Consumer complaint received 2016-09-10
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: AR
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I fell victim to a job scam for a XXXX that was starting business in America but is headquarter in XXXX ( they went the extra mile to prove legitimacy ) I was told by employer that client was sending me funds that I needed to open a business account at XXXX XXXX XXXX ( they apparently bank there and they said it was cheaper fees ). The wire transfer was sent from client to my bank account via wire transfer ... the bank approved the funds. I did the job. The client attempted to send me another wire transfer. I became uncomfortable with this because it went to my personal account with USAA and not the account they told me to set up. When I tried to send the money my account was froze. All I was told was that it would be three days and my account went to the fraud department ... no details. I talked to my employer who said he would send proof of legitimacy.I sent documents given by employer. When I was accused of fraud because the client spelled his name wrong my employer said he would contact an attorney and get back to me ... well needless to say I never got paid and he never called back. I discover I was part of a job scam. I call the bank to see what they said. They accused me of first party fraud because the client spelled his name wrong when he sent the first transfer. The bank took A WEEK to reject the XXXX wire transfer. I fell victim to a job scam. I know this now. Sadly the bank is keeping my fiance 's XXXX hard earned dollars and we were told we owe almost XXXX dollars! The bank has treated me horribly. They offered no help. I have filed with the state attorney general, the fbi Internet crimes department and the FTC. A domestic wire transfer should n't take a week to reject. USAA should have contacted me way before then, they said that they approved the funds so now we are stuck with the bill. They approved the funds in a few minutes, they should have called and questioned me and help me keep from falling for this. I fell for the scam because everything checked out there were details, numbers contracts and proof of registration as a business. I did n't know anything about job scams until now ... USAA knows who sent me the fraudulent wire transfer. I have the information and bank account numbers of where the money went. Instead of ordering me to repay what the bank was scammed out of why cant they go after the people who tricked me? USAA has hardly told me anything. They only accused me of fraud said they were exercising their rights to not do business with me or my fianc and said they were closing our account and we owe almost XXXX. I do n't feel like I was protected under fraud protection. They did n't provide any information once they froze the account they did n't ask questions to try to keep this from happening. To make matters worse they treated me wrong. When my fianc called they made it seem like we dilibertly caused this. If an investigation is opened to prevent fraud they should at least call and ask questions. Also when we called or messaged they would n't answer our questions. Why does n't the fraud department have a number to call and talk to someone? The day the wire transfer sent if they would have froze the account then and investigated it they could have found the error and rejected it. We spent a week with no money. Our bills are late and we lost our money. USAA did n't protect their customers. They set us up. It even says wire transfers are REVIEWED THE SAME DAY! This one was n't reviewed the same day.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation