Consumer complaint received 2017-10-09
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
I was recently hired online ( Friday, XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) as an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX for the company, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I was told that I would be required to purchase office equipment so I could set up a mini office in my home.I was then asked to purchase a particular type of check paper and was electronically sent a check for {$8800.00} from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to be printed out on the check paper and was asked to deposit it that same night ( Wednesday, XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ) into my account at Wells Fargo Bank. I had just over {$200.00} dollars in my checking account. XXXX XXXX dollars became available the same night and I was asked to start purchasing XXXX gift cards and fax the receipts to XXXX XXXX, the Hiring Manager. 

On Thursday, the XXXX of XXXX, I was asked to withdraw {$7500.00} and deposit it into two accounts at XXXX XXXX XXXX under the names of XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, who were allegedly vendors the company had, in order to pay for office equipment. I did this, and have the receipts and two cancelled deposit slips to show. It was only on Friday morning XXXX/XXXX/XXXX that I got an email from Wells Fargo Bank showing that my balance in the bank was now zero ( I had about over {$700.00} in my checking and savings accounts. ) Because the check turned out to be fraudulent I was being held responsible for all the monies that were taken from the account. 

I was told by the company to use XXXX XXXX and I have all the correspondence ( over 70 pages ) between XXXX XXXX and myself and all the receipts. I did not receive one cent of this money and in fact the bank has seized the few XXXX dollars that I had. Wells Fargo Fraud department has looked into this case and have given me 60 days to return the money. If I do not comply with this I would be blacklisted and would not be able to open an account in any other bank in the United States of America. I have been unemployed since XXXX XXXX. 

When I was alerted by Wells Fargo Bank on Friday, XXXX XXXX, that my checking account was zero balance because of the fraudulent check, I immediately called the bank 's " 1-800 '' number. I spoke with a gentleman whose name was either " XXXX '' or " XXXX '' ( I did not hear his name correctly ) in an attempt to get an explanation as to what happened to my account. He then explained to me that Wells Fargo had called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and they told Wells Fargo Bank to go ahead and pay the money and that later, when Wells Fargo Bank attempted to collect the money from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, they were told that there were no funds available. The gentleman also told me that a check with any amount over {$5000.00} was supposed to be held for verification. 

As far as I understand, this conversation would have been recorded by the bank and we were given a reference claim number at the end of the conversation. The reference number is XXXX. This conversation suggests to me that Wells Fargo Bank should be going after XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for their money and not me. 

It still confuses me that Wells Fargo Bank could have allowed me to withdraw all this money in cash so soon after it was deposited without first verifying that the check was genuine. I feel that as a long standing and loyal customer, Wells Fargo Bank did not offer me any protection.

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