Consumer complaint received 2016-09-13
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: DC
Product: Credit card
Issue: Identity theft / Fraud / Embezzlement

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern : I am currently a 20 year old in my second year XXXX. I set up a credit card in my name last year along with assistance from my parents in order to establish a good line of credit for the future. I used it only for small transactions, always paid the bills on time, and had an excellent credit score within my first year of use. My parents, XXXX and XXXX XXXX, are lifelong users of Wells Fargo. I am currently in the process of appealing the decision that Wells Fargo made to deny my fraud claim of {$14000.00}, because they cited that because they could see that the chip was used and I claimed the card was in possession at that time, it obviously could not have been fraud. I am appealing for XXXX reasons : because there is a possibility that someone stole my card and was able to use it while I thought it was in my possession ; the bank is at fault for allowing a charge {$12000.00} over my {$1500.00} credit limit to be processed and failing to notify me of the charge ; and finally, because I have absolute proof that I was not anywhere near the town in which the charge occurred and have absolutely no idea how this has become my responsibility when it is obviously a fraudulent charge. 

XX/XX/XXXX I was completing a homestay and XXXX classes in XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. I made a small trip to XXXX one day and had my items stolen from me, and while I initially filed in the police report that my credit card was in my bag and stolen, when I later checked I found my card amongst my things and believed that it had never been taken from me. However, I realize now this is a possible explanation, if someone was able to duplicate the card and somehow return it to me. 

While I am not sure if someone stole my card or not I believe that there could have been a period of time when the card was out of my possession. After my trip to XXXX, I returned to XXXX XXXX and stayed in a hostel in XXXX XXXX la XXXX on XXXX XXXX, the same day that the fraudulent charge occurred on my card in a city over 6 hours away. I have a receipt from the hostel I stayed at proving that I used the same credit card at this hostel that was charged the {$14000.00} on the exact same day in a town I have never heard of, over 6 hours away from me. 

I was not even notified by Wells Fargo of the obscene amount of money being charged to my card. It was not even indicated that the charge put me over my credit limit, which is only {$1500.00}. The morning that I discovered the charge was when I logged onto my bank account and saw the {$14000.00}. I had only a few minutes to call and report the fraud before a tour booked that morning, and no one was able to tell me why this charge was allowed to go through and why my card was n't cancelled. I told the fraud claim department that I had the card in my possession and did not notify them at the time that it could have been potentially stolen, because I did n't see the information necessary when I had the card with me. At the time, I did not think that someone had physically taken my card since I regained possession of it mysteriously, so that is why I did not notify my bank of my items being stolen, believing that it was in my possession the whole time. 

This charge was at a supermarket in XXXX that I have never stepped foot in nor heard of before. It would be literally impossible to charge this amount to the card through a regular purchase of items, and I have absolutely no idea how the supermarket itself was able to put this charge through or how the person committing the theft would have gotten the money in the first place, since it is impossible that the store had that much cash on hand. This is obviously the work of someone who knows what they 're doing and not my own doing of a XXXX year old XXXX in XXXX who barely speaks the language.

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 monetary relief