Consumer complaint received 2023-04-19
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NV
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On the morning of XX/XX/2023 I received a phone call from a Wells Fargo number claiming to be the fraud department the number that showed up on my phone was XXXX. With Wells Fargo name under it. I answered the man on the phone proceeded to tell me he was with WF and gave me a name and a badge number. I can not remember either. 
The person on the phone Told me there was fraudulent activity on my account and that they needed to verify I was actually me and that they would be sending me a code. They did and I read it back to them. ( Which this IS what they do when you call the fraud department ) He starts going over all my recent purchases to verify and then gets to a wire transfer of {$10000.00}. I tell him that is definitely not me doing that as I need my money to pay for my mortgage and business rent. He then tells me that they were able to flag it and that he also was turning back on my notifications because the fraud person had deactivated them. So then I had a notification pop up on my phone and tell me a wire transfer of {$10000.00} had just been made. I screen shot it to have for my records and tell him what popped up and he said oh yes not to worry as thats just the original message coming through since I had turned your notifications back on. 
Then he brings up my XXXX account and asks who a XXXX is and I said she is my friend and it looks like a transfer of {$3000.00} was made to her. I said well she is my friend and definitely not trying to steal money from me and he had asked if I could call her to send the money back because they didnt want to flag her XXXX account for fraud and she would not be able to use her account any more. He asked that I call her and merge the calls. I call my friend XXXX and the line with the fraud WF guy was disconnected. 
I proceed to tell her everything that had just happened and she logs in to her account and can see my {$3000.00} pending in her account. 

Then I get a text message ( XXXX ) from the fraud WF guy saying this was his direct line if I was able to call him back and I did and merged the calls so my friend could be on the line as well. She proceeded to ask who he was because it sounded off to her. ( She also owns her own business and has had scammers trying to redirect money ) They both started yelling at each other and I said ok everyone hang on and asked the fraud WF guy if he was able to flag the wire transfer why couldnt he flag the XXXX transfer. 
He says hold one moment please come back a second later and says Oh everything is taken care of, thank you for calling Wells Fargo, goodbye Immediately I call the Wells Fargo fraud department that I had looked up on the actual Wells Fargo website, the same exact number that had originally called me and got in touch with some one and explained everything that had just transpired. In between me crying and relaying all the information he reassures me that everything is going to be fine and that they would take care of everything. 
I filed a claim XX/XX/XXXX that day for the wire claim of {$10000.00} # XXXX is my claim number. I spoke with about 3 different WF fraud department people the rest of the day, just to make sure I wasnt missing anything and also to make sure I was getting the same story from everyone. One of the real fraud department people told me that they had changed my XXXX account to be linked to theirs and that had my friend sent back the money that it would have gone to the Scammer. So I asked him if you flag her account for fraud will hers be shirt down and he said yes. So I said we know this wasnt her and I dont want anything to mess with her account she is going to the back right now to pull the {$3000.00} cash for me. And he said ok so we dont have to worry about that. And he was able to restore my XXXX back to normal. 

I asked what my next steps should be and we proceeded to put a hard hold on my personal and business WF accounts. And over the phone he was able to reopen my personal but for my business I needed to head to a branch. 
Around XXXX I went to the XXXX  XXXX WF branch and spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) again I went over everything that went on earlier in the morning and he was able to help me reopen my business account. And gave me some papers my husband needed to sign as well since we both are owners of the account. 

In the middle of all of this my husband was calling me to get updates and my phone would not ring but go to someone elses phone, a XXXX number with a Spanish speaking VM. It was then we learned they had also hacked into my phone. I had to call my carrier XXXX XXXX  and they had to completely delete me from their system and add me back on. I also had to complete erase my phone and start over. 

In the multiple times of me calling to get updates and info one of the very first things the WF would say is ok Im going to send you a code to verify you I kept telling them that is EXACTLY how this entire thing started and that if I felt more safe I needed to go to branch. 
I brought those papers back in after the weekend since it was XXXX and spoke with another branch member also to restore my access to my online account to just go over everything and make sure everything was done. He assured me the cards had been ordered. 
I was calling as much as I could to get updates and make sure I didnt miss anything, debit cards or CC that needed to be ordered and also was told that my wire claim could take up to 10 business days to be resolved. I called on day 4 and spoke with as lady to just get and update, she proceeded to tell me that everything looked fine and it didnt seem like I was missing any information and that I called in time to have this handled and the only thing left for me to do was really wait. 
I called again on Thursday XX/XX/XXXX, because I still had not received any of my CC or debit cards for my new accounts and come to find out they had not sent them out. 
I have also had to speak with my property manager for my business because at this point my rent is late and in our contract if rent is over 7 days late you will be served with an eviction notice. My mortgage is also late. 
Today is XX/XX/XXXX, we are on business day 10 and I have yet to receive an update, so I call the wire claim number and was told that my claim was denied due to the fact that it looked like this person logged in from a new device and sent the authentication code to an authorized user and it was correct. I proceeded to tell him everything again that had happened and that even when you call they say that to you for you to verify yourself. All he said was I can put in a request for the person that made the decision to call you and go over that information with you. I was very upset in and he said you should definitely tell them this because this is very valuable information and I asked if he was actually going to call me. 
I am at a loss and dont know what else to do. Please help.

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