Consumer complaint received 2021-04-29
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NJ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern : I am reaching out for your assistance in collecting further information from Capital One with regards to a series of fraudulent debits from my bank account. 

On XX/XX/2021, I noticed that a series of 13 small XXXX transactions ranging in amounts of {$50.00} to {$1000.00} and totaling {$5400.00} had been made between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX from my Capital One account. Consistently over the past 10 years in which Ive held this account, there are only a handful of transactions that are processed through this account on a monthly basis. Most recently, this has been rental income received via XXXX and mortgage/tax payments made via ACH transfer. I had rarely, if ever, used XXXX for any outgoing transfers with this account, as it is not my daily banking account for small transactions. 

Reviewing the records further, these transactions appeared to be directed to an unknown account. Immediately, I had called Capital One to let them know that these 13 transactions were fraudulent and had not been authorized by me. They took note of my claim and informed me that they would investigate and notify me of the status of the claims in coming days. 

To check on the status of the claims, I had called Capital One on or about XX/XX/XXXX. The person who I spoke with let me know that the transactions all originate from the device that I use on a daily basis using the same IP address that I regularly access the account from each time. This was odd to me, since it is an account that I access online every 10-15 days given the limited financial activity I have on this account. In order to further validate that it was not another user on the account, the representative requested to speak to my wife ( jointly on the account ) and had her verify that she had not lost a debit card or authorized these transactions. They let me know that they would continue looking into it after that. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received mailed notifications from Capital One that each of the 13 claims had been denied, given that We looked into this, and our research shows the payment was processed according to your payment instructions. Additionally, they informed me that they had terminated my joint account with my wife, as well as that of my XXXX son which was associated with ours. Additionally, they let us know that we were no longer welcomed to bank with them. 

Knowing that these claims were fraudulent, I decided to go to my local police station to file a police report that would act as further documentation for my claim. I then called the bank again to request further information and a secondary investigation into the case. XXXX from Capital One had once again explained to me that the claims were denied as they had mapped to the IP address that I had previously used to access the account. However, as he was looking into this further while on the line with us, he noted that there were 4 different IP addresses associated with the transactionsthe first 6 were associated with one IP, the next 3 with another, the next 3 with yet another, and the final from yet another. I noted these IP addresses during our conversation and am able to provide them on request. Importantly, this contradicted what we had previously heard from his colleague. As such, he had the claim appealed for further investigation, asking me to also e-mail in the police report as supporting documentation, once it had been received. 

When I once again called Capital One on XX/XX/XXXX for an update on the status of this appeal, XXXX informed me that it had again been denied after further investigation, with the bank alleging that they are able to show that all of these transactions had originated from a device that I had authorized and used on a daily basis. I then spoke with his supervisor XXXX and requested further information to better understand how this could be the case, given my limited usage of the account, and was informed that I would receive the requisite documentation to show that the transactions were from an authorized device within 2-3 business days. It has since been 8 business days and I still have not heard back. 

Given the lack of transparency and conflicting information that I am receiving from Capital One, I am reaching out requesting your support in getting responses from Capital One on the following questions : Why wasnt this activity flagged, given how anomalous the series of logins and transactions were against my normal activity on the account? 
What further documentation can I provide to show that this is fraudulent activity? 
What documentation is available to show that I authorized these transactions myself using my own device? 
Supposing there are any discrepancies in the information that I receive from Capital One, further evidencing that this is fraud, can my claims be revisited so that I can have the fraudulent transactions reverted? 

For your reference as you review this complaint, I have attached a PDF containing the following documentation : Police report from the local police department 13 mailings from Capital One stating that each of my claims have been denied Mailing from Capital One stating that my wifes account had been terminated Mailing from Capital One stating that my account has been terminated Statement to show ending balance in my sons account Statement to show ending balance in my account Please let me know if theres any other documentation that I can provide that would be helpful as you assess, as Id be happy to compile and send that over. I wholeheartedly appreciate your help in looking into this matter and working with me to rectify the situation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation