Consumer complaint received 2022-08-12
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I received a call on XX/XX/22 from US Bank caller ID. The caller started by identifying themselves as a US Bank fraud banker and asked me if I was traveling- i said no. They then asked me if I made a charge in Florida at XXXX for around $ XXXX I said no. He said it looks like my card is compromised and they would have to cancel the card and send me a new one. I responded and said 'not again, this has happened before ' he said he was aware of that and apologized. He said they would send the card in 5-7 business days for free or it could be expedited for a charge. He said he could put me on hold and ask if he could waive the expedited charge. I said great - I need that card. He put me on hold and came back and said it was approved, confirmed my address ( which was wrong but I had recently moved so I didn't catch that mistake until after the fact ). 

Before we hung up the caller asked me if I initiated a XXXX transaction which was in my US Bank account I said 'no- when was that- I should be notified ', he said it was seconds ago. I said for how much and he said {$2500.00} of course I panicked. I asked what to do and if he could stop the transaction. He asked me several questions about the person who was doing it- he gave a name and phone and asked if I recognized them, to which I didnt. He asked if I had sent money to this person before. He told me it looked like the transaction was made with a certain iphone model and asked if it was mine and I said that wasnt mine. It sounded like he was going through a set of questions to make sure it wasn't my transaction. 

Then he walked me through the steps to send the amounts to a specific person that was committing the fraud with a phone number through XXXX  so that it would then be reviewed by US Bank- by doing this US Bank would know it was fraud and could start investigating the pending transaction. He then asked if I wanted to prosecute the person initiating the alleged XXXX and I said yes, and he said US Bank would prosecute with no expense to me- he added additional legal verbiage to this that I don't recall, but it sounded very official. I sent two transactions per this person 's direction- one for $ XXXX and one for {$1500.00} and he said my money should be returned within a few days and I would get an email shortly on the status. I hesitated but he pointed out and said - do you see where it says your transaction will be reviewed- it was on one of the instructions in XXXX as you create the transaction. I did see it and so I was confused into thinking this was the review he was speaking about by US Bank. 

KEEP IN MIND- I have been a US Bank Customer for XXXX  years. I have had fraud at US Bank in the past and they have sent a text/called and I they have handled it- so it did not seem unreasonable. I have been called by US Bank when traveling to make sure it is me making a certain transaction.

I did not get the email as promised about the transaction and got concerned. I CALLED THE NUMBER back within 45 MINUTES and got the US Bank prompt, which got me to a banker and then to fraud. They then informed me my card was not compromised or canceled and then I asked them about the XXXX and they said it wasn't anything they would do. They put it into investigation for 10 days, I called three times for the status in which I was told it was under review, and XXXX transactions are resolved quickly and I would see the money added back to my account when its resolved but should call back if I don't see it in 10 days they could issue a provisional credit. 

I received NO correspondence from US Bank during this timeframe. At 10 business days, XX/XX/22, I called and I was told they made a determination yesterday and I would be getting a letter stating the money wasn't recovered so I wouldn't be reimbursed and because I initiated the transfer, US Bank wouldn't do a provisional credit. 

How would I know this was not an ACTUAL US Bank employee- the first thing that came to my mind was that it was a disgruntled employee and I shared that when I initially reported it. AT NO TIME was I told that me getting refunded was dependent on if US BANK recovered funds until the last fraud banker on XX/XX/22 explained that XXXX transactions were refunded around 30 % of the time based on her experience. 

I spoke to a supervisor who told me that basically, anyone should know that US Bank would not ask anyone to send money through XXXX, get it- I was scammed and stupid. However the language/script used by the scammer, the phone number, caller ID were all related to past interactions with US Bank XXXX A supervisor informed me that they have known about this scam for several months, however there has been zero communication from US Bank as something to avoid, or any consumer protections put in place. It is unbelievable to me that US Bank 's fraud team could not identify the person/funds as it was reported within 30-45 min of the transaction. 

US Bank has liability due to this impersonation and its inability to protect the consumer after known issues were occuring. I have a hard time believe that these 'scammers ' are more technologically advanced then a global banking company, which only leads me to believe that US Bank is putting little to no effort into protecting consumers and most of their effort protecting their own stakeholder 's funds with their inability to refund a 20 year customer {$2500.00}.

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