Consumer complaint received 2021-01-05
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY
State: CT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On Friday XXXX, I got a phone call from XXXX ( when XXXX, first result is XXXX Verification Service Contact Information ) The first person I spoke with claimed to be the paralegal, and he filled me in on the details of an investigation against me and then transferred me to his manager overseeing the case who claimed his name was XXXX XXXX with the Badget Number of XXXX. 

The story I was told is that there was a FBI/CIA investigation into various drug trafficking in Texas and Arizona where the suspects were using my social security number to set up various bank accounts with multiple credit cards all over the world. They suspected that the criminals had stolen my social security number and were using it for these criminal purposes, however, the SSN Department needed me to verify the funds from my bank account with the US Treasury Department to validate that the funds were mine. The way they were going to verify the funds was through the purchase of various gift cards. If I did not cooperate with them, they said that it would be unlikely that I could prove my innocence and that the charges would be filed against me for the crimes outlined above. 

I was on the phone with XXXX XXXX for over 4 hours. First, I was told to go to my bank and secure my checking account. I drove to the bank with XXXX on the phone the entire time. When I arrived, he told me to withdraw most of the funds from my checking account ( as long as the total was less than {$100.00} dollars ). He told me what to tell the bank staff if they asked any questions about this unusual transaction. He then told me to put the phone on speaker, put it in my pocket, and go into the bank. I then asked the bank officer at my TD Bank to withdraw {$9800.00}. They asked me a bunch of questions, and I felt forced to cooperate with XXXX and answer their questions the way XXXX told me to, since I knew he was listening to the conversion. I felt forced to go through with the transaction, even though I did not want to do so. I live alone, and I did not mention this criminal trouble to anyone until after I followed through with all that XXXX was telling me to do. 

I then went to XXXX XXXX with XXXX on the phone. When I got there, he told me to purchase 4 gift cards for {$500.00} each. I had additional phone conversation on XXXX XXXX, and was forced to buy additional gift cards. XXXX started texting me as well as calling XXXX texting number : XXXX ). At one point, I was then transferred to a XXXX XXXX with badge number : XXXX who said that they had issued me a new social security number but it was on hold and that they needed to verify my credit card before they could issue me the number. Eventually, I was forced to buy additional gift cards as follows. 
- XXXX : 10 Cards, {$250.00} each - XXXX  : 4 Cards, 3 with {$1500.00} each and 1 with {$800.00} ( to finish filing the {$9800.00} ) - XXXX XXXX : 4 cards, {$500.00} each - XXXX : 1 card, {$1500.00} - At XXXX XXXX XXXX : 4 XXXX  gift cards for {$500.00} each ( initially 6 cards for {$3000.00} but the store manager reduced the limit to {$2000.00} ) - At XXXX : 4 XXXX gift cards for {$500.00} each - XXXX : 3 Cards, {$1500.00} On Thursday XXXX, I called my parents in Massachusetts. They told me I had likely been the victim of a scam and to report these incidents to the police, my bank and my credit card company, which I then did. The bank has not provided any relief or recovery.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation