Consumer complaint received 2020-12-25
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
This complaint is not directly my bank 's fault and since it's XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I am filing this complaint with the FTC and every organization I can because of the fraud. Here 's what happened : On XX/XX/2020, I received an email from my Office Landlord, XXXX XXXX, with my normal monthly Invoice, nothing was suspicious. As Tenants, we get benefits if we pay early and all Tenants are encouraged to use XXXX or a direct bank transfer, which I have been doing for the past 4 months. I usually pay the invoice of {$540.00} within 7 days. 
On XX/XX/2020, I received the first of 4 emails from " XXXX XXXX '' requesting that if possible, to submit payment sooner due to year-end bookkeeping. Again, nothing suspicious. Here 's the emails : # 1 Email : XXXX XXXX XX/XX/2020, XXXX XXXX ( 2 days ago ) to me Good Morning, I am writing in regards to the XXXX Rent invoice which I emailed to you yesterday. 
We would want to inform you we have made a little change on the payment method and details. 
Kindly Confirm when you intend to send payment so we can provide you with details to make payment to. 

Hope to receive your response today. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX # XXXX Email : XXXX XXXX XX/XX/2020, XXXX XXXX ( 1 day ago ) to me XXXX, You could XXXX to the details below today as we need to get our book balanced, If you use make use of XXXX then also is fine but below is the XXXX details. 

XXXX : XXXX XXXX Name : XXXX Last Name : XXXX Kindly send me the receipt of the payment when done. 

XXXX. 

# 3 Email : XXXX XXXX XX/XX/2020, XXXX XXXX ( 1 day ago ) to me Did you get the details i sent to you? If you want we could send a wellsfargo account for wire transfer as i said we are trying to get the books balanced. 

XXXX # 4 Email : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( 4 hours ago ) to me XXXX, Hope you are doing well. I want to ask a request from you if you can help me get it done. 
Reply when you see this so i can send details. 

XXXX By the time I contacted XXXX via Text message, I had already sent the money ( {$500.00} ) from my account at Wells Fargo to the fraudulent email address using XXXX. I found out that XXXX XXXX email account had been hacked through XXXX and his email was changed to create the fake emails requesting money. Because the email was actually listed in my Contacts with my XXXX account, I never saw the different email for XXXX. It just said " XXXX XXXX '' in the " From : '' line. How did it get into my Contacts? I do not know. The real XXXX XXXX then sent an email informing everyone of the hacker but I had already transferred {$500.00}, my daily limit for a new email address. 

I am filing this complaint for documentation purposes and I will contact Wells Fargo as soon as they can respond. I have already called them but no one is available to talk. I definitely want my money back and want better protocols through my bank for protection against fraudulent hackers.

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