Consumer complaint received 2020-06-10
Company: Remitly, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
This incident happened on XX/XX/2020. It's about a fraudulent transaction on my debit card with XXXX  XXXX XXXX and a company where I remit to send money to the XXXX called " Remitly. '' On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a text alert from XXXX  XXXX XXXX that my debit card balance dropped to XXXX, so I immediately checked my online account which I always do once or more times everyday, and true enough there were 5 different transaction amounting to XXXX plus 2 more transactions amounting to {$640.00}. So, I immediately called XXXX  and told them to stop those transactions because I have not authorized them. I even requested to have my debit card changed which they did. They said they were not going to process the transactions which were still pending at that time. I also called the merchant who was able to stop only some of the payments, the last 2 transactions still undergoing when I called them amounting to {$640.00} each. At that time, they said they were going to refund me whatever amount got posted. Also informed them that I talked to my bank already. So, I just waited for some time since they said it was going to take about 5-7 business days to process my refund. However, because it was my debit card that had fraudulent transctions, my overdraft protection kicked in and paid my debit card totalling to {$6800.00}. I was hopeful that I would get refund from either my bank or the merchant, so just waited patiently. I didn't call again until around XX/XX/XXXX but they said just to wait for the investigation. I had a hard time calling for Remitly especially around the lock down period, had to wait hours on the phone and called them several days before I spoke to someone finally on XX/XX/XXXX. Remitly told me they were able to stop just the last 2 payments but they won't pay for the 5 transactions that already went through because they said my bank should have been able to stop it. So, I was frustrated with their answer and re-submitted additional documents to XXXX. XXXX took it as a new claim and re-processed it, followed it several times through phone, until after about 6 weeks, they determined they were not paying for it. So, I re-submitted a new claim on XX/XX/XXXX, re-adjusting the amount from {$6800.00} to {$4900.00}. Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a sad news that they are not paying for the claim again. That's why, I thought of writing to you again. This incident truly gave me a lot of stress. I have been with XXXX  for over 15 years but never had this experience. I am not sure how my account got hacked and money was sent to someone in the XXXX I don't know. I don't know who to keep pushing remitly vs my bank. Thought I did what a prudent person would do to stop the transaction, calling and alerting my bank right away but it still the transaction went through. So, I need your help please investigating this. It's a huge amount of money especially during this pandemic. Hope you can give me a light on this. Truly appreciate your help!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation