Consumer complaint received 2017-02-17
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: WA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money

Complaint:
The situation started on XX/XX/2017. I have been in the process of buying a home for about a month. We were coming up on finishing the process. All i had to do was pay my closing costs and sign the closing papers to receive the keys to my new home. So on the morning of XX/XX/2017 i received a e mail from who i thought was my closing officer " XXXX '' saying `` To avoid closing delay, you 're to make a cash deposit of XXXX ( cash to close ) this morning. Please reply to this email to confirm receipt so i can provide the bank information for the deposit. '' So trusting the guy who e mailed me was actually my closing officer. " XXXX ''. I went to my bank and pulled out the exact amount he asked for. Then i replied where do i drop off the money? He replied with Wells Fargo and the account name of " XXXX '' and account number of XXXX.I then asked if i could use a cashiers check and he replied with " no it has to be cash to avoid any closing delays. '' So trusting this was the guy i been told id be talking to for closing and trusting the company I have been dealing with for months i went ahead and deposited the cash to the account this person has provided to me. Being a fist time home buyer and being a little naive to this situation i did n't realize that my closing company. " XXXX '' never takes cash for a closing costs. Only cashier checks or wire transfers. After i deposited the cash and got the receipt, this unknown man asked me to send a picture of the receipt so confirm i made the deposit. I sent him the receipt and he replied with " seen '' and did not reply again. Two days later on my closing day XXXX got a hold of me and asked to schedule a time to meet up for closing. We agreed on a time and i asked what i need to bring to closing. They replied with my i.d and a cashiers check of the Closing cost amount. I replied by telling them i thought i have already paid my closing fees. They said they have never received any of the money and would not even have asked for cash, only a cashiers check. I told them i have been talking to " XXXX '' and he directed me to deposit the cash amount into Wells Fargo bank. They went to investigate and the real XXXX called me back a few minutes later saying he never sent me any e mails at all on XX/XX/2017. That is when we knew something went wrong and something bad just happened. After meeting up with my loan officers and my real estate agents we figured out that i have been a victim of fraud and i have been tricked by a unknown person. I have had almost 80000 dollars stolen from me and put into a unknown account with Wells Fargo. I filled a police report and filed a fraud claim at Wells Fargo. Also both company 's I.T. departments went over all computer messages and paper work to see where something could have gone wrong. We came to conclusion that my cell phone may have been hacked and this unknown person acted like my closing agent to trick me to deposit all of this cash into a unknown account. Now i have no money to buy this home and i lost all of my saving i have saved up for years. My complaint is on who hacked and tricked me to deposit my cash into this account. And on Wells Fargo for letting a person use their bank to commit fraud on innocent people like me. And getting through all of Wells Fargo security checks to use a fake account only to rob people of their hard earned money.

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