Consumer complaint received 2022-05-28
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: HI
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
My partner and I were in the process of closing on the parcel of land and we received an email from a fake escrow company who spoofed the contacts of our real escrow company representative. Fraudster sent us wiring instructions for full and final payment in order to close on the property. He/she knew the approximate closing amount and details/contacts of people involved. We wired the money believing it was our escrow company and the timing and the amount were right. Needles to say we lost {$55000.00}. We filed a police report with XXXX Police DEpartment and notified our bank ( XXXX XXXX XXXX  ), but the biggest problem was the recepient's.fraudster 's bank - Chase Bank. For some reason, Chase Bank allowed the registration of a business account with exactly the same name as already exists and which requires a EIN or XXXX  to register as a business account or allowed a personal account to appear and position itself as a business account. How does a personal account have the ability to be called XXXX XXXX XXXX? How do you register a business account without proper vetting of XXXX/EIN and ways to go after the impostors? It was impossible to contact anyone at Chase Bank to notify them of this scam. I have witnesses and recorded conversations with Chase representatives who ended up transferring me multiple times as they didn't know what to do and how to work this situation ( unless you have a Chase account, they can not help even filing a complaint or a claim. How is this legal? Try calling Chase to report fraud from your account to a Chase account- it is a logical and mental roller-coaster. It took Chase 7 weeks to finally respond with " Hold Harmless and Indemnification - Denial Notice '', saying that " there are no available funds '' to recover from the scammers account. No way, really? it took you 7 weeks to figure it out? Why couldn't it be done same day? maybe put a freeze and investigate instead of waiting a month to look into things? How is this a normal business practice? Who is supposed to facilitate safe and fair and just business practices in order to prevent fraud in this country? How can I safely work and invest in our economy for the betterment of this country and my family and my community? I am a XXXX XXXX  trying to provide for XXXX kids, working hard every way just be taken advantage of not just by no-good fraudsters but by the institutions which are supposed to protect people. I any third world country this issue would have been resolved in a matter of minutes, not even hours ; why does it take almost 2 MONTHS to look into this in the safest and business friendly democracy on earth? Who is going to give me back my health that i spent working for that money? 
How is it legal that I cant easily report fraud to any institution even if i dont hold an account there? How account like that is allowed to be open in the first place if there is no recourse for financial abuse? Who makes these rules and governs this circus? In my letter to CFPB | wanted to ask for your help but I'm not XXXX  or XXXX  so I don't hold my breath, I simply lost all hope.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation