Consumer complaint received 2023-03-02
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: TN
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
We, my wife and I were recently scammed by a person posing as a XXXX Fraud Investigator and also his associate posing as a Truist Bank investigator. Admittedly we were duped into using our debit cards. See letters sent to Truist Bank fraud investigation below. There were two separate fraud investigation incidents because the charge for {$2400.00} done in XXXX TN was not included in the first investigation. See letters sent to Truist Fraud investigation department. 

Case # : XXXX This is an account of what occurred with the fraudulent transactions on our debit cards. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at around XXXX XXXX my wife received an urgent alert regarding her XXXX account via email. Rather than calling the suggested phone number on the email she XXXX XXXX customer service. She called the number on the XXXX Customer service website and a man answered saying his name was XXXX XXXX and that he could help me. He said it looked like my XXXX account had been hacked and that he was a security investigator from XXXX. He assured her he would help her with her problem. He asked if we knew anyone in Ohio, Pennsylvania and XXXX, Del that would have had access to our computer. He said these are some of the locations of the hackers gaining access to our computer. He told her to go to our desktop computer and open it up which she did. He then said that our IP address had been breached and it was now public and there were 157 hackers that had access to our sensitive information. He sounded very knowledgeable and he needed permission to check the addresses of the hackers on the computer so she gave him permission. I, her husband, came in at this time. 
XXXX said that he would need our help to bait the hackers. He also showed a screen of some XXXX person who had gained access to our information. He then showed us a screen where a XXXX XXXX had accessed our Truist bank account and had made a withdrawal. ( There are two entries on our Truist transaction history on XXXX with a XXXX XXXX making a XXXX transaction. Tran code # XXXX is for {$500.00} debit and then Transaction Code XXXX a Credit for {$500.00} ). XXXX XXXX told us he had credited the withdrawal that this XXXX XXXX had made. At this point we were very anxious. 
XXXX XXXX then got a supposed Truist Physical Security Manager on the phone, a XXXX XXXX. Then a letter came on the screen where this XXXX XXXX showed us a letter signed by himself, that said our Truist account had been hacked by a group that was involved in child XXXX and money laundering. He told me that an email had been sent to me two weeks ago alerting me that someone had tried to change the Social Security number on my account. ( Note- I went back after all this and there was no email on my log from Truist regarding this ). This XXXX XXXX told us he was also going to help to investigate this for us. My wife had seen some Truist alerts on her phone but XXXX XXXX told us that he knew that and that he was working on the case for us and not to worry, no need to contact the bank. He also told us not to go on our online banking as that would expose it to the hackers. He also advised us not to consult with any relatives or friends since some of them could be associated with the hackers. 
Then XXXX XXXX directed us to go to an XXXX ATM in a XXXX in XXXX, TN. The first ATM was not working because it had been damaged in an accident at that XXXX. He directed us to another XXXX with an XXXX ATM on XXXX XXXX in XXXX TN. He had us open up XXXX and XXXX apps on our phones, maybe some more, XXXX XXXX and an XXXX application. There he directed us to make transactions, at least 6 of them using our debit cards, using the XXXX XXXX application on the ATM. He gave us codes to put in and dollar amounts, and unfortunately we followed his instructions. We were very worried. He kept assuring us that it was fine, and he would catch the hackers for us. We then went home. The next day, Saturday he called us again and assured us that they had caught 57 of the hackers but he needed us to go back to the ATM at the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX and make several more transactions with our debit cards the same way. This was also repeated on Sunday. 
On Monday XXXX XXXX called my wife on her phone. She was at her job in XXXX and said we are almost done with our investigation, just need to do one more time. He directed her to at XXXX with an XXXX ATM in XXXX TN. ( These transactions were not included in this claim #, so I had to call Truist Fraud on XX/XX/XXXX and open up a separate Claim on these transactions-Claim # XXXX ). 
At the very time my wife was making these transactions I was calling Truist to ask about the supposed investigation with this XXXX XXXX. I finally got to someone in the Fraud department and they assured me there was no XXXX XXXX working for Truist. I then finally got a XXXX XXXX at Truist Fraud department. She quickly froze all my accounts. She told me that while on the phone she could see someone trying to ping my account. 
We did not see the following until after we received print outs from Truist on our old checking account ending in XXXX and our old savings account ending in XXXX. 

( the copy from the bank statement would not copy into here. But basically the statement showed two transactions of {$15000.00} coming out of our savings account into our checking account on XXXX and another transaction on XXXX showing {$12000.00} being moved from our savings account to our checking account. ) As you can see there were transfers made of {$15000.00} on XXXX, and two for {$12000.00} on XXXX. These transfers were not made with our knowledge or permission. They must have been made by XXXX XXXX or one of his associates. We never, never gave anyone our online username or password. 
These savings account transfers were transferred to the checking account ending in XXXX. From the checking account log there was a transfer in for {$15000.00} on XXXX TRAN CODE XXXX and then two for {$12000.00} on XXXX. We never authorized these. There was also a transfer out on our checking to a XXXX XXXX payment for {$500.00}, and then a transfer back in on XXXX for XXXX XXXX for {$500.00} . We never even knew or authorized these. The XXXX XXXX showed us these XXXX XXXX transfers and said See this XXXX XXXX has accessed your account but we have put the money back in. See copies from checking account below. 
I hope the following is taken into the investigation : As I said we had no idea these transactions were being made from our savings to our checking. There was never any permission or sharing of our online username or password. If these funds had never been transferred from our savings to our checking, then the debit charges could never have been made since the debit cards are tied only to our checking account. 
This has been very, very devastating to us. It is apparent from the Truist account log that this XXXX XXXX was transferring money out of our savings into our checking account. This was done without our knowledge of him doing it or our permission. 
We have filed several reports. I filed a report with the FTC FTC report # XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 
We have had our computer taken to a service to scrub and clean it. 
We have filed a police report with our local sheriffs department in XXXX XXXX, TN on XX/XX/XXXX. The ORI # is XXXX. The report was filed with XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX Sheriffs Office XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX, XXXX . XXXX, XXXX, TN. XXXX. The case was assigned to Detective XXXX XXXX. 
Detective XXXX XXXX advised us to file a police report with the XXXX, TN police department since the transactions were at an ATM in XXXX, TN. 
We filed that report on XX/XX/XXXX with Officer XXXX XXXX at the XXXX Police Department, XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, TN. XXXX. ( www.XXXX.com ) XXXX. I have attached a copy of the XXXX Police Department report, Case # XXXX. 
I have also filed a report with the FBI on the XXXX website on XXXX have attached a copy of the XXXX report. 
We were in now way in collusion with either this XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX. 
We are very distressed about this financial loss since it is a good part of our retirement savings and we just plead for some way for Truist bank to see a way to restore to us some of these funds that were stolen from us by fraud. 
These statements we affirm to be true and accurate to the best of our recollection. 
Sincerely, XXXX and XXXX XXXX Letter of Explanation for Fraudulent Transactions for Case # XXXX Dear Truist Bank. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) Case # : XXXX This is an account of what occurred with the fraudulent transactions on our debit cards. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at around XXXX XXXX my wife received an urgent alert regarding her XXXX account via email. Rather than calling the suggested phone number on the email she googled XXXX customer service. She called the number on the XXXX Customer service website and a man answered saying his name was XXXX XXXX and that he could help me. He said it looked like my XXXX account had been hacked and that he was a security investigator from XXXX. He assured her he would help her with her problem. He asked if we knew anyone in Ohio, Pennsylvania and XXXX, Del that would have had access to our computer. He said these are some of the locations of the hackers gaining access to our computer. He told her to go to our desktop computer and open it up which she did. He then said that our IP address had been breached and it was now public and there were 157 hackers that had access to our sensitive information. He sounded very knowledgeable and he needed permission to check the addresses of the hackers on the computer so she gave him permission. I, her husband, came in at this time. 
XXXX said that he would need our help to bait the hackers. He also showed a screen of some XXXX person who had gained access to our information. He then showed us a screen where a XXXX XXXX had accessed our Truist bank account and had made a withdrawal. ( There are two entries on our Truist transaction history on XXXX with a XXXX XXXX making a XXXX transaction. Tran code # XXXX is for {$500.00} debit and then Transaction Code XXXX a Credit for {$500.00} ). XXXX XXXX told us he had credited the withdrawal that this XXXX XXXX had made. At this point we were very anxious. 
XXXX XXXX then got a supposed Truist Physical Security Manager on the phone, a XXXX XXXX. Then a letter came on the screen where this XXXX XXXX showed us a letter signed by himself, that said our Truist account had been hacked by a group that was involved in child XXXX and money laundering. ( See attached copy of screen shot of letter my wife took on her phone, whe was not able to get the whole letter ) .He told me that an email had been sent to me two weeks ago alerting me that someone had tried to change the Social Security number on my account. ( Note- I went back after all this and there was no email on my log from Truist regarding this ). This XXXX XXXX told us he was also going to help to investigate this for us. My wife had seen some Truist alerts on her phone but XXXX XXXX told us that he knew that and that he was working on the case for us and not to worry, no need to contact the bank. He also told us not to go on our online banking as that would expose it to the hackers. He also advised us not to consult with any relatives or friends since some of them could be associated with the hackers. 
Then XXXX XXXX directed us to go to an XXXX ATM in a XXXX in XXXX, TN. Over the next 3 days he directed us to make transactions with the XXXX XXXX app on the ATM. This has all been reported in the letter sent for Case # XXXX. 
On Monday XXXX XXXX called my wife on her phone. She was at her job in XXXX and said we are almost done with our investigation, just need to do one more time. He directed her to at XXXX with an XXXX ATM in XXXX TN. 
At the very time my wife was making these transactions at the ATM in XXXX I was calling Truist to ask about the supposed investigation with this XXXX XXXX. I finally got to someone in the Fraud department and they assured me there was no XXXX XXXX working for Truist. I then finally got a XXXX XXXX at Truist Fraud department. She quickly froze all my accounts. She told me that while on the phone she could see someone trying to ping my account. 
I hope the following is taken into the investigation : As I said we had no idea these transactions were being made from our savings to our checking. There was never any permission or sharing of our online username or password. If these funds had never been transferred from our savings to our checking, then the debit charges could never have been made since the debit cards are tied only to our checking account. 
.Also this transaction of {$2400.00} at the XXXX ATM on XX/XX/XXXX was made just seconds prior to when I was speaking with Truist fraud, they could see XXXX XXXX pinging my account. Why was this transaction not stopped by Truist at this time, instead they allowed this pending charge to be posted. It seems to me that Truist should reimburse at least this charge since it was reported to Truist fraud no more than a few minutes after it had occurred. 
This has been very, very devastating to us. It is apparent from the Truist account log that this XXXX XXXX was transferring money out of our savings into our checking account. This was done without our knowledge of him doing it or our permission. We did not realize this until several days later when we went to the local Truist branch in XXXX XXXX, TN and we received a print out of the activity on our checking account ending in XXXX. 
We have filed several reports. I filed a report with the FTC FTC report # XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 
We have had our computer taken to a service to scrub and clean it. 
We filed a report with the XXXX Police department for this incident on this transaction. Please see attached report. 
I have also filed a report with the FBI on the XXXX website on XX/XX/XXXX. 
We were in now way in collusion with either this XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX. 
We are very distressed about this financial loss since it is a good part of our retirement savings and we just plead for some way for Truist bank to see a way to restore to us some of these funds that were stolen from us by fraud. 
These statements we affirm to be true and accurate to the best of our recollection. 
I have also emailed this letter with the following documents : XXXX. XXXX Police Department report XXXX. FTC report XXXX. XXXX report filed to FBI XXXX. Screen shot of letter from XXXX XXXX fake Truist investigator. 
Sincerely, XXXX and XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX What my complaint is is XXXX. Should not Truist bank have some responsibility in that these scammers had access to our online banking accounts and were moving funds from the savings to the checking in order for the debit card purchases which are tied to the checking account to be funded. 
XXXX. On the XXXX transaction on XXXX for {$2400.00} this was made just a minute or so before I had talked to Truist Fraud and they had frozen our accounts. I asked them to reverse this charge and the others also since they were pending. The representative told me that nothing could be done until the charges had been posted. Why was this?? 
Thanks for your consideration of this matter, XXXX XXXX

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