Consumer complaint received 2023-03-29
Company: WESBANCO BANK, INC.
State: OH
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I was led to believe I was purchasing XXXX tickets to a XXXX XXXX Concert in XXXX on XXXX at XXXX XXXX. I believed I was purchasing these tickets from a person who I knew to have these tickets in hand. I was unaware that she was being impersonated and I was being scammed. The person impersonating provided me a receipt of the tickets that were purchased from XXXX with the name, date, seat numbers and venue. The tickets were not over or underpriced. The impersonator requested I pay through XXXX, XXXX is recommended by my bank, Wesbanco, because it is SAFE to use for transactions. XXXX is an option right from the Wesbanco app to use to pay for a transaction. They sent me the info for payment, the seller ( impersonator ) name was on the account I was transferring to. I sent the money which was in the amount of XXXX for XXXX tickets. The person verified they received the payment and said they were emailing/transferring the tickets to me but needed a " name change fee that is imposed by XXXX '' I realized at this point this was a scam as XXXX does not charge to transfer tickets. The seller shut down the conversation and I was no longer able to connect with them. I immediately filed fraud with my bank, Wesbanco. I was contacted on Monday and informed the representative what happened and was told a dispute would be filed. I was contacted then XXXX  more by XXXX different people representing Wesbanco and informed them of the same circumstances and was told it would be investigated and there would be a decision made within XXXX days. On Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Wesbanco and was told a decision was made and I would not be refunded because I reported it as fraud and it was considered a scam. I was told the difference was a fraud is when someone without knowledge takes money from my account and a scam is when I am made to believe something and authorize someone to take money from my account. Still it is THEFT! No matter what you call it. The supervisor of the department called me and I explained again that I have screenshots of the tickets and the XXXX transaction with the person I knew and thought I was dealing with and that there was no way I could have possibly known it was a scam. She asked that I send the pictures to her in email. I did as she asked and less than XXXX hours later, she emailed me saying it was reviewed and no change in the decision. I would not be refunded the money I was scammed out of. If Wesbanco is going to promote the use of XXXX as being safe for customers they need to stand behind their customers who have fallen victim to crime. There is no doubt in my mind that someone at that bank can tell who that money actually went to. It seems no one looks for the bad guy, and there is no help for the victims of these crimes. 
I am extremely upset that I was not helped by my bank who I have been a customer with for XXXX years. 
I have been in contact with the person I knew to be buying the tickets from and she has filed charges of fraud for being impersonated. I whole heartedly believe she was not the one who scammed me. 
I have included the picture of the receipt from XXXX with the seller name ( who I believed I was buying from ) and the account I was transferring the money to with the seller name on the account that matches the XXXX receipt-who I believed I was transferring the money to for the tickets.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation