Consumer complaint received 2020-09-21
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NY
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020, I received a call from Washington D.C. A  woman introduced herself from Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( government agency ) and notified me that I, as an XXXX XXXX, violated immigration law ( she said I failed to register my XXXX  number within 90 days of entry, which is not required at all ) and I would be deported immediately under the alleged criminal charge. She directed me to go to the ICE website and read some clauses that charge criminal charges against me. Also, there was another call from a man, allegedly from New York Sheriff Office, while I was talking to her, to tell me that my case was reported to his office. Both put me on hold on purpose and didn't let me talk to anyone because this conversation was allegedly confidential. I believe those were a team to corner and scare me into believing that this was real. 

After I felt threatened enough to believe that the call was legitimate, she gave me two choices to get away with criminal charges and stay in the U.S. : 1 ) I hand myself over to the police office and pay a huge amount of money ( I don't recall the amount ) or 2 ) I pay so called " deposit bond '' until the case investigation is over and I have no charges. Or, she said I would be removed immediately. I chose the second one because that sounded more reasonable to me and I was so scared. I just wanted to get this done with investigation. 

She asked me to transfer money through XXXX on Wells Fargo. Throughout the whole process, she monitored my activity via remote access program on my laptop and cell phone to prevent me from doing anything out of ordinary. But because the first transaction via XXXX allowed up to {$500.00}, I sent {$500.00} to an alleged email address of Attorney General and then received a text that {$500.00} failed to come through, which turned out to be fake. She said XXXX didn't work and asked me to use wire transfer alternatively. This time, I was told to transfer {$5000.00} of deposit bond to outside the U.S. She also added that since my credit card and bank account would be frozen during the investigation, a Treasury officer would be visiting  my place to give me a temporary check. I transferred {$5000.00} and she kept me waiting on and on until the transaction is complete. At that point, I realized something was weird and talked to my roommate about the call. 

I borrowed my roommate 's phone to report the phone scam to Wells Fargo right away. I reported XXXX transaction XXXX XXXX and wire transfer ), but a banker said the XXXX transaction is not their responsibility and it usually takes 5 business days for investigation. 5 business days later, I contacted the bank again. This time, another banker said I can also file a claim regarding the XXXX transaction and investigation takes up to 10 business days. I patiently waited until I received two letters from the bank that denied the refund of total {$5500.00}, as opposed to what they told me, in most of cases, money is refunded. 

The first letter indicated that a wire transfer of {$5000.00} is not refundable because the receiving bank will not return the money. The case was closed. The second letter mentioned that because the transaction was made by me through a secure online banking session, the bank declines my claim. The case was closed. 

In short, the bank didn't return any amount of {$5500.00}, not to mention that it didn't get any clue of scammers.

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