Consumer complaint received 2020-07-20
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
I previously submitted CFPB complaint XXXX. I am resubmitting a new complaint because Wells Fargo 's response to my original complaint is not aligned with other official documentation they have sent me. Wells Fargo claims they have opened a new case ( case XXXX ) to re-investigate as well as look at other documents I have provided. However, On XX/XX/XXXX, I have received a letter from Wells Fargo stating " a duplicate claim with reference number XXXX was inadvertently opened for this same inquiry, and will be closed. The reference number for your previous claim is XXXX. '' Case XXXX is the original case that was created for this and is the reason I posted my original complaint. In addition, a Wells Fargo branch escalated this claim to the resolution team at Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX and mentioned it might take 3-4 business days for a resolution specialist to reach out to me. I STILL have not received any communication from a resolution specialist regarding this claim. Please see below for original complaint. Since the original complaint was submitted, there has been new information which further shows that Wells Fargo should reimburse my online fraud claim. Specifically, Wells Fargo has provided the documents they used to initially deny my online fraud claim and cites that because the device ID used to make the fraudulent transaction was used before to make a legitimate transaction, there is no evidence of fraud. However, when you look closer at the account activity timestamps, you will see that there are two " XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX '' detections for Florida and Texas right around the time the fraudulent transaction occurred. I have not been to Florida or Texas.  Furthermore, you can see that the last successful login from Texas  occurred at XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX and then a subsequent successful login from Georgia  on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX, all supposedly from the same WF Device ID. However, it is literally impossible to travel from Texas to Georgia in 1.5 hours as indicated by the activity since the flight time alone is 2 hours, not including travel time to airport, etc. I have run a full security scan on my computer and some malware was shown which I have since removed, but I suspect allowed a hacker to somehow retrieve my device ID. Attached are additional documents sent to Wells Fargo to prove that I do not have a XXXX  XXXX XXXX credit card as well as police reports. A simple call to XXXX  XXXX XXXX with the full account number that was paid with the fraudulent transaction will confirm this, yet Wells Fargo is doing the bare minimum of due diligence and stopping as soon as they have what seems like favorable evidence and ignoring other evidence. 

On the morning of XX/XX/XXXX, I called Wells Fargo because I noticed an unauthorized transaction in the form of an Online Bill Pay to a XXXX  XXXX XXXX credit card in the amount of {$3000.00}. I have never owned nor have I ever been affiliated with any XXXX XXXX XXXX product. I filed a claim and received case number XXXX. Wells Fargo said it will take anywhere from 10-15 business days to process the claim. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Wells Fargo requesting that I fill out an Affidavit of Online Fraud. I promptly filled it out and faxed it over on the evening of XX/XX/XXXX. When I called Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX, they had confirmed that they had received my Affidavit. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Wells Fargo to inquire about the status of my claim. The agent I spoke with told me that the claim had been closed, but was unable to state whether the case accepted or rejected my claim. As a result, the agent filed a new claim for me ( case number XXXX ). Additionally, I filed a police report with the XXXX Police Department ( permanent case number XXXX ). The XXXX Police Department classified this as a case of identity theft. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Wells Fargo confirming that my claim was rejected because " our research of this Bill Payment shows that it was requested through a secure online banking session using your username and password. After reviewing all information available to us regarding this transaction you are disputing we have determined that this transaction was made by you, or someone who had your authorization. '' Clearly, if someone requested an Online Bill Payment, they somehow gained access to my username and password. Just because someone gains access to a username and password does not mean that it is authorized access. That's the equivalent of saying that if a fraudster finds your ATM PIN and withdraws money, it is an authorized transaction because they gained access to privileged information. Additionally, I submitted a legally binding document through the Affidavit of Online Fraud. This is a legally binding document that I signed and submitted to Wells Fargo. If the transaction in question truly is not fraudulent, I would be perjuring myself. This would not be in my best interest as I submitted a police report ( again, permanent case number XXXX ) regarding this very transaction.

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