Consumer complaint received 2022-07-30
Company: SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Hello, At the beginning of XX/XX/2021, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) started another order of equipment with their long-term supplier, XXXX, XXXX. In the beginning, everything was going smoothly as XXXX XXXX reached out to their usual contact at XXXX ( XXXX ) and settled all the details. Around the time of signing a contract, on XX/XX/2021, XXXX XXXX received an email from XXXX ( XXXX ) containing a contract, and the email said that the company got a new account number for the money transfer. Below is the information for the new account : SANTANDER BANK Account name : XXXX XXXX XXXX Account no : XXXX Routing no : XXXX Account officer address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Bank address : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX During the process of signing the contract, an employee of XXXX XXXX even replied to the email with some technical questions regarding the equipment, which the email answered correctly. On XX/XX/2021, XXXX XXXX paid USD {$100000.00} to the following bank account : SANTANDER BANK Account name : XXXX, XXXX Account XXXX Routing XXXX Account officer address : XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Virginia XXXX Bank addressXXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, NY XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX An employee of XXXX XXXX accidentally used the usual address for their transaction with XXXX but used the new account number provided by the email. 

After the payment on XX/XX/2021, XXXX XXXX continued to receive emails from the following addresses ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ) saying that they didn't receive the payment. On XX/XX/XXXX, they asked XXXX XXXX to send money to this new account instead : Bank Name : Santander bank Beneficiary Name : XXXX XXXX XXXX Account XXXX Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Account number : XXXX Bank address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX Employees at XXXX XXXX then became suspicious and called a representative at XXXX, who said that they didn't change their bank account and hadn't received any recent emails from XXXX XXXX XXXX After this, employees at XXXX XXXX believe that someone has been hijacking the emails and contacted the bank to cancel the transfer. To transfer the money to the XXXX, XXXX XXXX had to go through their bank XXXX XXXX XXXX ), which then transferred the money to XXXX in XXXX then to the account under Santander bank. XXXX bank started to contact XXXX and Santander on XX/XX/XXXX to cancel the transfer and get the money back. 

Throughout XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX continued to receive emails claiming to be XXXX asking for the transfer but has stopped replying to them. From XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX had a lawyer in XXXX contact Santander bank to get the money back. Around the end of XXXX, Santander bank requested a notice to say that they are not responsible and stopped replying after that. 

Please let me know if you need any documents as XXXX XXXX has asked me to file this complaint for them in the US since they can't file for this directly from XXXX. 

Thank you!

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