Consumer complaint received 2021-05-27
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: MO
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX I called my folks house to see how my dad was feeling. When he answered the phone he told me that my nephew was in XXXX. I then went to my folks house to find out what happened. My dad gave me a sheet with information he took down from the phone call he had received earlier that day. The information is as follows : XXXX XXXX XXXX case # XXXX I called the number and spoke with XXXX XXXX. He answered the phone and identified himself as an attorney and proceeded to tell me that my nephew had been in an accident and that he was XXXX  for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX He reported that XXXX said the young woman had run a red light and that he was gathering evidence to get the whole thing dismissed. I asked him about cameras at the intersection and he said he was gathering the information. He said that he had the bail reduced from XXXX to XXXX. If I could send {$2800.00} cash to him he could get XXXX out of XXXX. He said the young woman was pregnant and in the hospital and that is why they had to send XXXX to XXXX. He told me to call him when I got the money and he would then give me further instructions. I went to my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX and withdrew & XXXX. I called XXXX and he instructed me to go to PNC bank at XXXX XXXX and he would give me further instructions. 

I arrived at the bank and called XXXX and he started giving me instructions. He reported that when the transaction was complete I would get a confirmation number and he would then give that to the court and we could pick XXXX up at the XXXX  XXXX Courthouse. I put in a code that he gave me, XXXX XXXX and a pin # XXXX and I entered both of those numbers. The machine switched languages at some point to XXXX which I had not authorized. As I was talking to XXXX XXXX told him I pushed continuar and he was verbally agitated. After I pressed continuar the machine completely went back to home screen and said insert card to start. At this point XXXX was further agitated and asked what the screen said and I told him. I started to get very upset at this point and said where did the money go what happened? XXXX told me to calm down that he would find out if the money had actually gone through. I was very upset at this point and he offered to stay on the phone with me until he found out or he would call me back in about fifteen minutes. The bank employee, XXXX XXXX could see we were struggling with the instructions XXXX was giving us and came over to help. He actually helped us get the cash in the appropriate place and in the machine. He had no idea what was going on but he did witness me putting the money in the machine and it going back to home screen and said that he could get us a receipt for the transaction. When I told XXXX what the number was that XXXX had given me he told me that was a code that customers use to bypass having to insert their card. He also said that customers can request receipts sent directly to their email accounts and therefore we would not get a receipt at the machine. This is the first time that I even considered it was a scam. At this point XXXX said there was nothing he could do. I called the number back that XXXX gave me and he answered the phone. I was acting from emotion, not logic and I said some not very nice things to XXXX and hung up. 

I believe there is a possibility that the transaction did not go through. I asked XXXX who does the accounting/reconciliation of the machine where I had deposited the money. He said that he couldnt check on it and that an outside agency did the accounting on the machine. I called to make a police report while I was there but the bank was closing and I went in to XXXX XXXX XXXX and made a report. The case number is XXXX and the number to check on status of investigation is XXXX. I told XXXX I would call first thing in the morning to talk to his bank manager, XXXX XXXX. XXXX was making a report as well about the incident. 


Tuesday morning, XX/XX/XXXX I called PNC bank and spoke with XXXX. The PNC bank has taped all of the conversations that we have had. I was told that the investigation was complete and that the money was gone. I asked how they reconciled the money in the atm and I was told that it was an outside service that took care of that atm. I told XXXX XXXX that I thought the transaction did not complete but he said the money was gone. I also asked about the investigation and what they investigated and he couldnt tell me. 

On Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with Detective XXXX of the XXXX MO Police Department. He said they were working on cases from XXXX of 2019. He said that the Federal Reserve Bank is one of the entities that we needed to call. Also banks are regulated by the state. The state supervises banks. Also need to talk to the Attorney Generals Office. He transferred me to XXXX XXXX who said that a bank has the abiity to stop the transfer for 72 hours. 

I called XXXX XXXX back and told him what the sergeant said. XXXX reported that they could not do that because I was not a customer of the bank and that they did not have this policy. I asked him about his transfer redaction policy and he said they did not have this policy. 

All I want from the bank is the reconciliation of the atm transaction made to see if indeed the cash went to the account of the scammers. Also, are they investigating where the money went as the account it went to basically stole the money from me and if the money did not get to the scammers then the bank stole the money from me. 

I asked XXXX why the investigation was closed and what they did. He couldnt tell me. He told me that the complaint id # was XXXX. He said it was assigned to a team of individuals. I made a time to come in and talk to him. XXXX called to say that the complaint had been escalated to the highest level and someone would be calling me. 

XXXX XXXX called on XX/XX/XXXX and said she was the retail support case manager and her number is XXXX. I told her my story and she said she could not helpme. I told her that XXXX XXXX said this had been escalated to the highest level and she said she was sorry that he was mistaken. She said she would file an incident report and send to another department. The security incident report department. She will have them follow up with me. She gave me a case # for report filed XXXX. 

It is XX/XX/XXXX and I havent heard anything from the bank!!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation