Consumer complaint received 2015-09-20
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NC
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money

Complaint:
! I was scammed out of {$8900.00} of my hard earned money, for a car that does n't even exist, and yet my bank refuses to call it " fraud. '' They wo n't even file a fraud claim at this point. After several attempts to put in a claim for fraud, my bank still refuses to even consider the matter as nothing more than a consensual wire transfer, in which I knowingly gave all my money away to a crook. 

To make this domestic wire transfer ( which, to my understanding, was told that it was an escrow account ), I needed to include XXXX pieces of information for the outgoing wire transfer request. It was not an escrow account at all. Rather a means by which a scammer took away all of my money. On the wire transfer services form, I have the date, the name of the banker, my name and address, the name of the beneficiary, their account number, their address, their routing number, the beneficiary 's bank name, and bank address. I was actually inside a branch, on the phone with this person, while I was making the wire transfer. The thief on the other end, however, was at least kind enough to take {$30.00} off of the original price of the car ( {$9000.00} ), and put it toward the cost of the wire transfer ( {$30.00} ), itself, making the amount to be received by the beneficiary exactly {$8900.00}. 

So, on Tuesday, XXXX the XXXX, I made a domestic wire transfer from my bank ( Wells Fargo ) to a receiving bank ( XXXX ) in the amount {$8900.00} for a car that I was supposed to receive, from a seller with whom I made the transaction online. This car was a black 2013 XXXX XXXX XXXX featured on XXXX, under the XXXX section. I still have the link to the original posting ( http : XXXX ), which I will also be attaching with this email, as well as correspondence between myself and the seller. The original posting for this XXXX ad has since been flagged for removal, although I am not the one who flagged it. Needless to say, the car never arrived, of course, because it never existed in the first place. Within all of the documents I will be attaching are emails from the seller, in which they knowingly provide a false VIN number ( XXXX ), a fake XXXX report, request a dollar amount, and confirmation that they have received payment, as well as promise to ship the item between XXXX and XXXX on the XXXX of XXXX. 

I have contacted my bank as well as the beneficiary 's bank regarding this matter. The beneficiary bank, XXXX, seems to be taking this matter very seriously and appears to be eager to help resolve this matter. They currently have placed a hold on the beneficiary 's account, and have their resolution team investigating. Wells Fargo, however, my bank, will not even file a recall, or a fraud claim. They outright refuse. Banks do not have to play judge or jury in matters of transaction disputes, and Wells Fargo takes it as their right to do just that : IGNORE IT! Even after all the proof I have given them, including the fake VIN number ( which the seller knowingly provided ), they refuse to say that it was a matter of fraud. They are treating it as a matter of my word against the beneficiary 's, and nothing more. They could n't care less. After all, this did n't happen to the bank : it happened to me. Sure, banks spend XXXX on advertising, to present XXXX with a warm/fuzzy exterior. But in the end, what the banks ultimately see are numbers. It could well be that my bank sees that I am not worth much ; therefore, I am not on their priority list. Be that as it may, I believe that under Federal Banking Guidelines, ALL money is protected : even money that is obtained by deceit/fraud. And what my bank is doing is a blatant violation of Federal Banking Laws. The other bank wants to give me my money back : my bank does n't want to let them.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation