Consumer complaint received 2020-10-15
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Wells Fargo gave me false information, leading to a loss of funds. I have the name of the person that gave me that false information. Wells Fargo is not making good on their, now, fraudulent statement. 

Here 's a more complete description of the whole situation : Our daughter listed a desk and hutch for sale on XXXX. Someone contacted her via email, and said that he preferred to communicate via text. He said that they would send the {$320.00} plus {$30.00} additional to hold the desk and to take down the ad. He then sent another text saying 'The check will be made in excess which will cover the movers money, we'll need your assistance in paying them when they arrive. Thanks ''. " The check will be in full amount of {$1800.00}. {$350.00} for you and {$1400.00} goes to the movers. '' They notified our daughter on Monday XX/XX/XXXX, that the check had been mailed. He tracked it and knew when it was received by us. 

After receiving the check on XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX the name on the Cashiers Check ) to confirm that it was legit. They confirmed that it was in fact legit. I deposited it into our Wells Fargo account and called them the next day to confirm that it cleared. 

XXXX XXXX from Wells Fargo confirmed that the check had cleared. I asked him a number of times if there was any way that the check could be taken back, and he said that our account shows that the check has cleared and that the money is available to us right away. He said that there is no way that the check could be revoked. 

I then called the XXXX office of the FBI, because I was suspicious of the whole thing. He could not give me any advice, but didn't see any real signs of fraud except that the guy was paying so much to buy. desk and have it delivered. He said that if both banks confirmed that the check was legit, and Wells Fargo said that it had cleared, that he saw no fraud. I contacted the buyer and the delivery guy and they both individually told me that the buyer was in the process of moving and that the delivery company was picking up a number of things, and we would be the first stop. 

Since Wells Fargo told me that the check was cleared, on XX/XX/XXXX I sent the delivery guy {$500.00} ( the maximum that XXXX allowed in a 24 hour period, I found out later ). He had asked me to send two payments for some reason, one of {$500.00} and a second of {$990.00}. He probably knew of the XXXX {$500.00} limit. I told him that I would send the rest in 24 hour. The next day, XX/XX/XXXX, I tried to send the {$990.00}, but was only allowed to send {$500.00}, which I did. XXXX hours later, I received an email from Wells Fargo saying that the Cashiers Check has been returned and a {$12.00} fee charged to our account. That's how I found out that It was indeed a fraud. I tried to stop payment on the 2nd {$500.00}, but was only given a case number. 

I have documentation of every email and text sent from the buyer and the mover. I have documentation of my calls and emails to and from Wells Fargo, including the name of the guy from wells Fargo that confirmed that the check had cleared and could not be revoked. 

As of Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX, Wells Fargo has been mostly unresponsive to our phone calls, after we were promised returned calls and more research. Bottom line is that Wells Fargo XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX told us that the check had cleared, was not revokable and that we could consider it OUR money.

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