Consumer complaint received 2023-04-16
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
In XXXX I made an ACH payment in the amount of {$21000.00} to a XXXX account in XXXX, NJ. The account # provided turned out to be of someone not affiliated with the intended receivers company, XXXX XXXXThe account number was supplied by someone who hacked my customers email and sent the account information posing as the customer. I was made aware of the situation 5 days later and called TD Bank Fraud department and the XXXX XXXX of the XXXXXXXX XXXX where the monies were sent to in an effort alert the banks and to recover my funds. Although the 3-day recall window had passed the monies were still in the account and I explained to both parties that the transfer was based on fraudulent information. The XXXX manager told me that they would mark the account and transaction but XXXX would need to deal directly with TD Bank. He also impressed upon me the need to have the situation upgraded to a priority at TD Bank. He explained although the account was flagged, they could not hold back the monies indefinitely. I made my second call to TD Bank customer service to relay this critical information. The representative, XXXX XXXX no last name given ) assured me that they would move quickly to reach out to XXXX and lock down the funds until the situation could be resolved. The TD Bank representative assured me she had everything that they needed to follow through and I would receive a follow up call within a week. No follow up call was received. I reached out continuously, speaking with XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and several others and each call I had to start over being told nothing was even in their system. After each repeated attempt to get help I would receive the same hollow assurances. This went on at least 5 - 7 additional times before I was told to go to my branch and file an Affidavit of Fraud, and a local Police Report which I immediately did on XXXXover 2 months after the process started. Why was I not told to do this at the beginning I asked. The response was that this was unchartered waters for the Customer Service team. Additional calls were made and the same promises of action continued without ANY follow up until I started to visit my branch repeatedly. Finally, I received a letter from TD Bank stating that the dispute claim was filed on XX/XX/2022 and was being denied. This is false. I called the TD Bank Fraud department in XXXX. I filed my report via the only method made available to TD Bank customers at the time, their customer service telephone support team. My monies could have been retrieved in XXXX. I was promised by my local manager that my monies would be retrieved " 100 % '' ... her exact words. TD Bank did nothing but provide lip service. No action was ever taken until it was too late and my money were gone. I verified such when I was able to contact and speak with someone from XXXX XXXX Fraud division. He would not provide his name, but he did confirm that TD NEVER contacted them regarding my situation and eventually the monies were released. As proof I called XXXX. He had a case # XXXX for my future reference. He also stated the funds were 100 % retrievable had TD followed through in a timely manner as originally instructed. This is TD Banks fault 100 %. TD Banks unprofessional, untrained service team dropped the ball and caused this loss that was completely preventable. 
TD Bank is a foreign bank operating in the US. Someone from their corporate office called me several weeks after I received my denial letter to discus my case and in their own words stated that at the time my incident occurred TD Bank did not have a proper ACH customer service team in place and that is why I received multiple unreliable responses that went unanswered. She assured me they now do and I could be confident in continuing to bank with TD. When I asked why TD was offering services such as ACH that they could not support she quickly backtracked and denied what she just had said. I explained that is the exact problem here, everyone involved is prepared to lie in order to avoid taking ANY responsibility. TD needs to be held accountable here. We should not allow this type of company to operate in the US if they can not be held to the high standards customers expect when they make a decision to put their faith in a banking institution. As such, I am requesting a FULL refund of the monies lost.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation