Consumer complaint received 2021-12-12
Company: Chime Financial Inc
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX, I called Chime Bank to find out how to send {$2100.00} to my niece from my Chime spending account. She needed the funds right away, and I asked the Chime rep if there was another way to send the funds due to Chimes monthly transfer limit. The Chime rep suggested I might use XXXX to make this transfer. 

I then ran a XXXX search for XXXX customer service telephone number. The first link that came up was this XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. 
Because I was using my XXXX browser, I could only see the first portion of the URL in the search bar. It took me to a website that looked exactly like a XXXX site : same logo, same branding, etc. 

I called the number on the site and spoke with someone named XXXX, who identified himself as a XXXX agent at ext. XXXX. I told him I needed to ask some questions about using XXXX to transfer money from my Chime bank account to a friend, what the fee would be, how long it would take, etc. He said he could take care of the whole process for me on the spot, could verify my bank info, and make the transfer. Believing I was speaking to a XXXX rep ( he identified himself as a XXXX representative, who through his actions confirmed that I was performing a legitimate XXXX transaction ), I authorized the first transaction, but then he told me he needed to break up the amounts into several different transactions due to Chimes transfer limits, and that he needed to send the same transaction multiple times using varying amounts since it was not going through, and that I just needed to verify my identity to authorize the payments. 

After a very lengthy and detailed process, also involving several transfers of funds through my nieces XXXX account ( which XXXX said he needed to do as further part of the authorization and recipient verification process ), I began to suspect it might be a scam, and declined further transaction requests. However, the amounts that were pending at that point, finally finished this morning ( XX/XX/XXXX ), draining my account of further funds. 

During this process, he called and texted me from the following telephone numbers : XXXX XXXX ( caller ID said this number is from XXXX, OK ) When I began to suspect it was a scam, I went online to look for any information XXXX or anyone else might have posted warning consumers about this site or similar ones. I saw nothing. I went back to that same website later to verify its authenticity, and it still looked exactly like the XXXX website ( afterwards, knowing it was fraudulent, when I went back to that website on my computer, the design had changed somewhat, and it was more obvious that it wasnt XXXX ). I then contacted XXXX and informed them of what happened. I do feel that XXXX bears some responsibility for allowing this fraudulent website to exist, when surely other people must have also been deceived by it and also reported it to XXXX. 

On Sunday morning ( XX/XX/XXXX ), after I had realized the whole thing was a scam, I received a call from a Chime Bank rep who identified himself as XXXX. He said there had been suspicious activity on my account and asked me to verify some information, which I did. I explained the situation to him, reported the scam, gave him details, and asked him several questions about how Chime would handle the disputes. About 2 hours later, I called Chime customer support/fraud services to verify they had all the info they needed from me, and was told that no one from Chime had called me! I then demanded that the pending transactions ( I verified they were all still pending at that time ) be immediately cancelled since someone was stealing my money, and was told this was not possible until the transactions had cleared. I then demanded that Chime freeze my account until further notice from me, and was told this was not possible either. I then had my card deactivated. 

Below is detail of all my stolen funds from my Chime account due to this scam : Chime Dispute claim # XXXX ( resolved ) : {$2100.00} posted XX/XX/XXXX ( Sun ) @ XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Chime Dispute claim # XXXX ( resolved ) : {$490.00} posted XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXXXXXX XXXX merchant/recipient - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX {$1900.00} XXXX XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX XXXX  merchant/recipient - XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX -- -- XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX -- -- -- Chime Dispute claim # XXXX ( Chime has ruled NOT in my favor and will not restore my funds ) : {$1900.00} posted XX/XX/XXXX merchant/recipient - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX -- -- -- -- -- -- XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX -- -- - XXXX XXXX XXXX  claim # XXXX ( XXXX has not yet responded ) : {$1100.00} posted XX/XX/XXXX recipient - XXXX XXXXXXXX transfer conf. XXXX {$990.00} posted XX/XX/XXXX recipient - XXXX XXXX transfer conf. XXXX Ive reported these to XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. However, the full amount of the scammed funds came from my Chime account, and the XXXX withdrawals are likely duplicates. The fraudsters had transferred {$2100.00} into my XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX account on XX/XX/XXXX using XXXX, then transferred {$1100.00} and {$990.00} out of my XXXX  account using XXXX, per my notes above.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation