Consumer complaint received 2022-01-11
Company: EAST WEST BANK
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I was scammed out of a total of over {$89000.00}. First, I was contacted on XXXX by this person : " XXXX XXXX '' XXXX ( Currently still active ) about buying some pop bubble stress relive toys. She claimed to work for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX She asked me to send a deposit of {$1000.00} which I paid after verifying the company exist and showed as legit. After the deposit was acknowledged, She show me an " in-transit '' fake order and ask for the balance of the order {$5000.00}. 
XX/XX/XXXX '' Purchase '' : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX  ( XXXX ) {$1000.00} XX/XX/XXXX '' Purchase '' : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX  ( XXXX ) {$5000.00}. 
After 5 days of trying to get the tracking number, she told me that the products could not be sent from XXXX XXXX due to covid. Meanwhile, she was working on earning my trust by talking to me about her family and asking about mine, then she lures me into investing money with her instead. She claimed she had an uncle in XXXX XXXX that works for XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX, ( A company I checked and found to be legit. XXXX XXXX XXXX | XXXX XXXX Companies Registration Search, but she claimed to be living in NC. She gave me her phone number : XXXX and answered my calls and ask me to add her to XXXX. She lured me to invest {$1000.00} which was the first transaction I paid with a XXXX  transition and after getting to open accounts on XXXX and XXXX and a Trading platform called : XXXX XXXX. 
After I saw the XXXX deposited on " the account '', she begin to " guide me '' into some positive gains and ask me to deposit more money. I asked her that I needed to see " proof '' that the money could be " withdrawn, she guided me to withdraw {$150.00} which made it to my back successfully. 
I made the other {$5000.00} XXXX  deposit to the XXXX company and the money made it to my XXXX " account ''. After 2 weeks of productive gains " tradings '', now I know all fake, she lures me to withdrawal all my life-saving investments ( {$83000.00} ) via a Wire Transfer from my bank to a California Bank on XX/XX/XXXX as shown below. 
XX/XX/XXXX Outgoing Wire XXXX {$83000.00} Making a total amount of XXXX Receiving Financial Institution XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX Bank Routing Number XXXX XXXX East West Bank XXXX Routing Name : East West Bank Address XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA Phone XXXX XXXX Then she started pushing me to get a home mortgage for {$100000.00} to get " really big gains ''. But I politely refused, thanks to God. 
After she realized that I was not going to do it and would not get any more money from me, she stops communicating with me. 
After that, I tried to withdraw my money, but the XXXX Website comes down " under maintenance '' supposedly. She never communicated back to me and phone calls were no longer answered. 
After more than a week, the XXXX website came up again but my account was deleted. and I realized I was scammed. 

I made a report to my bank and they claimed there is nothing they can do. 
I am frustrated due to the fact that the banks, are not helping me in any way to try to recover any money. Neither my bank ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) nor the East-West Bank where the wire transfer was deposited in CA. 
What hurts more, is that this person is still active on XXXX : XXXX looking to hunt for more unsuspecting prey like I was.

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