Consumer complaint received 2020-06-30
Company: PEOPLE'S UNITED BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed on my bank statement, some charges from XXXX for {$9.00}, spanning XXXX, XXXX & XXXX. My bank wasnt picking up the phone, so I tried calling XXXX directly. The XXXX website took me through a maze, trying to find customer service phone number, so I XX/XX/XXXX, " XXXX customer service. '' I called the number, and a lady picked up the call. I explained my reason for calling and she very politely said she would help me. She said according to her records, these charges go back to XXXX. They had to be my membership fees. I responded by saying that I had a yearly membership. So she said she would issue my refund. She said that she also noticed some strange activity on my account. She was escalating my case to her supervisor. 

Her supervisor picked up the phone and said hed be authorizing my refund for {$70.00}. But he said hed also noticed activity on my account from California, XXXX, Florida and New York. Was I in those locations? No, I said. Then he said my XXXX account had been compromised. Had I given anyone my password? No, I said. He said someone had access to my account, and had made purchases to the tune of {$450.00}. He said to be specific, theyd ordered a laptop, and a XXXX speaker. I insisted that Id ordered no such thing. So he said very nicely, hed would be refunding that as well. On my phone, I checked out my XXXX orders, and there was no such purchase, and I would have received a notification if that had been the case. He noted that from his end, he could see that my notifications had been turned off, thats why I couldnt see them. But that hed void the purchases and send my refund back to my account. 

At this point, he noted that my XXXX account was linked directly to my checking account, and this was a problem, because now, they could just make random purchases with my account. So he would not be issuing the refund to that account. He said my XXXX account was compromised so he needed to fix it through remote access to my computer. So I was to put on my computer, but he wouldnt be doing it through the XXXX website. He said hed worked in the fraud department for 10 years, so his boss trusted him with money issues, he was very good at this, so I was in good hands. Not to worry at all. So I granted him access. He opened the XX/XX/XXXXon my system and wrote down his name, the amounts of refund he would be giving, and in addition, he would be throwing in 3 years worth of a cyber security program, giving me a discount if {$70.00} for my XXXX membership and a gift card for {$100.00}. 

He said he would be making the refund into my credit card ending in XXXX, so I was to check for two small trial deposits. I didnt see them come in. So next he said lets try with the bank account, I should check my debit account for the two small payments. I opened my account, but there were no deposits. So he said to leave it open and confirm when the amounts were in. I signed off. In a few minutes, he said, okay check now, cautioning me to leave the account open. I said that was not safe, he said, no, it was alright, just to confirm when the payments came in. So on a black screen, he told me to write down my name, address, DOB and other personal details, for the processing of the refund. Then he asked me to write down the refund amounts for {$450.00}. I did, but what showed up was {$4500.00}. He exclaimed, as I simultaneously saw my bank account balance jump from {$4700.00} to {$9000.00}! I screamed, whats going on? Why is that large amount in my account? He said I had typed in {$4500.00}, instead of {$450.00}. Now I needed to refund him the balance. 

I asked him to just reverse the transaction, but he said he couldnt do that. I said Id tell my bank to refund it, he became frantic and very worried. He was hyperventilating that he would get fired, that was a lot of money, more than he made in a month. I had to rectify it immediately before his boss found out. How then, I asked. He said the only way would be through XXXX XXXX XXXX! How, I asked? I would have to purchase the cards, and send the pins to him. During a quarantine? No way, I wasnt going anywhere, I said! He was hyperventilating and practically hysterical at this point, I had to calm him down. Im an honest person, dont worry, I said, Dont worry, Im as troubled as you are, I dont want someones money in my account, and its a lot of money, {$4000.00}! Okay, Ill fix it, I said.it had been over an hour in the phone at this point. I needed to make other calls, I had too much to do. Lets deal with this later. No, he insisted, it had to be fixed before his boss found out! 

Well I needed to take a shower, get dressed, it would take at least an hour to get ready, he said, he would wait, no problem. Youd wait an hour for me to get ready? Yes, he stated, because he didnt want to lose me on the phone, and face the possibility of not getting the refund. He wouldnt get off the phone! I really needed to make other calls, he said okay, hed heard my land line ringing, to connect him on the landline. He insisted, so I finally connected him on the landline, so I could make another call. He said it was very important that I not check my bank account balance until we were done with this transaction. That still didnt even ring a bell for me. One hour later, as I got ready to leave the house, he said to let him connect to my cell phone, before I disconnected the land line. He got back on my cell phone! He wanted to give me specific directions when I got to the store. 

I got to the store and he said I must say that they were a gift and not for a business otherwise they would charge him fees. I purchased cards with {$1600.00} and my card declined, sending me a fraud alert. My bank was right by the store, so I told the bank manager what had happened, and my card was now locked. So she was to give me {$2400.00}, in cash. She did. So I went off to get the other cards, from XXXX, which only gave me {$500.00} and XXXX which gave me {$1300.00}. He asked me to scratch and start sending him the pictures, which I did. 
He thanked me profusely and reconfirmed that he would be giving me a 2-year XXXX subscription for free, for all my trouble, and hung up. 

I got to my driveway a few minutes later, and he said oh, that the cards for {$1000.00} were defective. I was to resend the cards. I told him I had maxed out my withdrawal limit and my card was blocked. I couldnt do it today. I hadnt eaten or rested from XXXX XXXX  since the call started till XXXX. I needed to go. No, he said, please, hed already deposited {$1000.00} in my credit card account ending in XXXX, and I was to go use my credit card to buy the XXXX XXXX  cards. HOw could cards be defective, I asked, I could just go back to XXXX and return them. No, no, he said, they wont take them back, since theyd been scratched. Just go use the credit card, he insisted. 

At this time I said, to give me a minute, I checked on my phone app the credit balance, there was no {$1000.00} deposit. So I told him that the money hadnt come in yet. He told me to give it a few minutes to show, but in the meantime, to go get the cards. At this point, despite his instructions to the contrary, I decided to check my bank account with my phone app. All my money was gone. They was no money left. The {$9000.00} was phantom money. He was still on the phone, I asked, whats going on? Wheres all my money? He hung up the phone. 

I went bank to the bank, they said they cant help me. I went to the police and made a statement, but they said they see this all the time, my money is gone forever! That was my tax return and my salary that just came in! For my mortgage and utilities and feeding. All gone, during a pandemic, during these hard financial times.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation