Consumer complaint received 2020-04-21
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: NY
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Traveler's check or cashier's check
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I was trying to find a roommate using XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, someone named XXXX contacted me on XXXX saying that she was interested in the room. I listed my room for XXXX USD, so I asked for XXXX USD for the first months rent and the same amount as deposit. XXXX, the person describing herself as 19-year-old XXXX XXXX  XXXX  doing research in a remote area in Hawaii, wrote me that her father pays her bills and that is why he will send a Cashiers Check. She also asked me if I can help receive her car shipment to New York by paying the bill to the shipping company when her car arrives and that her father would send extra money for that. I accepted and I received a cashiers check with an amount of XXXX USD on XX/XX/XXXX through XXXX. Once I received the check, XXXX asked if I can send XXXX USD in cash in an envelope to an address that she would provide for the transfer of her car. I refused to do so before receiving the car. I told her that I can not send money to anyone, but I can keep her extra money until she comes. She agreed. So, I mobile-deposited the check into my account on the same day, XX/XX/XXXX. The next day she texted me and told me that the money was withdrawn from her fathers account already and I should check if it was cleared. When I checked my bank account, I saw that the money is shown in my balance. When I told her that it was cleared, she again asked me to send at least XXXXUSD to the company shipping her car to prevent extra charges. Finding the situation suspicious, I refused that demand, too, and called my bank Chase to cancel the transection and return the money to its original sender. The representative of Chase told me that the check was already deposited and cleared, so it can not be cancelled or refunded by either party. I asked if the sender can cancel or withdraw the money under any circumstances, and she told me that nobody can cancel this check anymore since it is cleared. 

Later that day the person claiming to be XXXX father contacted me and threatened to call police if I giver his daughter hard time by keeping her money. So, relying on banks explanation and thinking that I am keeping somebodys money in my account unjustly, I accepted to send the extra money to the persons XXXX asked me to send. Since the XXXX accounts she gave me appeared to be tied to a debit card, I was not allowed to send it from my business account where I deposited the check. Hence, I transferred the same amount of money from my business account to my personal account and then made the payments from my personal account. I sent XXXXUSD to XXXX XXXX at her XXXX account with the email address XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. The same day she asked me to send the other XXXX USD to complete payment for the cars shipment. For some reason, the system gave me an error when I tried to send it. So, she gave me another XXXX account un the name XXXX XXXX and the email : XXXX the same day. The day after I sent them the money, XXXX contacted me and wrote me that her fathers friend died from XXXX XXXX and he is now worried about her coming to New York. She asked me to keep the XXXXUSD deposit and send the rest back to her. Convinced that this is a fraud case, I refused to do so and stopped writing to her. Two days later on XX/XX/XXXX, when I checked my bank account, I realized that Chase cancelled the check and withdraw the XXXXUSD. I immediately called Chase to ask for an explanation. They said that somebody notified them that the check was fraudulent, and they had to refund it. When I told them that they themselves ( the bank ) told me that this check was cleared and can not be cancelled by anyone, they offered me no explanation other than repeating that they can not do anything about it. So, the money was taken from my account on XX/XX/XXXX. Chase also refused to cancel and refund the XXXXUSD I sent from my account claiming that those were completed actions. So, Chase helped them stole my money by misinforming me. Also, by not cancelling the check when I asked them to do so, they put me in a situation where I had someone elses money in my account, whose father was threating me by going to police if I do not sent it back. So basically, even though I was perfectly aware of the situation being suspicious and contacted my bank to prevent it, Chase misinformed me which resulted in the situation I am in now. These people probably know this loophole in banks and they are taking advantage of it. Also the fact that this was a CASHEIRS CHECK makes Chase hundred percent responsible for the loss of my money. On top of everything, Chase also charged a XXXX $ fee from my account for the check being fraud. 


Person contacting me for the room : XXXX XXXX XXXX Her number : XXXX XXXX XXXX Number of the person claiming to be her father : XXXX XXXX XXXX Name on the check : XXXX XXXX XXXX   name on the check : XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
People to whom I sent the money XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXUSD XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXUSD

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief