Consumer complaint received 2023-02-08
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
On or about XX/XX/XXXX I gained access to the Trust account as I was the Trustee and given orders from the court as the Trustee. In reviewing the Trust Account, I found numerous checks that the bank cashed that had forgery. Various checks were cashed by the Power of Attorney ( POA ) who was not a signer on the account, but only on the Estate Checking. The POA who cashed the checks and signed them even signed his name as POA. On the day that the owner of the Trust Account in question passed away, the POA cashed a check and signed it POA using the Trust Account, even though POA ends on death and the signer should not have been allowed to cash it as the POA since he had no authorization to sign checks on this specific account. Another instance was approximately two to three weeks after the death of the owner of the Trust Account the POA again signed a check from the Trust Account and presented the instrument to be cashed. If in fact, anyone verified any signatures the teller ( s ) would have found first, that the POA should not be signing checks for this Trust Account, Second, the POA only had the authorization to sign checks from the Estate Account, thirdly, the checks presented by the POA was after the death of the owner of the Trust Account, fourthly the checks signed that have been presented in person did not match that of the account holder lastly, the alteration of the check ( s ) presented should not have been processed as information had been added in after the fact. Furthermore, checks presented to the bank that had been altered and not by the account holder should not have been cashed against the account either. I have the signature cards and the authorization forms signed by both the account holder and the Power of Attorney ( POA ). This information verifies the signature and who has the authorization to access this account. 
I brought this information and the presented checks that were either double-endorsed, forged, or altered to the bank 's attention. On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with a Case Specialist at Wells Fargo who was going to be reviewing the information. We made an appointment for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  to speak over the phone so we could go over the checks in question and so the bank can investigate the claim of fraud. On XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I did not receive any phone call from XXXX XXXX, Case Specialist in the Enterprise Complaints Management Office. I waited for over 20 minutes as I cleared my schedule to speak with this individual at the Bank. I called and spoke with XXXX XXXX again and told him of my complaint about the Case Specialist not following up according to our scheduled appointment. This has been the same care that the individuals at Wells Fargo have provided since last year when I first discovered the fraud and brought it to their attention. I have not been able to resolve the case of fraud on the account with Wells Fargo and no one seems to care that individuals were allowed to cash checks and take advantage of an elderly woman who was 101 years old. The bank should be held accountable for the checks presented and someone should be working with me to resolve the matter of the fraud. Wells Fargo 's banking practices do not make me feel comfortable that my money is safe from fraud. If tellers do not look carefully at the instrument presented and verify that all lines are written correctly, nothing has been altered and that the signature is that of the signer ( s ) on an account this all could have been prevented but the fact that it happened repeatedly is scary. What is scarier is that Wells Fargo is not taking this seriously.

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