Consumer complaint received 2023-07-24
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: WA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Can't stop withdrawals from your account

Complaint:
Dear Claim Department, Im writing to you regarding my claims and to relay to you in my own words what transpired. 

I was recruited by a person named XXXX XXXX on XXXX. She claimed to be living in XXXX, WA which is about 10 mn from where I live. She also claimed to have worked for XXXX since XXXX of 2023 and claimed to very much like working for them. I have attached the screenshots of my conversation with her on XXXX XXXX 
Please see below : XXXX I then received a message from a person named XXXX XXXX who claimed to be the hiring manager of XXXX company. Ive included the screen shots of my conversation with her below. 

XXXX XXXX As you can see from our convo I didnt want to give personal information over text so I went to what I thought was their internal forum. I believed this was all legit! 

On XX/XX/XXXX I finally sat down for the interview and contacted her on what I now know is something called XXXX '. At the time I thought it was part of XXXX and that XXXX was the hiring manager. She proceeded to explain to me what the position was all about, duties and responsibilities as well as benefits. She then conducted about a 30 minute interview with me where she asked me all the normal questions you would expect to have during an interview. She then took about 5 minutes to go discuss my answers with her team and then came back and said congratulations they would like to offer me the position. She then told me she would be sending me around {$4000.00} for the equipment I would need for my on line work from home position. It was my understanding that this money was for a computer and printer and software. I thought it was a little strange for them to send me so much money but thought it was the way with these new totally on line companies that had employees all over the world. She also told me that once she processed me I would meet with a local representative here in XXXX and I would sign my W2 and have a chance to ask more questions in person. I honestly believed it was all legit! 

I have enclosed all of our conversation on screen shots as well and they are laid out below. ( I apologize but the conversation below is in reverse order, I could not figure out how to flip it. Sorry! ) XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX I made the first deposits ( for what I believed was for my computer and software ) and they went through to my bank into a new account that I had set up just for this because I was a little nervous about scams and didnt want it to affect my actual personal accounts. On XX/XX/XXXX, around XXXX XXXX after they had asked me to send the first {$500.00} to XXXX XXXX who they called a vendor and he was supposed to then buy my equipment and install the software. Before I acted on this I called my bank BEFORE I did anything and talked to an agent in the fraud department and told him that I had made two large deposits and that I needed to make a payment on them and wanted to check and make sure the money was actually in the bank. He assured me it was. I even asked him more than once to make sure he understood what I was asking and again he assured me that the money was there. If at any time he would have said something like mam the funds for this are in but they are actually not in until the check clears I would have never ever made a payment on that money! I was nervous because it was a lot of money to me and I didnt want to be responsible for it if something happened. Little did I know what I know now and I am physically sick about being involved in something like this! 

After I was assured the money was there I then made 3 XXXX payments to XXXX XXXX. One of them didnt go through so they told me to use a different vendor and so I did. In total I made 3 payments of {$500.00}, {$500.00} and {$500.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my accounts were frozen and I called into my bank immediately. They transferred me to someone in Fraud and I had a very upsetting conversation with an agent who was very curt and abrasive and accusatory with me. I was practically in tears at the end when he finally decided he would file my claims. After going over everything in my head for a couple of hours I called the bank back to see if I could give them some more information on what had happened to me. I was told by a much more compassionate agent that I should put it all in an email. So that is why I am writing to you today. 

I have been an outstanding customer with cap one for over 20 years and over that time have struggled to regain my independence financially from a divorce and also have strived to have a solid and high credit score which I now have. I have always been safe and I truly believed this was a real online company. 

I also believed that I had done my due diligence by looking up the company on the internet and reading several positive reviews about their work from home program. I also looked them up in the scam section of the XXXX XXXX XXXX and they were not listed. I searched a lot of sites and couldnt find anywhere where this company was fraudulent or a scam. 

I am truly sorry for being so stupid and falling for this scam. I did not mean to do anything illegal and was just trying to do what I was told for this great work from home job that I thought could help me put my daughter through college. I am devastated in the outcome and so incredibly ashamed and embarrassed. 

I want to do all I can to help you expose this so that other people just like me and especially women will not fall victim to this again. I ask for your compassion on granting my claims and for you to consider my long time good standing with your bank. 

Again I am truly sorry and it was never my intention at any point to be involved in a scam of any sort. Please, if there are any further questions or ways I can help bring this horrible group to justice please let me know. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation