fargo and XXXX apps both had autosaved usernames and were able to be accessed through facial recognition for the password. Between the 2 accounts ( all were out through Wells Fargo ), {$3400.00} was transferred out via XXXX over the next week after I had been assaulted and robbed. I have submitted now 3 claims with Wells Fargo to recoup the money and each denial I am told a different bogus reasoning for denial. First denial stated it was through a secure login session and was authorized by me. That makes 0 sense as I had a police report to show the phone was not in my possession and the assailants had access to my routing/account numbers so had free reign. I was not told by Wells Fargo to change my account or routing number either when phone was stolen ( Seems ridiculous I know ). I  resubmitted a second claim with a banker at a local branch this time around and was denied for the EXACT same reason as before and added there was a one time  passcode that provided authorization. Again, a one time passcode was sent to the same phone that was documented as stolen and they knew that. How does that even make sense? This allowed one last transfer to occur as well. Lastly, I submitted 3rd claim with a bank manager at a different location. They escalated it to the apparent  highest fraud team level they could and was even told by them it should have been overturned in my favor. They came back with another bogus reasoning. I am a XXXX year old who does not have a lot of money to begin with and being out {$3400.00} is a huge deal and has caused a great deal of stress and personal issues as well. Below I have created a timeline of the exact dates and what happened. I also have the amounts listed with the transfer dates. I have documentation including police report, wells fargo denial letters, and proof of visiting bank locations twice if needed for more help that are attached. The police report is to show the phone was stolen as they are claiming there was continued access to phone. The report does not have the money transfers listed as they happened after the report had already been created. I am working with an attorney to create a new report regarding the actual money transfers if it gets to that. 

XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX $ XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX $ XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX $ XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX $ XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX $ and XXXX $ XXXX XXXX robbery and assault occurred XXXX XXXX wells fargo atm closed down ( as wallet was stolen ) XXXX XXXX submitted first claim for the transfers as they occurred from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ; new account was also created as I insisted ( originally they said was not needed on XX/XX/XXXX )  XX/XX/XXXX- police report was available for me to access XX/XX/XXXX- first denial received XX/XX/XXXX- visited the XXXX XXXX XXXX branch location off XXXX XXXX in XXXX GA to submit 2nd claim XX/XX/XXXX- I did a story with XXXX XXXX in XXXX to give awareness regarding being aware of your surroundings and to also enlighten others regarding my banking issue XX/XX/XXXX- second denial received XX/XX/XXXX- visited XXXX XXXX Branch location in XXXX GA where the 3rd and final claim was submitted XX/XX/XXXX- final denial I am seeking all options at this point and was directed by attorney ( s ) to seek out the CFPB as a possible solution.

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