Consumer complaint received 2022-06-29
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
A case of grand larceny by false pretense ( a felony level crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a {$25000.00} fine ) : I was looking for rental properties on XXXX XXXX and found a place I liked and reached out to a man named XXXX XXXX. He urged me to sign a rental contract, pay the security deposit or else he would rent it to someone else ( which is actually rather common in high-demand rental markets ). I asked if I could speak with the previous tenant, to which he replied that she had died a few days prior. I found this suspicious, but the small building did have several retirement age residents publicly listed residing there. 

On XX/XX/2022, I paid the security deposit of {$600.00} and half-month 's rent of {$950.00}. I realized after the fact that the names did not match : the XXXX transfer was to XXXX XXXX, not XXXX. Thereafter, I looked up both names with no meaningful hits in the area. Similarly, the company XXXX XXXX, which he manages the rentals through, had no online presence whatsoever. The profile on XXXX that was used to create the rental listing was also taken down. He proceeded to contact me once more by text claiming that he was offering a 15 % discount to tenants that agree to stay at least 3-12mo, but would require an additional month 's rent to unlock the discount. I did not pay this, but instead pointed out that my original and signed rental agreement explicitly has me staying a full year. After this I asked if I could see the apartment ( he deferred this question priorly ), noting that I had the week off and would be able to fully accommodate his own schedule. He said that he just had XXXX and was on a boat in XXXX and would be unable to show it to me, but noted that his son was finishing his program and would be able to show it to me the following week. I did not find this acceptable and asked if he had friends around that he trusted that could show me the apartment in his place. He refused and just said that I would have to wait until his son had the time on the coming Thursday. 

I later followed up and asked when specifically I would be able to see the apartment with his son and XXXX said that someone broke into his sons house and his son was shot in the leg. XXXX then wanted to send me a check, quite notably before saying that they stole over {$50000.00} from his bank account and he closed his account. I asked how he planned to pay me with a check if his bank account is closed, he said that he would have a friend do it. I told him to just send it by bank transfer such as XXXX or wire transfer, XXXX refused and maintained that he could only do it by check ( which would likely bounce ). I asked if he could instead just mail me the keys to the apartment and move up the lease start date accordingly, to which he refused and said I would need to wait until my contractual move in ( despite no one living there right now ). I then asked how I would receive the keys and he said to contact him at move-in week. I did so and he said his son would take care of it, but that he needed {$500.00} to get to XXXX to drop off the keys. I refused to give him this money as it is not the responsibility of the tenant to fulfill the commitments of the landlord, noting that if I did not receive the keys by the lease start date then XXXX would be in material breach of contract and pursued accordingly. He wished me luck in my pursuit. 

After filing CFPB cases with both XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( XXXX  ) and XXXX, XXXX  told me that the receiving bank was Truist Financial, which is based in North Carolina. Both BoA and PNC closed my CFPB complaint noting that there was nothing to be done on their end and that I should take it up with Truist. Upon calling Truist and informing them that they have a client engaging in felony-level financial fraud they not only told me that they could not file a report to investigate, but that I also had to take up the issue with my own banks ( against the advice of my banks, which was explicitly noted to the Truist representatives ). Given that Truist refuses to do anything at all when alerted to the fact that they are enabling the felony crimes of their client, I view that this constitutes a material and deliberate disregard for federal law on the part of Truist. 

In addition to the attached evidence, I have the following information : XXXX ( a spoofed number ) XXXX ( his rental company email ) XXXX ( linked to his XXXX and Truist account ) IC3/FTC case XXXX XXXX XXXX Police case XXXX XXXX CFPB Complaint # XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ) CFPB Complaint XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Transaction ID : XXXX ( XXXX, {$950.00}, XX/XX/2022 ) Transaction ID : XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX, {$600.00} XXXX XX/XX/2022 )

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