Consumer complaint received 2022-07-11
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
I have tried several times to report that I was scammed for money by two different people in trying to purchase a machine. The first individual had the machine up for sale on XXXX for a total cost of {$300.00} dollars. The deal made was for me to send over half the amount and then the other half was to be sent when I recieved the item. So, I initially sent {$100.00} dollars to an XXXX XXXX via XXXX on XX/XX/2022. I was told she didn't receive it. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I tried a second time for {$100.00} dollars on XX/XX/2022. She claimed she still didn't get it and that there was a problem with XXXX. I had contacted my financial institution to find out if this was true and they had confirmed that there was a problem with XXXX. She told me that if she ended up receiving the XXXX payments by the next day, she would refund them. I agreed it was fair and so I went ahead and used XXXX XXXX  to send her a third {$100.00} dollars via XXXX XXXX because XXXX issues that same evening on XX/XX/2022. I was promised a tracking number to be given to me by the following morning to confirm shipment. She did not contact me. I waited for majority of the day until I text messaged her to find out was going on. I recieved no response from her for approximately 3 days. That's when she had the gall and try to request MORE money from me through XXXX and claimed she was " trying to refund my money ''. So I said okay I'll send you a request myself so all she had to do was accept. She declined my refund through XXXX and through the XXXX app. At this point I didn't know what to do. By then, I had contacted a different seller thinking maybe I just contacted a bad person and was scammed out of my money. I thought hey, I was scammed, my bank might be able to help me recover my money from a scam. So, I attempted to reach out to another seller on offer up who had what seemed like a better deal anyhow for the same item i was looking for. They also noted that their mom had died recently so they needed the money for expenses and they had no use for the machine anymore. This is when we decided to come to an agreement. Again, I send half she ships and sends me a tracking number and an invoice of everything being shipped. This is where I sent payments via XXXX She claimed her " sister '' had one I could send the payment to. I sent the initial {$150.00} dollars via XXXX to a user named " XXXX XXXX '' on XX/XX/2022. I sent a second {$50.00} dollars to help pay for shipping costs because I knew it was going to be expensive to ship due to its weight and it was being shipped from Georgia. She confirmed she recieved both payments and thanked me. I was again promised tracking numbers and an itemized list. She swore up and down she wasn't a theif and that she hated people who would steal from a mother, even made comments about me reporting her to XXXX and XXXX for fraud because that's wrong. I sort of put a little more faith in her because she too just had a baby a few months old so she made it seem like she felt my pain and she would not do that to someone. Well, when the following day came around and I still had no tracking number or list. She said she was sorry, had a long night with the baby and her husband and promised to send the package the next day. I then asked the next day if she sent the package, she stated she did and so I asked for the tracking number from her. She didn't respond for a few hours and when she did, she claimed her husband was mad at her for spending so much money on shipping and that he didn't want her to sell his mom 's things yet. She said she already dropped it off though and her husband was hiding the tracking number from her. At this point I've sent {$200.00} dollars in total to her. Because I believe her about her husband being mad because it was his mom 's things who just died, I offer to send MORE money to see if that would help him get off her back about it and give me the tracking number. She said over the phone that it would really help and she was crying and all. Put on a whole show. I felt bad. This is where I go to send a third payment and my XXXX  locked up because they were worried about fraud. I got it cleared up and just sent it to my daughter 's XXXX for a total of {$120.00} dollars, to then send the payment to her " dad '' on XX/XX/2022. She eventually claimed her husband was satisfied and sent me a tracking number. This tracking number she sent seemed legit until I checked the items weight. The item itself is XXXX lbs and the tracking number to the package she sent was around XXXX lbs or less. So I question her about it and she claims her husband gave her the incorrect tracking number. So I wait for her to send the right one. I constantly ask about it and just got ignored at that point. I kept track of the tracking number she gave me and come to find out, the item wasn't to me at all. The item was marked as delivered in Florida. I live in California. At this point she has me completely blocked out and I can no longer contact her. I attempted to report ALL of the transactions between the two women who scammed me. All of them were closed and deemed I sent them correctly at will except for the payment of {$120.00} dollars I sent to my daughter 's account to send to the woman 's " father ''. It's not my fault someone decided to scam me. I did send payment willingly under the impression I was entering into an agreement for a purchase. As of right now, I've been scammed on a total of {$500.00} dollars from both these women. I've called and tried to ask what was going on. I spent a decent amount of time on the phone with my financial institution and they told me to wait. I got the letters deeming they were proper transactions sent at will. I called again, explained the situation again, asked them to reopen my claim. They did. Nothing came of it but the same results. I am in desperate need of help. I was wronged and need the money back for my kids.

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