Consumer complaint received 2023-07-07
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: MN
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Traveler's check or cashier's check
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I was scammed by criminals in from XX/XX/XXXX through the first week of XXXX, who were posing as a home improvement company that would not only waterproof the foundation of my house inside and out but also renovate my whole basement with new walls, egress window, and also repair my chimney on my house that was built in XXXX. I had been experiencing extensive dampness in the basement for at least 4 years and had recently bought a dehumidifier to help the situation but we're still experiencing too much humidity downstairs. This company was under the fake name of XXXXXXXX XXXX paving and masonry, and later I learned it was " XXXX XXXX XXXX  '' because they took off with all of the funds that I had written as checks to their so-called fake supplier ( the first was the cashier 's check, and the other two were my personal checks, one to another of their suppliers for the special air circulation machine deposit, that I never received, and the other was a personal check that I wrote to their XXXX company ) for building supplies and for their work. The business address on their business card turned out to be fake, as discovered by the private investigator with my local police department who went there physically at that address to find out that it was just a residential home and family. The scam company XXXX XXXX hired local workers to excavate around my foundation and installed waterproofing fabric, and those local laborers appear to be diligently working, however the XXXX XXXX managers made several mistakes on the project management while it was in progress. For example I learned later that they should have moved the air conditioner unit away from all of my house ; because they did not move it it was close to the house and almost fell into the trench that the laborers were building around my foundation so that they could attach waterproofing fabric to the foundation. And the XXXX  managers should have explained to their laborers that the area in front of the house was for natural gas intake and that the workers should be careful working around it. Instead the different laborers that day only spoke XXXX and after they hit a metal pipe with their shovel, I ran upstairs and used a translator on my phone to tell them it was a natural gas hose and they should stop. They thought it was a water pipe. Anyway, XXXX XXXX first decided they would only have to do half of the house and so a contract was written up for only that half of the house, and then after I paid them in a cashier check for supplies Plus more cash for the laborers, they said that they needed to do the entire house because I missed foundation cracks on the other side of the house. And so an additional contract was written up for that half of the house. They said that an order for me to get there extensive 30 year Home warranty that I would have to get the Entire home updated with waterproofing and the foundation. Also they were supposed to waterproof the inside of the house, and renovate the interior of my basement by adding all new walls, and an egress window. The second contract they also said they would repair my chimney on the house that was built over 60 years ago. And so they had the labores complete the waterproofing on the outside of the home, only, around my home 's foundation on the outside, and then they said they could not work on it anymore until they received a special air circulation equipment to use, and that I had to put a large deposit down on that to get it here at my house. That was rather upsetting, however they said oh you get your money back after the machine is returned to their vendor. And so I kept waiting for this expensive machine to get here, and heard very little from them. And so I didn't see them here for almost an entire month of XX/XX/XXXX, and I could only reach them on the phone up until XX/XX/XXXX and then they entitely disappeared and I would get no response at all with my phone calls to them. The amount of money that they stole from me was {$110000.00}, and I believe that possibly their vendors were also partnered with them. I found out, through internet tracing, that two checks I'd written out to them for building supplies and their work, we're both cashed at jewelry stores on the XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX And the one personal check that I wrote to their company, ( after I said I would not give them any more money until it was written out to their business account ), was cashed at a bank in Washington DC. The enclosed attachment explains all of the details of the scheme and how I was fooled by these people, by the way had thick XXXX  accents and said that they were first generation Americans. The test document also shows details in the tracings I have done about the checks and their business associates and Banks. I read that the same type of scheme has been happening in XXXX for the last two years and they believe that those people were on a 90 day Visa visitors visa from XXXX and XXXX the XXXX XXXX, forbidden to work while they were here, however a perfect opportunity for them to have a XXXX XXXX XXXX business and take off with their booty back to their home country after 90 days concerning their temporary federally issued visitor 's visa. And so I believe that these XXXX XXXX scammers could have been involved with temporary visas and we're not even American citizens. On their business card they also have their website listed, and their phone numbers, and last time I checked recently their website is still up. There is another company called XXXX XXXX that does paving restoration and they have another website I think that company 's based in california. The XXXX scammers had a website that was somewhat similar to that website, and I believe that both of the websites are still up. For all I know this could be a recurring scam. 
I did stop at my bank to ask if they could trace my checks in the effort of trying to recoup funds that were lost to the scammers, and the office person spoke to said that they could not until I sued the company, later I found out that I could not sue the company because they were XXXX XXXX XXXX and there was not a legitimate address for them, and therefore such a court suitcase would be thrown out by a judge. And so I assumed that there was no way at all for me to try to get the money back with the bank 's help, and so I contacted an agency to help me and the letter attached is my story about what happened with the scam and how it happened and, and how my bank did not help me beyond getting copies of the canceled check, except for they also canceled my checking account associated with the scam, but made no mention of why they were closing my account other than because of fraud. In XXXX, XXXX, The agent company that I contacted to see if they could help, did send a letter to my bank asking for their help and trying to recoup my money, but my bank refused. It appears that there is a catch-22 regarding scams and that evidently some banks do not go after the money unless there is a suit, however real scams are usually XXXX XXXX XXXX anyway and can not be sued because they were the likely have a fake address. And so as stated in the attached letter, I believe that my bank should have had built a much better database where they can check recipients of cash your checks and personal checks to find out if those companies are a legitimate or not before the check is sent, or as with credit cards there must be some way to retrieve the money when the scammers are found to be indeed criminal scammers. My agent helping me with the situation believes that my bank didn't follow the necessary rules and policies and dealing with me before and after I was scammed to this extensive amount of money, that I wrote and two personal checks with my bank, and one cashier check, where I withdrew all the monies from my checking account with my bank. I believe that my bank needs to go after the money trail and find out if they can retrieve money such as from the jewelry stores were supposed to have jewelry insurance by law, so that stolen money that they receive in trading for their products, can be returned with insurance at least to the victim customer. I received no building supplies to majorly complete this contracted project that I had with XXXX, other than tar and waterproofing material that was applied to the outside foundation of my home. I also learned later from a legitimate waterproofing company, that the work that was completed was shortly done with below par materials and methods. In fact I had to have the four new window wells ( that XXXX XXXX installed after waterproofing outside of my walls foundation ) replaced with entirely new window wells for the basement that were twice as tall, because the XXXX XXXX put in Windows so we're much too short and would have allowed rainwater and snow melt to enter my basement through those window well areas. 

And so please refer to my attached document that documents what happened to me and further detail and also has an appendix attachment with screen prints of the cancel checks and also tracing that I did regarding the scam XXXX XXXX website and another similar website for a company also named XXXX XXXX that does paving, in another state far away. And also is aforementioned the uploaded attached document appendix shows copies of the canceled checks and screen prints of my phone records with them this past summer.

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