Consumer complaint received 2021-09-02
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I received a phishing text posing to be Wells Fargo saying there was fraudulent activity. I responded to the text, thinking it was my bank because my bank has also sent similar texts. I received a phone call from Wells Fargo and confirmed it was the same number as on the back of my bank card. The criminals used phone spoofing to change their number to match that of the bank to impersonate the bank. They asked me to confirm my identity, stating to be Wells Fargo, this call is being monitored for quality assurance, etc. 

They confirmed the fraudulent activity, said my debit card had been compromised and they were cancelling that card and sending me a new card immediately. They read me my home address where they would mail the new card. They sent me a text to confirm my identity so that we could cancel the fraudulent activity. Not knowing my log in info, I sent the link to my husband. It matched exactly the site of Wells Fargo log in site. My husband got on the phone and logged on. 

They asked him to log into his account and confirm the last 4-5 transactions to make sure they were accurate. They were able read all of these transactions to us, further confirming this was actually Wells Fargo. They used this to obtain all of our online banking information and initiated a wire transfer of {$25000.00}. 

They then called Wells Fargo and impersonated my husband to confirm the wire transfer stating the transfer funds were for heavy machinery equipment for his business ( he does not own a business ). 

We called Wells Fargo 2 minutes after after getting off the phone with the criminals, because we wanted confirmation that our money was safe. They then told us that that was certainly fraud, they were impersonating Wells Fargo and we immediately ordered a stop order/freeze funds. We closed the bank account to stop further fraud. We spent hours and hours speaking with Wells Fargo with no answers. 

Despite us taking quick action, the funds cleared in the early hours of XX/XX/XXXX. We filed a police report the morning of XX/XX/XXXX. The Wells Fargo investigator did not reach out until today XX/XX/XXXX and stated this was a scam and thus we do not qualify for restitution. A second fraud claims " consultant '' at Wells Fargo stated this was our fault and they would not pay the claim. Further, they would not confirm Wells Fargo issued the stop order and would give us any details of what they did on their end to stop the wire claiming it was confidential. Wells Fargo also did not reach out to either of our cell phones when the wire was illegally initiated to confirm. We escalated again to XXXX XXXX XXXX office but they were not reassuring and said they had no power to pay the claim. 

In our 20 years of banking with Wells Fargo we have never done a wire transfer. This type of transaction should have required in person confirmation.

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