Consumer complaint received 2018-05-29
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CO
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
This unfortunate event happened on XX/XX/2018. I was going to buy two tickets for a hockey game from a post from XXXX for {$120.00}. The seller was originally selling four ticket for {$100.00} each, but I only needed two and we agreed on {$120.00} for two tickets. The guy said he was going to transfer me the tickets to my flash-seat account, so I gave him my email address so he could transfer the tickets. I sent the money through XXXX to a XXXX XXXX XXXX account from my Wellsfargo account. In order for me to transfer the money I needed his name and phone number. So the money was sent and no tickets were received. It was a total scam, I tried calling him multiple times and it turns out that he blocked me and the number he gave me was a temporary number, like the ones that you can get online. I called my bank multiple times and was told that the money had already been paid and that they could not do anything. I called my bank the next day again and I was able to open a claim and per Wellsfargo they could not refund me the money and that the money was paid out to a person with a different name and not the name that I was given by the scammer. I don't know how that happened that the money was received by a different account holder name. I did not think that the money could be deposited to an account with a different name. I thought the name had to match and the phone number, but I guess that was not the case. If what I was told by Wellsfargo was correct that the name is not the one that the scammer gave me, I think that person should return me my money. I think that's illegal for someone to keep a money that doesn't belong to them. I also submitted a complaint to XXXX and off course they never responded. I called XXXX and they could not help me, they told me that my bank ( Wellsfargo ) needed to help me. I submitted a police report and they could not help me. So I am not getting help form anyone. I think that either XXXX XXXX  XXXX or Wellsfargo need to give me my money back. I am not happy with Wellsfargo because if they are offering me a service they need to make sure that their consumers are protected either by you ( Wellfargo ) or by XXXX. Wellsfago needs to make sure that there are consumer protection regulations in place and fraud protection with the service that they are offering ( XXXX ). After this incident happened, I did my research and it appears that a lot of the fraud is happening between Wellsfargo and XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, also 90 % of the transactions that are done through XXXX are fraud related. Something needs to be done immediately. I felt confident that since my bank was offering a service that they have done all their due diligence to protect the consumer. This can not happen anymore, this needs to stop. I thought I could trust Wellsfargo, but I don't think I can anymore. Yes, I learned my lesson not to send money to anyone through XXXX if I don't know the person. But I would like a full refund on my transaction.

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