Consumer complaint received 2020-04-08
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MD
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Can't stop withdrawals from your account

Complaint:
This transaction was a BitCoin transaction using the XXXX ( to which my Suntrust debit card was attached ). 
Provide full details of each communication : I got a call from the phone number above. I received a call from XXXX ( came up on my phone as XXXX XXXX, Texas ). The caller claimed to be from XXXX and was calling to refund money they owed to my brother. I texted my brother to confirm that XXXX owed him {$7500.00} and he told me yes. We later learned that he was scammed and the scammer got my name and info from my brothers XXXX activity as I was the last person my brother had sent money through the XXXX. The caller wanted to use my XXXX account to deposit the money so that I could transfer it back to him. 

This communication happening on Friday, XX/XX/2020 I was instructed to download an app ( dont recall the name because it happened so quickly ). He asked me to press record and return to the XXXX XXXX. At some point in the conversation, the caller said he had sent me {$1.00} as test to make sure everything was working. I told him I didnt receive the {$1.00}. He then had be check my bank account to see what the max was that I could do in transactions per day. My recollection is that the recording device was running the entire time. After that, he told me that in order for the test to work, I would need to have at least {$7500.00} in the receiving account. I transferred money from another account to meet this {$7500.00}. The recording device was capturing all of this. Along the way, I kept saying to him this seems like a scam. If you owe my brother money back, why are you asking me to give you money? At what point will he be reimbursed. As I began to challenge him, he got very heated. I told him that it was a scam and that I was hanging up. I called back and we got into a shouting match and I told him that I would report him to the FTC and he then threatened to take legal action against me. I told him that he had no legal grounds to come after me. After the call was done, I called my bank and also emailed XXXX. 

The caller had me to modify my XXXX XXXX settings, by removing my debit card information and adding a card number ( which I didnt write down ). He had me transfer {$2900.00} to the account. The bank that the money went to was an account at XXXX XXXX   The caller had me to do a transaction on bitcoin and some type of conversion. He had me to do an immediate deposit after the transaction. At some point, he had me to put my original debit card information back onto the XXXX. I notified Suntrust to deactivate that card and I have been monitoring my accounts for any additional fraudulent activity. 

Caller asked for {$7500.00} in three installments and the first installment he had me to send was {$2900.00}. Immediately after the transfer, I realized it was a scam and didnt send any additional funds.The recording device likely captured my PIN. I have changed my PIN and notified my bank to cancel that debit card. 
- Dollar amount : Bitcoin ( {$2900.00} ), Bitcoin ( {$2800.00} ) ; Cash Out {$2800.00}. These were all fraudulent. The total amount I lost was {$2900.00}. 
- Recipient : XXXX XXXX

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