Consumer complaint received 2018-01-30
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
My complaint centers on the failure of Chase Bank to exercise due diligence in recovering {$25000.00} taken from my checking account and wired by me to XXXX, XXXX as a result of a fraudulent scam. Had they made effective**contact with the receiving bank -- XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX -- during the first 24 hours following the international transfer that took place on XX/XX/2017 at XXXX XXXX, PST, it is almost certain that the receiving bank would never have proceeded to deposit my funds into the account of the thief. As soon as I had discovered the fraud, the wire was immediately cancelled at XXXX XXXX PST on XX/XX/XXXX by XXXX XXXX, manager of the Chase office in XXXX XXXX XXXX. Although the cancellation was done one hour and 22 minutes after the initial transmission, XXXX XXXX felt that there was a good chance it could be stopped. The bank, however, does not guarantee stopping the wire if it is not cancelled within the first 30 minutes after transmission. 


The following day I spoke with XXXX XXXX and she told me that the funds were already at the Federal Reserve and she could not guarantee that my funds would be recovered. She gave me Case No. XXXX XXXX and I could follow up on the status of my case at XXXX. She said there was nothing further she could do for me and all future contact should be with the Wire Research department at the XXXX telephone number. She also said I should wait for 3 to 5 business days before expecting any news on the wire. 


During the following days I made numerous calls to XXXX. I soon learned that it was the call center for Chase Wire Research in New York. All my calls were answered by a different person who knew nothing about my case. They would put me on hold while they read the notes in my file from their monitor and then relay to me what they had read. Over the next 34 days I spoke to 16 different persons : XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. While they were all polite, none of them had any true knowledge of anything other than what they read in the notes. They were not allowed to let me speak directly with a fraud investigator who had a first hand knowledge of my case. The procedure that Chase had established for a customer such as me to keep abreast of what they were doing to recover my {$25000.00} was most frustrating. I was kept at bay and strung along for many many days with the response : " We are still waiting to hear from the receiving bank. '' It was not until XX/XX/XXXX when XXXX read me the message that XXXX had sent on XX/XX/XXXX : " No funds remain in the beneficiary account '' that I realized that XXXX had deposited my funds into the account of the thief and the thief had withdrawn the funds. 





**By " effective '' I mean a detailed explanation of the fraud under which the wire had been sent and the insistence of a prompt reply from a responsible person at XXXX who could be contacted by telephone as necessary. Instead, it seems the Chase process consisted of impersonal electronic messages with no specific priority, not unlike the priority for finding a lost dog, rather than the recovery of {$25000.00} for their customer. Moreover, Chase added an extra link in their communications by sending their messages to XXXX NY who, in turn, had to relay them to XXXX XXXX. The bank receiving the wired funds should have been the only bank contacted ; any other bank that was placed between Chase and XXXX XXXX merely delayed communications and diminished their effectiveness. This was a significant factor in the loss of my funds.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation