Consumer complaint received 2023-02-28
Company: FIRST FINANCIAL BANKSHARES, INC.
State: DC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 -- I fell victim to a scam by a consumer who banks with First Financial Bank of Texas : XXXX XXXX. 

I tweeted a comment to XXXX on XX/XX/2023, in regards to being waitlisted for a pre-sale involving music recording artist XXXX, for her XXXX Tour that is to occur in XXXX, PA in XX/XX/2023. I received a reply from " XXXX '', in which I was asked to respond via personal message, to which I did. At this time, XXXX has shut down all of their customer service lines, which has left consumers to communicate with them through their website ( only for existing orders ), or through social media -- so because I received a reply, I assumed it was legit. How wrong I was. 

The whole exchange took place in private message on XXXX. XXXX XXXX ( acting in lieu of XXXX, being representatives XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ), apologized for the website issues from XXXX, and offered to an option to get tickets through a manual sale process. We moved forward with this option. During this exchange, he sent over the seat map for the XXXX XXXX XXXX, and asked what section seats would I desire. Some background : the pre-sale tickets for the XXXX show had just started the previous day for a limited time ( 8 hours ), so the assumption was the seating chart wasn't filled at the time. After settling on the section, he then informed me what the tickets would cost, and sent over an " invoice '' to show charges and total amount due, which was {$1100.00}. He then offered a few payment options ( credit card, XXXXXXXX XXXX, or bank wire ), in which I tried to pay via credit card first ( he said it wasn't working -- a consistent complaint from customers about XXXX during this buying process ), and then I sent the money via bank wire, which I can provide details and proof if requested. 

After sending over the money wire, this is when the tone changed ( suddenly they needed to confirm my wire transfer ), and I was promised tickets that as you guessed never arrived. I was promised to receive my tickets within the next couple hours, after my wire was confirmed ( they claimed the system was overwhelmed with customer activity ). After a heated exchange between XXXX and myself -- in which I demanded for my tickets to be received immediately, I then frantically researched another method to contact XXXX. This was difficult, as I had no order number, and again customer service line is shut down, but managed to send an order status request to them. XXXX did reply ( attached ), and by this time -- I never heard from XXXX XXXX again. I then sent another tweet to XXXX and received a reply from them to contact them via private message. It was only during this exchange, when they asked for the user handle for the account XXXX ' contacted me with, in which I realized I was scammed. Both XXXX and I reported the fraudulent account, and I immediately contacted my bank XXXX to request for a wire transfer recall. I also have been contacted both by telephone and email from XXXX, acknowledging the scam, in which I can provide proof as well. 

I sent an email to the executive leadership at First Financial Bank in Texas ( can provide proof ), on XX/XX/2023 to provide details of the scam and proof, in which I received a call from a " XXXX XXXX '' early that morning, who said he works in the Fraud Investigation from the bank, and informed me that I will get back my money. He also informed me that they were investigating the account ( I provided them with the account information from the scammer ). However, he called me back later that day to tell me that the bank is still working on it, and that he would call me back on Tuesday, XX/XX/2023 -- to which he didn't. I sent a follow up with my bank ( XXXX ) the day before ( XX/XX/XXXX ), and received a reply today that First Financial Bank denied the wire recall, as there is no money in the account. Which makes sense why XXXX XXXX never followed-up with me. The fact that I was promised my money back, and now the bank denied the wire recall is absurd.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation