Consumer complaint received 2022-02-24
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: WA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
I was the victim of fraud and reported it immediately to Wells Fargo, who then allowed the fraudulent transactions to post to my account anyway. 

It started when my friend, XXXX, asked me to help her because her XXXX mother had been scammed and she was on the phone with XXXX Customer Service/Fraud prevention in order to help her mother, XXXX, get refunded. The " customer service '' person, who ended up being a scammer, said they needed another person in order to verify XXXX XXXX XXXX account ; which they said they would use to refund her mother XXXX The scammer, who I believed to be a legitimate customer service representative for XXXX XXXX had me do a screen share using the app 'XXXX XXXX ', so he could " help us '' better. He then had XXXX XXXX me {$4300.00}, which he then instructed me to XXXX to XXXX in the form of two transactions, {$1600.00} and {$1500.00}. ( I would later find out that the XXXX account was fake and did not belong to XXXX ). He told me that the transactions were unsuccessful and that we would have to use XXXX to get XXXX her money back. He had me send the {$4300.00} from my XXXX to the Wells Fargo checking account associated with my XXXX. He then instructed me to send XXXX transactions to accounts/names I did not recognize ; and then, I started to feel that something was wrong. After these transactions XXXX  and I ended the phone call. I asked XXXX more about how she came to be in this situation, and we figured out it was a scam. I immediately changed all passwords and deleted all applications associated with this incident. I then went to my local Wells Fargo branch and was told they could not help me and to call the Wells Fargo customer support to report the fraud. I called immediately and explained the situation as best I could, as I was very shaken up and confused. I let the Wells Fargo employee know that I wanted my accounts closed and new ones open to prevent any further fraudulent transactions from being posted, and I opened claims on all the XXXX transactions. The representative let me know that the initial {$4300.00} that was added to my account was greater than the amount that I had sent out via XXXX, and I actually had more than I started with. This money was not available to me in my account as I had reported it as a part of the claim. 

I did not look at my accounts until I deposited a check at the ATM the next month, as I thought this issue had been resolved and put behind me. I discovered my savings account had been wiped out from a balance of over {$3000.00} to just {$700.00}. I immediately went inside my bank branch for help and was again turned away and told to call. It turns out that even after asking Wells Fargo to close my accounts with the express purpose of preventing additional fraud, that they allowed further fraud to occur to my account. What I was able to figure out by looking at my account is that the initial XXXX transactions of {$1600.00} and {$1500.00} that the scammer had said did not " go through '' had actually come directly from my personal checking and savings instead of the {$4300.00} that was sent to me. I believe this happened due to the screen share and that the scammer orchestrated this. 

These transactions caused my savings to be over-drafted ; at no time did Wells Fargo contact me to warn me of the further fraud, or put any kind of " freeze '' on my account or debit card. 

Though this was the first transaction made, it was the last to post ; and therefore, was not a part of my initial claim. I submitted a claim to Wells Fargo about these transactions. The Wells Fargo representative who helped me the second time I called was able to tell me that the initial claims filed had been handled incorrectly by the first representative who helped me. The second representative corrected the initial claims and also started new ones. All claims were ultimately denied even though I explained to them that the transactions should not have been allowed to post several days after I had closed the account to prevent further fraud. They said that the account had not been closed properly and that all pending transactions simply transferred to the new account. In this, Wells Fargo is enabling the scammer in taking my money and is being dishonest with me as their customer. 

I opened a claim for the {$1600.00} and {$1500.00} with XXXX ; as I had figured out that these are the transactions when money was actually stolen from me, wherein the XXXX transactions were by the scammer taking back ( the {$4300.00} ) that had been sent to my XXXX. The XXXX claims were also denied. 

From what I have read of Regulation E of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, I am legally owed a refund of {$3100.00} that the scammer stole from me by either of both Wells Fargo and XXXX who allowed fraud to happen even after I reported it and alerted them in order to prevent the fraud to take place.

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