Consumer complaint received 2023-03-16
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Fraud summary : My name is XXXX XXXX, and I am the owner of XXXX XXXX, together with my father XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX has had a business checking and savings account with Regions Bank for several years now. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, a fraud was done on both accounts, and this how it happened : At approximately XXXX XXXX in the afternoon, my father receives a call on his cell phone ( XXXX ) from a number with a Regions Bank caller ID XXXX The person on the other end of the line states that he is Regions Bank employee calling to alert my father of a fraud at XXXX, in the amount of {$240.00} that the bank successfully stopped. Additionally, this person knew that my father had a fraud at a XXXX for {$700.00} a few months ago, thus he was calling not only to alert but also to provide a couple of mechanisms that would prevent future frauds. 
The first strategy to prevent fraud, as explained by the fraudster, was to send XXXX XXXX a new debit card in the mail. My father, not trusting the person on the phone, asked him to verify the address the card would be sent to, and the fraudster provided the correct home address. In addition to that, my father also asked the fraudster to verify his account balance, which he did right away and furthermore this person provided details of the three most recent transactions in the XXXX business checking account. 
The second strategy to prevent fraud, as per the fraudster, was to introduce a code in the Settings of my fathers cell phone. This would provide an additional mechanism for my father whenever there was a transaction done in his account, that would need verification and or approval. 
The fraudster proceeded to provide a code that my father introduced in the settings of his phone, but the code did not work. At this point, my father thought he was doing something incorrectly and called his wife so she could help. She tried following the instructions provided over the phone and none of the codes provided were accepted on my fathers cell phone. 
After 30 minutes on the phone, the fraudster asks my father for his social security number, which he refuses to give in his entirety, providing only the last four digits, as he does in his medical appointments and the phone call continues for another 10 or 15 more minutes. However, after being on the phone for so long with this person, my father tells the fraudster he needs to attend to an urgent matter and that he will call Regions Bank the next day to get this taken care of. The fraudster advises him not to call Regions Bank and not to answer any phone calls from a specific area code, that we later on found out was the Regions fraud line, because that would interrupt the process of the code being installed on his phone. 
At XXXXXXXX XXXX my father calls me to tell me what happened, and that is when I access the Regions Bank mobile app, to check the XXXX XXXX business checking account ( XXXX ). Upon accessing the account I see there is a pending credit in the amount of {$14000.00} coming from another account. ( I only have access to the business checking account thus I couldnt see where this transaction was coming from ) I called my father back and told him that most likely this is fraud, and he confirms there is a debit going out of the XXXX XXXX savings ( XXXX ) into the XXXX business checking ( XXXX ) Before ending the conversation I tell him that I will call the Regions Fraud line as soon as I get home. 
At XXXXXXXX XXXX I checked the XXXX XXXX checking account again, through the mobile app, and I see in addition to the pending credit for {$14000.00} a pending debit for {$40000.00}. 
It seems that the fraudsters first did an internal transfer for {$14000.00} from the savings account to the business checking account, and then a {$40000.00} wire transfer out of the business checking account. 
At this point I called the Regions Bank fraud hotline and reported the fraud. The agent on the phone tells me that he will close the accounts, but we must wait until the next day to see if the transactions are posted. I tell him that there should be a way to stop the transactions because they had not posted yet and most likely the end of day processing had not started, however the agent insists that this is not possible, and instructs us to go to the closest branch the following day, to find out if the transactions were posted. ( We think this was a negligent action on the part of the agent who could have stopped the transactions or at least transfer our call to another Regions Bank employee who could have helped ) XX/XX/XXXX My father and I go to the Regions Bank branch located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX FL. We speak to XXXX XXXX, and she proceeds to close the business checking and savings accounts of XXXX XXXX. ( We had understood the accounts had been closed the night prior when the fraud was reported through the Fraud hotline, however XXXX confirms that the accounts were still open ) XXXX tells us that the transaction done out of the XXXX savings account into the XXXX business checking account for an amount of {$14000.00} has been reverted by the system, and that soon we will have those funds back into the XXXX savings account. However, the {$40000.00} wire transfer out of the XXXX business checking account went through, despite us having contacted the Fraud line the day before. We proceed to open a fraud claim ( XXXX ) On the same day, XXXX XXXX goes to the Police Department, located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to report the fraud. XXXX XXXX takes the case and makes the report ( see attached ) XX/XX/XXXX My father and I go to the same Regions Bank branch as previously mentioned and speak to XXXX XXXX again. New savings and checking accounts are opened for XXXX XXXX and funds are transferred into the new accounts. 

XX/XX/XXXX Regions Bank denies our fraud claim with a letter stating that transactions were authorized using agreed upon security procedures. 

XX/XX/XXXX, We do not agree with the resolution of the fraud claim and contact Regions Bank to understand the reasons why our claim was denied. We are informed that Regions Bank never received our police report, thus we believe the fraud investigator did not decide in our favor because he didnt have all the necessary elements to make a correct decision. ( XXXX XXXX supposedly had attached the police report when we originally open the first claim, however the fraud investigator never saw it ) XXXX XXXX speaks to Client Services, reopens the fraud claim case and sends them via email ( XXXX ) all the details on the fraud including the police report. 

XX/XX/XXXX We received a second letter from Regions Bank denying our fraud claim again, with the same wording as the first one, stating that transactions were authorized using agreed upon security procedures. 

XX/XX/XXXX We received a new letter from the Regions Default Solutions team, attempting to collect an outstanding balance of {$14000.00} Our statement : We believe there has been negligence from Regions Bank in preventing this fraud as well as managing the fraud claim process, and these are our reasons : A fraudster was able to impersonate a Regions Bank employee and take advantage of an elderly person, using the following elements : Regions Bank Caller ID Knowing all the personal information of one of Regions Bank customers ( address, account balance, three most recent transaction details ) Knowing and successfully bypassing Regions Bank procedures to perform a wire transfer. 
Knowing the area code number of Regions Bank fraud department and instructing victim not to answer calls from said number. 
The fraudster successfully bypassed the Regions Bank wire transfer procedures because he was able to perform a wire transfer even though XXXX had never been enrolled to use the Wire Transfers functionality. This means the fraudster was able to enroll XXXX in wire transfer, create a new beneficiary, and perform a wire, all without triggering notifications or alerts to any of the XXXX account owners. 
The day the fraud took place, no action was taken by Regions Bank to stop the fraudulent wire transfer, even though their fraud agents were advised prior to the end of day processing of all transactions. 
The day after the fraud happened, no action was taken by Regions Bank to contact and alert the receiving bank to prevent funds from leaving the receiving account. 
The fraud investigator closed our fraud claim without having all the information we had originally provided. ( Branch personnel failed to provide the police report ) The fraud investigator provided twice, a template letter with the same exact wording denying our claim stating that transactions were done using agreed security procedures, when is evident the fraudster knew Regions Bank procedures and was able to take advantage of an XXXX person because of the weak security controls of Regions Bank. 

Our demands We, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX demand from Regions Bank to return XXXX XXXX the {$40000.00} lost due to fraud on XX/XX/XXXX and to stop the collection efforts on the amount {$14000.00}.

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 monetary relief