Consumer complaint received 2021-10-22
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
The following is a cursory narrative and chronology of wire fraud committed against my wife and me. Very specific detail is available upon request. 

The attached files will provide evidence of the movement of monies via wire between XXXX XXXX  and Wells Fargo Bank. The monies were wired to complete a closing of the purchase of a house to replace the home we had sold just a few days earlier the same week. 

In the XXXX  to WFC file, the first page is the original wire transfer request with all detail of the transaction on XX/XX/2021. The first email and wiring instructions were fraudulent, and the second email and wiring instructions were authentic, sent one day later. 

The Letterhead Detective file is evidence that the XXXX Sheriffs office ( Detective XXXX XXXX ) is involved, as well as the U.S. Secret Service XXXX office ( Special Agent XXXX XXXX ). 

The Complaint resolution file from Wells Fargo shows their final response to our complaint to them to return the wired funds to XXXX XXXX. 

The XXXX Account file is a line item accounting of the outgoing and incoming wire transfers. 

The Real Estate Docs file is the cover page of the purchase contract of the original house we were going to buy on XX/XX/2021, the cancellation doc of that house purchase due to Wells Fargo reluctance to return our funds and, finally, the cover page of the contract for the house we had to buy in another city ( after 40 years in XXXX XXXX XXXX!! ) after our original house deal was cancelled for undue delays by Wells Fargo. 
The second house purchase price exceeded the first by {$43000.00}. 

The Moving Storage file has receipts for excessive moving and storage activity required after cancellation of the first house contract due to delay by Wells Fargo. 


Chronology : After sale of our original house on XX/XX/2021, monies were transferred into the XXXX checking acct in my wife 's name. 

We were to close on XX/XX/2021 on the house to replace our sold home. 

On XX/XX/2021, we received the fraudulent email with fraudulent wiring instructions. 

On XX/XX/2021, my wife XXXX went to XXXX XXXX and wired {$180000.00} to Wells Fargo for the closing ... ..so we thought. 

On XX/XX/2021, in the afternoon, I called XXXX XXXX to confirm receipt of the funds for closing on XX/XX/2021. I was told that XXXX XXXX does NOT use Wells Fargo for closings. I immediately called the local branch of Wells Fargo and instructed them to freeze the account the funds were wired into ... .at that point, they confirmed the funds were there and that the account had a " hard hold '' placed on it to secure the funds. 

As I was calling Wells Fargo, XXXX went to XXXX XXXX  and they issued a recall of the wire at that moment. Within a few days, they responded to Wells Fargo and issued Hold Harmless letters to them to facilitate the return of the wired funds. 

From XX/XX/2021 through the end of XXXX, I spent 8-10 hours per day calling every department at Wells Fargo only to be blocked and sand-bagged by dozens of clerks, supervisors, and essentially every person I spoke with at the bank. These people were strewn from the XXXX XXXX, to XXXX XXXX, to XXXX, to California, to Idaho, and on to Montana. 

Only one person was honest and forthcoming about this episode. He confirmed the hard hold on the account on XX/XX/2021, and several subsequent withdrawals by the person ( California female ) to whom the account was registered long after the hold was placed on the account. The withdrawals ended after her debit card was revoked on XX/XX/2021. 

For the next two weeks, our complaint received many case numbers which were continually closed and passed on to the next " brick wall ''. When I happened upon the honest fellow, amazingly Wells Fargo wired {$170000.00} back to XXXX XXXX  the next day, XX/XX/2021. 



So after 26 days of stalling and shoving us off to the next purveyor of nonsense, we had lost our new house, been forced to remove furnishings and stored boxes from that house into another storage facility, give up some of the earnest money, search for another house in a ridiculous real estate market ( cost another {$43000.00} above the price of the first house, and in another city across the state ), not to mention being shorted {$5900.00} of the original wired funds ... ... .what a nightmare!!!! 

This is the first time I've had to sit down and figure the damage caused by the ongoing mismanagement and absolute heartless nonsense that came out of Wells Fargo : Let 's see : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ... ... ... ... ... {$1900.00} Earnest money lost ... ... ... ... ... ... .. XXXX Add'l cost of new house ... ... ... ... .. XXXX Shortage of returned funds ... ... .... XXXX TOTAL ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... XXXX ... .and that's just so far, not to mention two months of sleepless nights. 

I am XXXX years old, and my wife just turned XXXX ... ..at this point it's going to be difficult to gain back the money lost due to the damages of this action by Wells Fargo XXXX 

Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) XXXX ( XXXX 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