Consumer complaint received 2022-11-02
Company: MUFG AMERICAS HOLDINGS CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
Provide a description of the incident and how you were victimized. Provide information not captured elsewhere in this complaint form. On Friday, XX/XX/2022, my spouses XXXX had gotten locked due to suspicious activity. He is currently incarcerated and asked me to unlock it so it would not be deleted. I XXXX customer support and the number ( XXXX ) XXXX popped up. Calling the number put me in contact with a " XXXX XXXX '' who gave me his direct phone number of ( XXXX ) XXXX. XXXX XXXX stated he was with XXXX support and asked for the e-mail address and phone number on my account so he could look it up. XXXX XXXX asked explained that the account had been locked due to suspicious activity. Because I knew that was in fact what happened, I believed him when he stated he needed to confirm my mine and my spouses identity in another way so I could get the XXXX  account unlocked. XXXX XXXX told me to go to my XXXX XXXX and download the " XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. This allowed XXXX XXXX access to my phone so he could work on unlocking the account. He then requested a picture of my spouses drivers license and,, then hen told me open my XXXX XXXX and put in the " XXXX XXXX '' of XXXX. He then asked if there was anyone I knew who could immediately access that code and accept it to confirm I was me. I selected my daughter, XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX told me to push " pay '' and then tell her to accept and send right back, which she did. XXXX XXXX then told me to go to the " XXXX '' button in my XXXX XXXX. He instructed me to select " Buy '', select the " XXXX dots '', enter the " XXXX XXXX '' of XXXX, select " Next '' and then chose the " X '' at the top right hand corner. XXXX XXXX then instructed me to go to the " XXXX '' on the XXXX tab on my XXXX XXXX. He once again instructed me to put in the " XXXX XXXX '' of XXXX and then told me to press " Send ''. This brought me to list of my contacts who have previously received money from my XXXX XXXX from me. XXXX XXXX told me to enter " $ XXXX '' under the line that says " To '', he then told me to select " Pay ''. Apparently I am extremally stupid because I allowed him to instruct me to repeat the process with the " Pin Code '' of XXXX. Once those two transactions were complete, XXXX XXXX instructed me to enter the " Pin Code '' XXXX and then go to my contacts, select someone I knew could " confirm my identity '' and would respond quickly. I still had not caught on to this ridiculous scheme so I selected my daughter, XXXX XXXX ( $ XXXX ). XXXX XXXX then instructed me to select " Request ''. Because my daughter loves me, she just accepted the request without any questions. Once the XXXX had been put onto my XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX instructed me to repeat the XXXX steps I took previously but, this time I was told to select " $ XXXX '' as the recipient. XXXX XXXX informed me that " $ XXXX '' and " XXXX '' were the supervisors who would use the actions I had completed to unlock my spouses XXXX account. XXXX XXXX instructed me to repeat this process with my daughter but when the transaction was denied, XXXX XXXX instructed me to select a second party who could confirm I was who I said I was so I selected my friend, XXXX XXXX ( $ XXXX ) and the process was completed with " $ XXXX '' as the " supervisor ''. It was not until my daughter attempted to purchase something that we realized the numbers I was given were not " PIN Codes '' but were in fact money being taken from our accounts. At this point I am getting mad, I asked XXXX XXXX about the money taken out and he stated it would all be refunded. XXXX XXXX instructed me to input the " XXXX XXXX '' of XXXX again and select my daughter, he told me to tell her to accept the transaction as this was the " Refund Request '' that would allow him to refund the money taken out. Due to the fact that my daughter no longer had money in her account, it would not process. XXXX XXXX then instructed me to attempt the process with my friend, XXXX. This attempt was also denied. At this point, XXXX XXXX is getting pushy and irritable, telling me to continue having my daughter and friend accept the " Pin Codes '' being sent because he was trying to return their money. I kept attempting to explain to him that the transaction would not go through because both of their accounts no longer had money on them. XXXX XXXX is continuing in his attempt to get my daughter and friend so me still thinking I am talking to XXXX Support ( Yes, I know I am stupid ) I request to speak with a supervisor. Another " gentleman '' got on the phone and just continued telling me to tell my daughter and friend to accept the requests. I am finally beginning to think maybe something is not right so I go back to my browser to re-look at the page of the number I am calling. Keep in mind, this whole time ( about XXXX hrs ) these people have had access to everything I am doing on my phone because of the XXXX application. When he sees me looking up the page, he asks what I am doing and I tell him I now see that on the page it says they are a furniture store. I then realize that I have been completely scammed and I hang up. Attached is a screenshot of the website page that came up when I XXXX " XXXX Support '' it clearly states " XXXX '' Complete URL is " XXXX  : XXXX Police reports were submitted to the XXXX XXXX XXXX Department by myself, ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Police Department by my daughter, ( XXXX ) XXXX Police Department by XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and the FBI, claim attached ) My XXXX, XXXX and my friend XXXX filed claims with XXXX XXXX and were able to retrieve the money lost. I submitted a claim to Union Bank on XX/XX/2022, so I could recover the money stolen. Unfortunately, Union Bank denied my claim stating that I initiated the contact and allowed someone access to my bank information. In no way was I giving someone " access to my bank information '', I was told I was sending " Pin Codes '' that is it.

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