Consumer complaint received 2017-05-15
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Money order
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I am a victim of a scam, and although I fell prey to this scam my bank, ( PNC Bank ), should bear all of the responsibility with regards to how it was handled. After applying for a part-time job as a XXXX XXXX I received in the mail, via postal express envelope, on or aboutXX/XX/XXXX. Inside was a postal money order for {$990.00} along with instructions as to what to do as a XXXX XXXX. I was to deposit the postal money order at my bank, ( PNC Bank ), and withdraw {$800.00}, and deposit the {$190.00} as my fee for being a XXXX XXXX this week. Before I went to my bank on XX/XX/XXXX I took notice of the Postal Money Order to be certain this was a good Postal Money Order, and not a scam. On the face of the money order in capital letters is " SEE REVERSE WARNING. '' Now on the reverse is as follows : WARNING CASHIER REQUIRE POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION HOLD TO LIGHT AND CHECK FOR XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX The cashier did none of these things, and had she done so she XXXX  have seen this XXXX XXXX Order was fictitious. I myself checked for the XXXX of XXXX XXXX, and it was there, however what I did n't pickup on was the fact that the XXXX thread was on the outside of this Postal Money Order, and not embedded inside like it is supposed to be. The cashier did not check anything on the reverse side, nor did she check for the XXXX, or the XXXX thread and did n't notice the security thread was on the outside. As a consumer I missed the security thread, but she, as a teller of PNC Bank, should have caught this security thread infraction, and would certainly have found this money order to be fictitious. With the {$800.00} I took from the money order I went to XXXX and was instructed to purchase {$800.00} in XXXX gift cards. I was to then report back to them on how I was treated by the clerk/cashier. I then took the gift cards, and was to take a picture of the reverse side after I exposed the pin numbers. I was to hang onto the gift cards for my next assignment. A couple of days later, ( I believe Monday XX/XX/XXXX ), I received another postal express envelope with 2 Postal Money Orders for {$970.00} each, ( {$1900.00} ). There were no instructions this time so I called them and told them I was finished as I did n't feel comfortable with this program, and I was going to return the money orders. He told me that the money orders were made payable to me, and he could n't cash them. So he gave me the name of his bank ... XXXX XXXX XXXX and gave me the account number. I was to cash the money orders at my bank and to deposit the money into his bank account at XXXX XXXX XXXX. A week goes by, ( I 'm not good on these dates but they are close ), in my mailbox XX/XX/XXXXare 5 envelopes from PNC Bank ... I thought " this is not good. '' Sure enough all 3 of the Postal Money Orders were returned as fictitious. Since I had overdraft protection they took the money from my checking account and then depleted our savings account to a balance of one cent. There were also several checks not clearing my checking account because that was depleted down to {$55.00}. I went to the bank and spoke with the branch manager, ( XXXX new to this branch ). He tells me that his cashiers had been instructed not to cash any money orders. In fact the person who helps us with our accounts told my wife if she was here at the time, ( she was on leave ), she would have never cashed those money orders. Now the same cashier cashed all 3 of these money orders, ( {$2900.00} ), and she not only did n't pay attention to the warnings on the money orders to see if they were good, but she did n't follow instructions from her manager to : NOT TO CASH MONEY ORDERS! Either one of these many warnings would have stopped the cashing of these money orders, and we would n't have lost all that money. I will never again have overdraft protection on our accounts. It should have never gotten to this point if the cashier, and the bank had done its job. Are we suppose to lose our savings, and most of our checking accounts because the teller did n't do her job? I think not! I have filed with the PNC Bank home office, or regional office in XXXX Pennsylvania to no avail. They told me there was nothing they could do for us. I had already at that point filed with the local police, the FBI, the FTC, the State Attorney General 's Office, the Post Office/Postal Inspectors, and my Congressman. I have been in contact with the local newspaper XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and the XXXX XXXX. I also sent an email to XXXX, and one to the President Donald Trump.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation