Consumer complaint received 2023-03-15
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: WA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I have a personal account with wells fargo, and a separate paypal account that I use for my self employment business. The two accounts are linked, and I will transfer funds back and forth between accounts. 

In early XXXX of 2023, I was contacted by a business through a freelance hiring site. This individual asked me to create some digital illustrations for them, and they would pay me {$600.00} for each illustration. There was to be 8 illustrations total, for a total cost of {$4800.00}. This individual also explained there would be 4 more illustrations after this job that would need to be completed for {$2400.00}, but that it would be at a later date and we would come back to it. They explained that they were working with a sponsor, who would be paying the bill, and the funds were ready to be sent while the project commenced. Shortly after, I received a cashiers check for {$7200.00}, which I deposited into my wells fargo account. This individual explained that they had accidently sent me the full amount of the project, and since we had signed a contract for {$4800.00} they asked if I could kindly return the difference of {$2400.00}. I agreed, as this person seemed legit at the time, and we had been conversing back and forth for the better part of a week. I used paypal to transfer the {$2400.00} funds, which pulled money from my wells fargo account. This type of transaction usually takes 12-24 hours. Once the transfer was initiated, I contacted the person to let them know the money was on the way. At this point, the individual suddenly changed tone, and I was told they needed the remaining funds immediately to cover an emergency that had just occurred. This change was very sudden and alarming, and immediately started to feel like a scam. I immediately contacted paypal and wells fargo separately, asking them to freeze the transaction, freeze my accounts, and to stop all money leaving both accounts. XXXX told me they were not able to stop the transfer because of the type of transfer I used ( friends and family ) and wells fargo told me they would not freeze my account. I contacted multiple people, various times, to attempt to stop this transfer. No one would help me at either institution, no one would freeze my account, and I was basically told " too bad ''. I continued to try to stop this transfer for the next 24 hours until the transfer was processed. At this time, the cashiers check also bounced, and so the amount of {$7200.00} was withdrawn from my wells fargo account. I contacted wells fargo again to explain what happened, and they opened a charge dispute. However, they did not take any information about the situation, nor did they ask what had happened or how it occurred, they simply just opened a dispute claim. The claim was denied within 2 weeks. I have been repeatedly calling paypal and wells fargo to attempt to get help in retrieving my funds, but at this point I have been denied across the board and no one will help me. I am out {$2400.00}, and I believe I did everything in my power to stop the transaction before it occurred, with no help from either institution.

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