Consumer complaint received 2020-04-07
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NM
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
On or about XX/XX/2019, I consented to the wire transfer of {$11000.00} of my retirement savings to what I believed was a XXXX XXXX account held through Wells Fargo. Since the time that wire was completed, I have been unable to access or fully trace those funds. I believe that I consented to an erroneous wire transfer into a Wells Fargo account that I did not intend. I have repeatedly requested, through various communications, that Wells Fargos assist me in tracing these funds, and recovering them from the unintended Wells Fargo account holder. 

On or about XX/XX/2019, I submitted paperwork to XXXX XXXX ( the custodian for my 401 ( k ) plan ) to accomplish a rollover to my XXXX XXXX IRA. Following some back and forth to complete the required paperwork, XXXX XXXX initiated a wire transfer of {$11000.00} on or about XX/XX/2019. I had instructed XXXX XXXX to wire the funds as follows : Wells Fargo Bank NA XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX Account No. : XXXX XXXX  No. : XXXX I contacted XXXX XXXX on or about XX/XX/2019 to follow up on the wired retirement funds. XXXX XXXX confirmed that Wells Fargo had received the wire, but that the money was in an account to which I ( and presumably XXXX XXXX ) did not have access. I then sought to initiate a service recall of the wired funds on XX/XX/2019 through XXXX XXXX. Wells Fargo, in turn, required a debit authorization from me to allow the recall. When I later called Wells Fargo to provide such authorization, Wells Fargo refused to speak with me about the account since I was not the account holder. 

Since XXXX of 2019, I have sent a letter to Wells Fargo 's Board of Directors and have had a number of follow up phone calls resulting in Wells Fargo taking the position that they have contacted the account holder, into which the funds were transferred, and they have not received any response. Wells Fargo has indicated that they will take no further action, will not disclose the account holders name, or recover the funds that they know do not belong to their account holder, without further legal action. 

Wells Fargo was provided overwhelming evidence that my retirement funds were erroneously transferred into the wrong account. They have repeatedly indicated that they have reached out to this account holder and informed the account holder of the erroneously transferred. Wells Fargo has not received any response from their account holder to these requests. What is clear is that Wells Fargo 's account holder has stolen these funds and does not intend to return the money. I believe that Wells Fargo, by their inaction, is assisting their account holder in the theft on my retirement funds. I also believe that Wells Fargo has violated the law and the " Know Your Customer '' regulations by failing to protect my money from theft by their account holder. Wells Fargo should have notified law enforcement and other agencies when it became clear that their account holder had stolen my retirement funds. The wire transfer, although containing the wrong account number, clearly indicated the funds were being transferred for me and the funds were to be placed in my XXXX XXXX account.

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