Consumer complaint received 2021-09-23
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: NJ
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:
On XX/XX/2021, I was a victim of theft by deception. I was contacted at XXXX by an individual claiming to be from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX The individual said his name was XXXX XXXX. He informed me that my autopay account for XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX NJ had not been paid in four months. As a result, Mr. XXXX said I owed {$380.00}. Mr. XXXX said that I needed to pay the balance via Chase Quick Pay. Failure to pay would result in the services to that address being disconnected. The home is of my elderly father and this was in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Mr. XXXX had a lot of personal information about our XXXX & XXXX account and seemed legitimate. I sent the {$380.00} via Chase XXXX to phone number XXXX. Shortly after they received the first payment, Mr. XXXX called back and said that there was an error and that I owed {$780.00}. Mr. XXXX said that they would refund me the first amount of {$380.00} once they received the {$780.00}. Throughout the phone call there were threats that electric service was about to be cut off. I then sent the second amount of {$780.00} via Chase XXXX to phone number XXXX. All of the numbers were tagged as XXXX & XXXX. There was a pervasive sense of urgency throughout the call that did not allow for research or time to contemplate the details .After complaining about my treatment and the error in payment they connected me to supervisor by the name of XXXX XXXX . Mr. XXXX claimed to be the supervisor for XXXX XXXX XXXX customer service. He apologized for the inconvenience and said that he would refund all of my money back due to the mix up. When I looked at my Chase XXXX account it said the payments were pending and had not gone through. However, because the account had not been paid for 4 months the old account had to be closed. He said that I would need to pay {$500.00} to open the new account. Mr. XXXX said not to worry though it was only a deposit and I would be refunded the {$500.00} after 30 days. I then sent {$500.00} via XXXX to phone number XXXX. I realized it was a scam when I failed to receive any of the refunded money and finally got through to my father who said he had the bills and they said paid. That's when I called Chase and told them to stop the payments. This was within an hour of the occurrence and they said there was nothing they can do. My Chase claim number is : XXXX. They said this type of Fraud was not protected by Chase. I then went into the XXXX NJ Police Department to report the theft. They informed me that this was Fraud by Deception and Chase should refund me the money. I communicated with the supposed XXXX & XXXX individuals via text and voice calls through phone numbers XXXX and XXXX. The XXXX is still a working number that if called will put the caller through to a " representative '' of XXXX XXXX XXXX. The police are investigating. The total amount stolen was {$1600.00}. Chase has refused any liability or protection even though they promote XXXX and I access XXXX within my Chase banking app. They did not attempt to stop the payments or provide any recourse against those phone numbers or help identify the individuals in any way. Chase claims that they have nothing to with it but I believe that Chase should protect its customers especially when they are profiting from XXXX. There is no transparency that these frauds are occurring. Chase needs to be held liable as it was accessed through their services.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation