Consumer complaint received 2023-06-15
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: VA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I received a email XX/XX/2023 from XXXX saying I had purchased XXXX $ worth of XXXX at XXXX. I then called the number attached to the email and asked about this payment. They proceeded to tell me that the payment had been made from my debit card linked to my XXXX account from someone in New York named XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX, New York. I told them that I had a XXXX account, but that I do not use it. They told me that it seemed like fraudulent activity was happening and that I should contact my bank. I then called my bank well Fargo 's from the number on the back of my debit card XXXX. Once the call went through The normal Wells Fargo procedure with authentication and holding music then proceeded and nothing seemed out of the normal. I then spoke to a customer service representative for XXXX minutes and explained my Fraud situation and they proceeded to tell me my last three payments on my account and told me that I had thousands of dollars in pending payments. The Customer service representative told me that I needed to speak to a Wells Fargo fraud representative and proceeded to transfer me, I then spoke to this fraud representative and explained my situation. He proceeded to tell me that my account was compromised and that there was unauthorized purchases made from my debit card around the country. He then proceeded to explain all of Wells Fargo fraud policies and filed a claim report through Wells Fargo for the fraud and gave me a claim number. This conversation was very detailed and in depth and lasted about 20 minutes, it was filled with many Wells Fargo policies and guidelines and all of this sounded very legitimate. This Representative proceeded to transfer me as he told me further actions needed to take place to ensure my money would be safe. I was Transferred for the last time to a person impersonating XXXX XXXX from Wells Fargo fraud department at a local branch here in XXXX and was provided a picture of his business card and NMLS ID. I talked to this person for a hour and he explained to me how he needed to file a FTC report and report the higher up department of wells Fargo, this conversation was full of many details and procedures about Wells Fargo and the FTC that all sounded legitimate and even provided pictures of my FTC report and of my well Fargo FTC checking account that I was told I would need to transfer my money to, so that my money would be protected by the FTC. I Proceeded to call off of work due to what I was being told as I was worried that my bank account would be wiped out as he told me that my account had thousands of dollars in pending charges that would go through by XXXX and was told that all my information such as my social security and banking info was under risk. I went to my local bank and took all of my money out in cash and put it in this coin hub ATM as I was told from XXXX XXXX he stayed on the line the whole time through this transaction. This did seem a little odd to me, but I did not think much into it as I thought I was talking to Well Fargo the whole time since I called the number off the back of the card and XXXX XXXX was very quick to answer any question I had quickly and thoroughly and was very reassuring that my money would be protected and was very polite and seemed sincere about the whole situation and was quick to tell me every policy and procedure of Wells Fargo without hesitation. I withdrew XXXX from my account and I proceeded to deposit all of my XXXX $ into this coin hub ATM as directed all while still on the phone with XXXX XXXX. I proceeded to make an account and put all of my money in the coin hub account and was sent confirmation emails of the transaction and a QR code. XXXX then told me I would have access to this account in two hours and to check up with him if I needed anything else. I called after two hours to the same number that I had been transferred through Wells Fargo XXXX XXXX and asked for XXXX XXXX and immediately the call dropped and I tried to call again and the phone line had been discontented. After this I Proceeded to tell my mother what happened and I called the Wells Fargo number XXXX off of her phone as I feared my phone may have been hacked. I talked to a customer service representative who then transferred me to the fraud department and I told them what was going on and they transferred me to someone higher up as they said this case of fraud needed to be taken to a higher department. I then talked to this net agency fraud department representative who proceeded to give me a claim number for my fraud case through Wells Fargo. The next day I called off work and went to the bank where XXXX XXXX said he worked from his business card and gave the Branch manager my claim number and was told that they could not find this claim number in any department and that the call may have been fraudulent as well. I proceeded to file a real claim in person with the branch manager and called local authorities. Two Incidents where I called this XXXX Wells Fargo number, one from my phone and one from my mothers phone and on both calls not being able to talk to real representatives of the bank and being led on by fraudsters. Every time I called this Wells Fargo number it went through the authorization, holding music, and phone dial direction and on both phone calls I was transferred 2-3 times after speaking to a customer service representative.

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