Consumer complaint received 2023-02-03
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I had my phone and wallet stolen from the back of my truck while I was surfing in XXXX XXXX. I am complaining because Wells-Fargo, my bank, refused to reverse the fraudulent charges in the amount of XXXX made by the thief. This looks to me like a violation of law regarding reimbursement of a customer whose debit card is stolen, if the customer promptly notifies the bank. First, I will summarize what happened, then provide the evidence I have. 

I notified my Bank, Wells-Fargo immediately upon realizing the theft had occurred. The thief ran up quite a lot of charges in the several-hour period before I returned to my truck, realized my phone and wallet were stolen, drove home and notified my bank and credit-card companies. My father, with whom my Wells-Fargo account is jointly held, had already notified Wells-Fargo, realizing what must have happened while I was still surfing. Wells-Fargo refused to reverse the fraudulent charges. In contrast, XXXX of my credit card companies ( XXXX XXXX ) denied the attempted fraudulent charges as they happened, and the other ( XXXX XXXX ) reversed the fraudulent charges after an investigation. 

The thieves first swapped my SIM card out from my passcode protected phone into an unlocked one - See Attached Documents Figure 6 ( AD Fig 6. ) and used one-time text pass codes and phone voice banking to transfer {$18000.00} out of my savings account into my checking account. I know that this occurred as my father, whom I share a XXXX cell phone account with, received a text message from XXXX saying that my sim card had been placed into a new phone ( see AD Fig. XXXX ). You can also see the text messages on XX/XX/XXXX from my bank and credit card companies to the phone with my stolen sim card ( see AD Fig XXXX ) that occurred at the same time as the unauthorized debit/credit card use. All messages on XX/XX/XXXX are from short numbers associated with sending one-time codes except for the XXXX message from my father XXXX asking what was happening, and if I was okay. 

The thieves went on a spending spree. These fraudulent charges were auto detected by all of the companies I bank with ( Wells Fargo, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ) ( AD Figs XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ). However, after repeated attempts to use my Wells Fargo Debit card, XXXX in charges at the XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX were allowed go through ( AD Fig XXXX ) by XXXX XXXX Specific line items are also in the attached documents. I assume that they also used my XXXX card to authorize these transactions via phone banking. 

The charges on my XXXX XXXX card ( XXXX, a XXXX AD Fig XXXX ) were detected as fraudulent. Additionally, a phone authorized credit payment to my XXXX XXXX account of {$8000.00} was made from my Wells Fargo checking account ( AD Fig XXXX ). This transaction was stopped when Wells Fargo approved a stop payment order as this was a fraudulent payment after I called them XXXX day later. 

As soon as I got back home, I used my roommates cell phone to call Wells Fargo, XXXX XXXX, and CapitalOne to report these charges, transfers and payments as fraudulent and to cancel all my credit cards. The next day I went to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  Department and filed a police report ( Report Number : XXXX, Classification Incident : Grand Theft, Date : XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Name : Regan/Adams XXXX ( XXXX Fig. XXXX ) XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX have canceled these charges and have overall been very helpful with sorting this issue with very little trouble. 

However, Wells Fargo has been very difficult to deal with and declined these debit card fraud claims multiple times now, once on XX/XX/XXXX and once on XXXX  ( See AD Fig XXXX, XXXX ). Furthermore, they have declined to let me provide any additional documents such as the police report, documents supporting the XXXX card change, and documents outlining the fraud that occurred simultaneously with other banking institutions, and their own fraud detection systems declining the charges. The specific fraudulent charges I am disputing are listed below, and also appear on my statement ( AD Fig XXXX ). 

- {$180.00}, XXXX # XXXX XXXX XXXX - {$130.00}, XXXX # XXXX XXXX XXXX - {$100.00}, XXXX # XXXX XXXX XXXX - {$790.00}, XXXX # XXXX XXXX XXXX - {$2700.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - {$7600.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - {$13.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - {$8300.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX This loss amounts to {$19000.00}, which is a lot of money to me. Now I am filing a complaint because Well-Fargo is violating the XXXX Funds Transfer Act, which limits a consumers liability to {$50.00} if the consumer reports the loss within XXXX days. I reported the loss to the bank the same day the theft occurred. I would like for these fraudulent charges to be taken off my account and my money returned to me. Thank you very much for looking into this matter.

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 monetary relief