Consumer complaint received 2022-08-11
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022 I, XXXX XXXX, a XXXX XXXX, went into the TD Bank branch on XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXXXXXX XXXX and deposited cashier 's checks from my own accounts at XXXX for {$220000.00} and {$10000.00}. At the same time, I then wired {$230000.00} to scammers through XXXX XXXX in XXXX 

I was somehow convinced by the scammers that I needed to wire her life savings to them. I tried from my first bank, XXXX, and they blocked it. But then the scammers convinced me to move my money to my other bank ( TD ) and wire it from there. 

My XXXX XXXX XXXX, spoke to the teller who " helped '' me at TD Bank and asked ( D = XXXX, my son, TD = XXXX, the teller at TD ) : D : So now, my questions to you are : So what questions did you ask my XXXX before you transfer this money? 
TD : What questions I asked her? Who was the beneficiary? What was the purpose behind doing the transfer? 
D : Well, what were her answers? 
TD : All the information is on the wire transfer, I can bring it up. 
D : That would be great, could you do that? 
TD : Okay, so she's [ trading? ] to a XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX : Right. And then you... So all you asked her is where she sent it to which is XXXX XXXX, which obviously she brought to you in the first place - we've established that. And what else did you ask her? 
TD : How much she wanted to send. 
D : Okay. Anything else? 
TD : Not off the top of my head. 
... 
D : You didn't ask her if someone was telling her to do this? 
TD : No. 
... 
D : The other question too, is that she brought cashiers checks in from XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, deposited them in the account and then immediately wired it out. Did you ask her why she didn't transfer it from XXXX XXXX  XXXX, why she brought it to TD? 
TD : I did not. 
D : That didn't raise any alarm bells for you that she brought it from XXXX XXXX  XXXX to TD and immediately wired it out? 
TD : It did not. 

This is the problem. The bank should have known about these scams and should have asked questions about what was going on. This should have readied red flags immediately. Any easy question would have been, " Why didn't you just wire the money from the other bank, instead of bringing it here to wire? '' Or : " Did someone tell you not to talk about why you are transferring this money? '' Once realizing I had been scammed, I called TD 's 800 customer service and was told I had to go into my local branch, as the 800 service reps told me that they would not assist me. However, since this was a Saturday ( the Saturday following the transfer ), the branch would only open on Monday morning. This prevented any potential actions from being taken by TD that could have recalled the wire transfer in a timely fashion. 

At the branch over the next few days, I spoke with the manager XXXX, and tried to allow my son to have access to this situation with the bank, however, TD actively denied my son from assisting. They wanted him to go into a TD branch to verify himself, however since he lives in XXXX this was not possible. He even provided a power of attorney form to them, with myself verifying it was valid, however again, XXXX rejected it. XXXX then said she would look into other possibilities of how to get my son on the account/investigation, but never followed up or provided any further information. 


These actions are inexcusable on the part of the bank : not asking the appropriate questions to XXXX XXXX before the transfer not blocking the transfer not providing assistance when calling the 800 number requiring us to wait 2 additional days to get help by waiting until the branch was open the manager of the branch denying allowing my son to assist and rejecting the power of attorney the manager of the branch not following up ( with repeating requests to do so ) Please help hold the bank accountable for their actions and non-actions in this situation. As per guidance on your site, they are supposed to be asking seniors questions about wire transfers and money movements like this. 

I am happy to provide more information, etc. My son also happens to have a recording of the conversation with the local bank branch teller in which he admits he did nothing in terms of vetting the translation as required.

Note that a police report was filed with the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  is assigned to the case ( XXXX ). 

I have attached the original wire transfer forms as provided by TD, as well as the fraud form completed at TD once they allowed me to file it in their branch. 

Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation