Consumer complaint received 2021-08-22
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On Wednesday XX/XX/21 I received a text message from Wells Fargo at XXXX asking if I made a charge for {$2000.00} at XXXX . I immediately replied NO. A few minutes later a Wells Fargo agent called me about the suspicious charge and verified that my debit card had not been stolen, and I was not traveling. She stated the charge had been made in XXXX, TX. As we were on the phone she asked me if I made an advance for {$15000.00} from my WF credit card to my savings account. I said NO. She went through my other charges in the past hour as I had just logged onto my online account XXXX hour prior and nothing was wrong. She asked me if I made a wire transfer for {$24000.00} to XXXX XXXX. I said NO. She asked me if I knew anyone by that name and if I had added her as a wire transfer recipient that morning. I said NO to all. She immediately canceled my debit card and said she was trying to recall the wire transfer. She said WF would have to call me the next day to set up new checking and savings accounts. The phone service was poor and I could not understand everything she was saying. We got disconnected. 
I called back and spoke with a second person ( a man ) to verify everything. I was on the phone with him for almost 3 hours. He verified again that I had NOT made any of the fraudulent charges including the credit card advance and wire transfer. He could not give me a straight answer as to whether or not the wire transfer had been recalled. He said one system showed it had been recalled, and one system showed it as processed. During this call he ended up issuing me new account numbers, a new username and password, and a new debit card. He gave me a claim number XXXX. He said I would have to wait 10 business days for a letter in the mail letting me know the resolution. 

I called Wells Fargo three more times in the days following for updates and to verify what was going on. The next day on Thursday XX/XX/21 my husband received an email that our accounts were suspended. I called and they said it was because the credit card that the advance was made on was not cancelled. They cancelled and reissued the card and reinstated my accounts. No update on the claim and she could not verify if the wire transfer had been recalled. She said to call back when the charge showed as posted and gave me the Online Credit ( XXXX ) and Claims Dept ( XXXX ) phone numbers. She said the full amount of the wire transfer would be refunded and we would have to pay the credit card advance with that amount. 

I called again on Friday XX/XX/21 when I noticed the wire transfer charge now showed as posted. I spoke with a man that again had no update and said one system showed it as recalled and one system showed it as posted. 

I called again on Thursday XX/XX/21 when I had noticed that the credit card advance and {$750.00} fee were showing refunded, and then added on again, so there were a total of three sets of charges on the credit card account ( charge and fee, refund both, charge and fee again ). The man I spoke with said the claim was under the wire transfer department but the credit card fraud department tried to refund it but they weren't supposed to, so they added it back on. No other update on the claim. 

On Saturday XX/XX/21 we received a letter in the mail stating that Wells Fargo " determined that the transaction was performed by you '' and " are unable to reimburse you and have closed your claim ''. The letter is signed by a Fraud and Claims Operations Analyst named XXXX XXXX. The claim number on the letter is XXXX. 

I explicitly and at every opportunity told Wells Fargo that I did NOT make these charges and my username and password was clearly hacked. I was NOT in XXXX, TX. I did NOT add XXXX XXXX as a wire transfer recipient and do NOT know anyone by this name. Yet they still denied my claim, are not returning my stolen {$10000.00}, and are saying I owe {$15000.00} in credit card debt.

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