Consumer complaint received 2023-08-02
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: PA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
I have been the victim of an International Wire Scam which cost me {$180000.00} the scammer was able to add and subtract money from my bank account easily to the point where he deposited XXXX into my account to make it look like there was more than usual he said it was an accident and that I needed to get him his money back so he removed over XXXX from my account to show me that he could do anything he wants including bankrupting me which meant that I needed to listen to what he told me or I would be left penniless so he told me to pressure my bank Wells Fargo into wiring the money to a specific account in XXXX and if I didn't do it I would never see the money that he removed from my account again when I made this request to Wells Fargo because I had no choice because the scammer told me if I didn't do it he would wipe out my account completely the only chance of this wire not going through would've been if Wells Fargo would've done their due diligence on this request before releasing the wire instead the wire went through even though the scammer claimed that his bank in XXXX the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX never received the wire and I had to send it again otherwise he would remove everything else that was left in my account so again I had Wells Fargo send it one more time and again instead of putting a red flag on this request they let it go through my thought was if my bank doesn't allow the wire to go through it's not my fault and I would provide the proof to the scammer in hopes of getting my money back but instead of protecting me they sent the wire no problem maybe if they would've checked my history with them that goes back over 20 years they would've seen that the request is not something I would've ever done willingly that maybe they would do much more research on the company before the wire was sent the first time and than a 2nd time instead it was sent just the same as if I was requesting a {$1000.00} wire for some reason they have more restrictions for XXXX wires than they do for a XXXX and a XXXX wire to XXXX I am very disappointed in my banks decision to release the funds to a foreign country without doing any research and taking the steps necessary to protect me and turn down the request the scammer initially tried getting the funds through my Coinbase account before going to Wells Fargo the big difference is that XXXX saw it as a red flag and froze my account for 3 months and wouldn't allow the transaction to go through to XXXX however they did send the XXXX back to my Wells Fargo bank account because the scammer again forced me to remove the XXXX from XXXX and return the funds back to Wells Fargo because he still didn't get back the XXXX that he deposited into my account on purpose so he decided that I needed to pressure Wells Fargo into making the transactions my biggest issue is that Coinbase which is a XXXX company protected me by turning down the wire request to XXXX more than my bank of 20 years did for me by allowing not one but two wires to be sent to XXXX even though they have my entire banking history for XXXX decades and know my spending history better than anybody I am shocked with all the wire fraud that goes on in the world and belonging to one of the biggest banks in the country you would think that Wells Fargo would be better prepared and trained to handle these situations and people like myself and others wouldn't be able to be taken advantage of so easily when a scammer can literally go into your account and remove money and say don't worry Wells Fargo will never see it the money is hidden I have to really question the safeguards and security measures that Wells Fargo takes to keep their customer 's bank accounts safe I am also very disappointed on the lack of support Wells Fargo has provided when it comes to following up with me on my case they very rarely follow up with any updates on how my case is progressing I can't sleep at night, I haven't told my family and I have slipped into a deep XXXX I would greatly appreciate any help you can provide me with this situation Thank you

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