Consumer complaint received 2022-08-25
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
FTC Report Unfortunately I was the victim of a fraudulent scam where XXXX  are being targeted. Someone called XX/XX/22 impersonating an agent from the XXXX XXXX XXXX California ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) from number ( XXXX ) XXXX stating there was a case against me by the Texas FBI and there was XXXX  for my XXXX. The second perpetrator was impersonating an FBI agent ( XXXX XXXX # XXXX ) from number ( XXXX ) XXXX. He stated a car had been abandoned in the Texas border with a large amount of XXXX that had been obtained with my XXXX  XXXX XXXX  and the car had been rented under my name. Also stated there were 11 banks under my name being used for money laundering in the amount of {$2.00} Million. They had a lot of personal identifying information and provided official appearing forms from the XXXX XXXX of California stating my XXXX XXXX had been suspended. They also provided official forms forged from the Department of Justice Organized Crime Drug Task Force. This scam led to me wiring {$22000.00} on XX/XX/22 at XXXX to serve as a reversible bail bond during the investigation. 

The perpetrators intended I wire the money to " XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. 
Acct # XXXX Name XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
The swift number they gave me was XXXX, but this does not correlate with this bank and It belongs to XXXX XXXX bank which is a different bank entirely. 

The perpetrators made a mistake and gave me the wrong swift number. Prior to sending the wire I noticed the bank name on the form was different and it had a different address. I asked the XXXX, Chase agent, why it was different bank name and a different address she stated thats common, the swift number matches the address so there are no issues. If she had stated the swift code did not match with the intended bank this would have raised a red flag and I would not have sent the wire. 
Ultimately the wire ( # XXXX ) was sent to another bank completely. It went to XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX XXXX ) XXXX De XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX, at XXXX I realized this was a scam later that day and I called my local bank immediately at XXXX. They stated the wire had already gone through and it could not be canceled. They gave me a number to call the fraud department to have the recalled. I spoke with a Chase agent at XXXX and they told me they sent a message to the wire team to recall it. I went to a local Chase Branch the next day for updates and I was told the wire recall had not been placed. They also stated there was no way for them to contact the wire team directly, only through messaging. I sent several messages on the secure app as advised with no reply. The FBI is involved in the case and they asked I have the bank pull a kill switch on the transfer but the bank said they were unable to do that. It has been 72 hours since I have been dealing with this with no information. Since the wire did not go into any specific account if Chase moves quickly it could be recovered but there is no sense of urgency on their part. 

Overall I am raising several areas of concern for Chase customers. 
1. XXXX sent the wire to the wrong bank and did not notice the swift number was incorrect which would have stopped the wire to begin with. 
2. Once the error was found, there was no way for anyone to contact the wire research team directly, only by in app messaging which was done with 4 times with no response. 
3. The Chase fraud department lied about having placed the wire recall the day of the transfer XX/XX/22 and failed to have any communication thereafter. 
4. If enough time lapses, the perpetrators would find a way to access the money. 
Unfortunately fraud is becoming more and more common as the level of sophistication with these scams increases. It is unfortunate that Chase is taking such a passive role in this matter when the wire could have been prevented had they noticed the error in SWIFT #.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation