Consumer complaint received 2023-08-10
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
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:
I had used my card last at a gas station ( XXXX ) in XXXX, California on XX/XX/2023 for {$88.00} and entered my pin although the pump was acting very weird and took forever to approve my transaction. After that, I was in quite a hurry so I filled up my car and drove off. On XX/XX/2023, I ordered flowers for my mom online for pickup at a flower shop and paid on their website using my debit card for {$320.00}. That charge got posted to my account on XX/XX/2023. After the online purchase I had made on XX/XX/XXXX, I did not use my debit card whatsoever ( because I didn't need to ), and nor had I seen my card after that. On XX/XX/2023 I went to XXXX, California with a friend. I was there from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. After I came back from this trip, I was busy with school and studying at home and did not go to any stores or restaurants for which I would need my debit card to use. It didn't cross my mind to check if I had it with me for that reason and there were no signs for me to. So then after some time, on XX/XX/2023, I had a couple of checks in my room that I hadn't yet deposited into my account, so I decided to open my online banking app to deposit these checks. Since I am always aware of my spending and how much money I have in my account, I knew what balance to expect of course when opening my online banking app. After I opened it, there was I think around XXXX dollars in my account when there should've been around XXXX dollars. Almost 99 % of the money I've been saving up for the past XXXX  years. I immediately had a XXXX XXXX and was so shocked and couldn't believe my eyes. I quickly started to look for my debit card and couldn't find it anywhere for XXXX hours so I came to the conclusion that it was lost or stolen so I locked my debit card on the Wells Fargo Online Banking app and filed a dispute on their website. These were all withdrawals from my debit card at ATMs. I could not believe what happened and was afraid, but as for banking with Wells Fargo and them giving XXXX liability for fraud, I was trying to stay calm and let them have their customers back. After I filed a dispute, I would receive emails for a couple of days from Wells Fargo saying that my claim is being processed so I was patiently waiting for it to be resolved. Then after no update in a week, I decided to call Wells Fargo and ask for updates and to add another transaction at XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2023, for {$78.00} that was made during the time of fraud happening, although instead of receiving good news or updates it was the complete opposite. A man answered the phone and asked for my claim number which I provided. Then he said that unfortunately my claim had been closed and denied due to " no fraud being detected ''. I had told him how this was such a big deal for me and it was fraud committed against my hard-earned money, and all he proceeded to keep repeating was that my claim had been denied. I then asked to speak to someone else and he said since this claim amount was high value, there is only XXXX person assigned to my claim and that he would leave a note for them to call me back the following Monday or Tuesday. Although frustrated with how I was at the moment, I kept trying to explain to him how this was wrongfully denied and something was not looked through properly. To me, there are a lot of signs relating to this being fraud, because it really is. I had asked him if there were reasons, and he would keep repeating that there was no indication of fraud. I asked him, if the claim XXXX had reviewed the locations, times, patterns, habits, and more of these withdrawals and compared it to my transactions for the past XXXX  years of my checking account with Wells Fargo, and he just said that everything was reviewed sir, do not worry. On top of that, I informed him that I wasn't even in the city for a couple of days that these withdrawals were made, and with attitude, he said show us proof, and I asked him if showing proof will change the status of my claim and he said " yes sir, unless you're able to be in XXXX places at a time, if you have any documentation showing you weren't in the area during any of these transactions, that would overturn this decision ''. After I told him to ask the specific claim XXXX assigned to my claim to contact me which he said he did. So, the call ended, and I waited through the whole next week for a call, and still didn't receive any. Then the following week, on Monday, XX/XX/2023, I called Wells Fargo to follow up with why I had not received a call from my claim XXXX that supposedly reviewed my claim. They had said, the reason I didn't receive a call was because my claim had been closed due to no indications of any fraud. I explained to them that when I had called a week and a half ago, someone told me if I had any proof I wasn't in the area that would overturn the decision and I did have proof. They provided me with an email address to send the proof I have for which they will review and get back to me with results in XXXX hours. So I sent my proof to that email and patiently waited. XXXX hours passed by without any updates or calls from Wells Fargo XXXX XXXX I decided to give them a call again on XX/XX/XXXX of 2023. A man answered and said despite the proof I had sent them, my claim was closed and there were no indications of fraud. He just kept repeating this same sentence for XXXX minutes not even listening to anything I'm asking for reasoning. So, I asked to speak with someone else preferably a supervisor and they transferred me to XXXX of the claim specialists that was available. I tried explaining to the woman that I had sent proof of myself not being here during these fraudulent transactions and she just continued also to say that there were no indications of any fraud. I decided to turn to CFPB for help in this situation as it is very serious and it is a lot of money. As for this situation, many people have had this same issue specifically with Wells Fargo. As for a company that clearly states their customers are subject to XXXX liability fraud protection, when these situations happen they don't act accordingly to their statement. I've tried to find out what happened myself and did many searches online trying to determine what had happened. XXXX person had a similar kind of situation with wells fargo and had submitted a post on a website with other members as well ( which will be in the files attached ) here is the link https : //thankswellsfargo.com for anyone caring to take a look. I started to trace my XXXX XXXX to find out where my pin was stolen for my debit card and my physical card. I read online that gas station pumps would have information steal devices embedded into them and the safest form of payment would be cash and was surprised about it because that never crossed my mind. Although reading about that and how there were so many cases regarded to that all over the world, I started to wonder, what if that's why the pump took forever to approve my transaction and asked me to enter my pin not once but twice which has never happened before. Then I thought to myself, how would my physical card get stolen, then I wondered to myself what if I was in a rush to get to wherever I had to go and didn't make sure to check for my card after leaving until I had realized what happened. Also after that on XX/XX/XXXX, I entered my card number from the picture I had of it on my phone so I didn't bother to look for it physically. As I mentioned earlier, the signs of fraud I could see, are multiple. Some I mentioned already, and some more are, I am really confident that the ATMs used to make these withdrawals aren't even ATMs I've used in the past XXXX  years unless maybe whoever did this wanted to make it look like it was me. Another reason would be, if I wanted to withdraw the amount of money that these transactions added up to, why would I use ATMs to take out a limited amount when I can go inside the branch and withdraw way more than that, which for my withdrawals for the past couple months before this happened, all my withdrawals are inside branches. For anyone wondering, the proof I had of me not being here was a confirmation under my name from XXXX for a rental property. Showing the dates of my trip, my info, the location, etc.

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