Consumer complaint received 2021-03-11
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NM
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not received from closed account

Complaint:
My complaint now is against Wells Fargo Bank in the State of New Mexico Corporate Office is located at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX. Wells Fargo Bank contacted my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, in which they received an ACH Fraud Recall Notice from Wells Fargo Bank which led to my checking account being closed with XXXX XXXX XXXX and all my funds totaling {$3700.00} was sent to Wells Fargo Bank. See CFPB NO : XXXX. As a result, my unemployment benefits claim with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions was made inactive. I have spent past several weeks working with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions to get my unemployment claim active again and as a result, I have received 10 weeks of missed unemployment benefit payments. If I was guilty of filing a fraudulent application for unemployment benefits claim with the State of New Mexico, I would never have been able to make my unemployment benefit claim active again and the State of New Mexico would not have paid me for missing weeks of unemployment benefits. 

I was a victim of identity theft as someone used my personal information to open a fraudulent unemployment claim in the State of New York even though I had never lived or worked in the State of New York. It was not until I stopped receiving unemployment benefit payments from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions when I was informed that a new unemployment claim was opened in the State of New York using my personal information. I advised I did not open this new unemployment claim in the State of New York and that this unemployment claim was fraudulent. I was then required to contact the New York State Department of Labor to have my fraudulent unemployment claim closed. I then contacted the New York State Department of Labor and they advised me that this unemployment claim should never had been opened under my name in the first place as protocols had been bypassed to prevent my fraudulent unemployment claim from ever being opened. My personal identification showing I lived in the State of New York was not verified, my physical address showing I lived in the State of New York was not verified, and even more mind boggling is that my previous employer paycheck stub which is needed to determine that amount of the unemployment benefit payments would be was not verified. Again, I never lived or worked in the State of New York so I do not understand how this person could use my name and in fact collected 10 weeks of federal unemployment benefit payments. This person also was able to bypass a protocol which prevented having 2 open unemployment benefit claims in 2 different states at the same time. A person off the street would not have access to all my personal information needed to a fraudulent unemployment claim as well as have the ability to bypass all protocols which prevented a fraudulent unemployment claim from being opened in the first place. Again, this person was successful in opening a fraudulent unemployment claim in the State of New York using my name as they in fact received 10 weeks of federal unemployment benefit payments when I received no such payments during this same time period. The only person that would be able to pull this off would be from someone within the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. This person was blocking me from reaching a live person when I tried calling customer service as the phone prompts directed at me would terminate the phone call. Only when I used phone prompts not directed towards me was I able to request a call back. I never received anything in writing from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions advising me either I was a possible victim of identity of identity theft when they saw that a new unemployment claim had been opened in the State of New York or a letter advising me that the Pending Issue I had which was causing my unemployment benefit payments from being received by me was due to the new open unemployment claim in the State of New York which turned out to be fraudulent. Again, I should have had received something in writing informing me of this Pending Issue as I ended up going 10 weeks without receiving any money so I could pay my bills and put food on my table. This is totally unacceptable that I had to endure this by the State of New Mexico. 

I then filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor back on XX/XX/XXXX, against both the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions for not protecting my personal information from fraud and against the New York State Department of Labor for not verifying my personal information and for allowing a fraudulent unemployment claim being opened under my name. I then received an email from the U.S. Department of Labor with an attached letter dated XX/XX/XXXX acknowledging receipt of my complaint as I was a victim of identity theft involving my unemployment benefit claim. The Governor of New Mexico, XXXX XXXX, who is at the very top of the organizational chart of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions also would have received this same letter from the U.S. Department of Labor dated XX/XX/XXXX. I was the person who filed the compliant with the U.S. Department of Labor which generated this letter in the first place. Some how and some way, my belief is retaliation, but very quickly went from being a victim of unemployment fraud to now being the perpetrator of filing a fraudulent unemployment claim with the State of New Mexico. The State of New Mexico and the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions are claiming they suddenly conducted an audit and discovered that {$26000.00} credited to my bank account in 30 payments over a period of 8 months had been paid to a fraudulent application for unemployment benefits. When I was working on getting my unemployment benefit claim made active again, I explained my situation to them and that stated to me that these actions taken against me were at the request by the Governor of New Mexico, XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the New Mexico Governor, XXXX XXXX contacted their bank, Wells Fargo Bank, who in turn, sent an XXXX XXXX Notice to my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX, in response to this notice, my bank closed my checking account and forwarded the {$3700.00} remaining in my account to Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo Bank now has my money in the amount of {$3700.00} and they have never sent me anything in writing that they are holding this money and what I needed to do to get the money back or to appeal this decision that was made by the New Mexico Governor, XXXX XXXX so I could provide a defense for these actions taken against me. I was denied due process of law by the State of New Mexico as I was found guilty of a crime without the opportunity to defend myself, especially when in fact I was the victim before becoming the perpetrator of this same crime. 

I have resolved all my unemployment issues with the New Mexico Department XXXX XXXX XXXX where my unemployment benefit claim is now again active and I have been reimbursed financially for all the missed weeks of unemployment benefit payments. New Mexico Department XXXX XXXX XXXX has contacted Wells Fargo Bank on several occasions to have them contact my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX to have my funds in the amount of {$3700.00} released back to me, but for some unknown reason, Wells Fargo Banks has ignored these requests or failed to contact me to have my funds returned back to me. It appears Wells Fargo Bank intends to keep these funds and not return them back to myself. Please investigate Wells Fargo Bank to determine what happened to my funds in the amount of {$3700.00}. Thank you very much! 

HOW DO YOU WANT THIS ISSUE RESOLVED : To fairly resolve this complaint against Wells Fargo Bank, I would want my {$3700.00} paid back to me as I have no intention of ever doing banking business with either XXXX XXXX XXXX or Wells Fargo Bank ever again. I want to be compensated financially for the paid and suffering that was caused to me by Wells Fargo Bank for have them believe I was found guilty of filing a fraudulent unemployment claim with the State of New Mexico without providing either me proof of this or my bank proof of this as well. My bank treated me like I was a convicted criminal, l and this will stay with me the rest of my life. I will always tell people to never do their banking business either with XXXX XXXX XXXX or with Wells Fargo Bank. I also want to be reimbursed by Wells Fargo Bank for all the late fees accrued as a result of my checking account being closed with XXXX XXXX XXXX, and I want to be compensated for having to pay my utility companies my bills late and were extremely close to shutting off my service for non-payment. I have lost all credibility with my utility companies and in the future as they will now work quicker to disconnect my services for non-payment. Wells Fargo failed to obtain evidence from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions supporting the fact that I filed a fraudulent unemployment claim with the State of New Mexico and also failed to provide this proof to myself as well as to my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX. Again, I was the victim of identity theft involving unemployment benefits and what happened to me should never had happened in the first place, but it did. Since it did, Wells Fargo Bank is liable for their actions taken against me when I in fact never did anything wrong to warrant their actions taken against me which resulted the closing of my checking account at XXXX XXXX XXXX which was opened back in XXXX.

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