Consumer complaint received 2019-08-06
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2019and XX/XX/XXXX, I was a victim of a housing fraud ( I lost a total of {$2600.00} : {$1300.00} for the first month 's rent, paid XX/XX/19and {$1300.00} for the security deposit, paid XX/XX/19) perpetrated by a man posing as " XXXX XXXX ''. He showed me what appeared to be a legitimate apartment sublease in XXXX XXXX, California on a housing listing site and used what appeared to be his Driver 's License to prove his identity. He also handed me what appeared to be a legitimate housing contract, signed and notarized by a personal agent named XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

He then directed me to make XXXX payments to XXXX XXXX, a person who he claimed was his girlfriend. He noted to me that he would mail me the keys. All this turned out to be a fraud when 3-5 days later, the keys never appeared at my house. I tried contacting him after this to no avail ; he refused to send me the keys and then stopped responding to any of my messages. 

I contacted Chase Bank by phone to attempt to have the charges reversed, but one week later they told me that nothing could be done on their end. They would not tell me the name of the recipient 's bank, even though they insinuated that they knew the name. They also told me that because the payment was made through XXXX, it could not be reversed or tracked. I find this extremely misleading because Chase advertises XXXX on their homepage and on my bank account dashboard as a safe and regular means to pay bills, as if it was like a regular checking or savings account or debit/credit card payment. There is no fine print warning users of the lack of traceability or potential for XXXX to be used for scams. 

I did give the man a copy of my driver 's license. Once I found out this was a scam I immediately went to my local DMV to deactivate this license and apply for a new one. I have subsequently submitted full reports to agencies such as the California Dept. of Justice, XXXX 's fraud line, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the FTC, and reported the incident to the local police ( XXXX XXXX County Sheriff 's Office ). None have been able to retrieve the {$2600.00} nor find the individual responsible thus far, although they have noted to me that my information may add to a body of evidence that will eventually find the perpetrator. I also put a credit alert on my file in case the perpetrator tried to open a credit line in my name. 

The {$2600.00} I lost was a very large sum of money that made a significant negative impact on my budgets for the next year. I was severely distressed by this incident because I was working hard over the past year to be able to save money to eventually go to law school and make rent payments on the next apartment I end up leasing. If I could get the {$2600.00} payment reversed by Chase Bank, it would help to pay for future rents and save for future schooling, and I would be very grateful. I am contacting the CFPB to see if they can ask Chase Bank to reverse the charge and delve deeper to see if they can find more information about who and where the money was sent to. 

Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation