Consumer complaint received 2023-10-01
Company: TransferWise Ltd
State: AZ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Foreign currency exchange
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 a transfer of {$42000.00} USD from my XXXX XXXX XXXX was created via Wise, ( formerly known as TransferWise ). The transaction was an exchange & transfer for {$42000.00} USD to {$54000.00} CAD. The final destination was supposed to be my XXXX bank account at XXXX. 

The money was received by Wise from my XXXX XXXX XXXX without any issues. The issues began when it came time for Wise to send the funds my XXXX XXXX  account. The first attempt bounced back due to an error in the account information/transit number. I corrected the details and submitted the changes. Later, I received an email stating : " As we did not receive any input, we had to send the money again to the recipient. '' Several days passed and the money was still not in my account. Concerned, I called Wise to see if they could tell me what was going on. They said it could take up to XXXX days, and if the funds still didn't appear they should bounce back by the XXXX day. 

14 days later, the funds were still missing from my account. After speaking with numerous Wise representatives via phone and email, it became apparent that the money was missing and Wise could not locate it. Each representative I spoke to over the phone gave me different information. Even my communications with them over email were confused, and being answered separately by different representatives. 

By this point Wise started putting the blame on the receiving bank, despite Wise being the last one to touch the funds. I went to my XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX ) in hopes they could help me track down the funds. They were provided with the transfer receipt which had all necessary tracking information, but still could not find any record of the transfer. 

The next step toward getting this resolved was to have Wise escalate my case internally. I provided them with all of the necessary information. Bank statements proving the funds were never deposited with dates, account number, full name, etc. 

Even after my case was being escalated, I was given no reassurance that the issue would be corrected. Instead, I was told that if the funds could not be found within 30 days the case would be closed and that I would lose the {$42000.00} USD. 

As things became increasingly more worrisome, I got in touch with the original sending bank, my XXXX XXXX XXXX. They disputed the transaction and {$42000.00} was put back into my account. 

At this point I thought things were resolved after the 30 days passed without any communication from Wise regarding my case. The only piece of communication I did receive during this time was an automated email stating I owed Wise the transfer fee because it was " successful and received ''. 

Unfortunately, an additional XXXX days later Wise reached out via email stating the funds were still missing. They told me the money that was put back into my XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX account was theirs and I would be held liable to return it if they were unsuccessful in finding the lost funds. This well beyond the 30 days given to me. 

As of writing this, the money has still not been located. I sent a whole new set of statements from XXXX to present to prove the money was never received. They continue to tell me I need to connect with my receiving XXXX XXXX, which has already been done numerous times without any success. They refuse to take any responsibility for losing my money, and have created an even more stressful situation. 

Throughout all of this I did some research on Wise. It turns out I'm not the only one who has experienced this exact situation. Several others reported that after complaints were submitted against Wise, their money was " found '' shortly after. From what I was able to gather, it would appear these issues started becoming more prevalent after TransferWise was changed to Wise.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation