Consumer complaint received 2024-07-24
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (OH)

( Note : I've attached a full explanation with screenshots of correspondence to this complaint. I am copying the text portion of the situation summary here, but please view the attached document for the full explanation with evidence. ) To whom it may concern, Here is an explanation of all the events related to the recent scam I was unfortunately involved in, in hopes that Wells Fargo could help me successfully dispute the fraudulent {$1000.00} charge. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, while I was at my friends wedding, I received a missed call about my XXXX  services ( wifi ) ending soon. I was told I would need to restart my services or else they would be cut. I had told XXXX  at the start of my services XX/XX/XXXX that I only need wifi for a year, so the timing matched up in my mind. In addition, the scam agent knew my name, address, and last XXXX of my credit card, which unfortunately made him appear more credible to me. I was told that XXXX was partnering with XXXX to give a discount for customers for the next XXXX  months, as long as payment was made upfront with a XXXX gift card. I unfortunately did not think too hard about this suspicious-sounding discount. Attached are the initial calls and invoice I was sent from these scammers. They told me they would charge me {$1.00} as a holding amount for this discount, which is the {$1.00} charge on XX/XX/XXXX I later disputed with Wells Fargo. 
The next morning, XX/XX/XXXX, I went and bought the XXXX gift card and paid it to the scammers, as I had been instructed under the pretense of a wifi-service discount. Later that day, I received a missed call from the scammers saying I needed to go buy another gift card from XXXX or XXXX as the XXXX  store I bought my original gift card from had a system shutdown and the gift card payment did not go through. Attached is my call back to that number where I tried to figure out what happened. Notice how this number matches up with the number at the bottom of the invoice. I was told that I had XXXX  days to make the payment or else my discount would be void, but that XXXX would refund my {$300.00} and send me an additional {$100.00} for the inconvenience. 
At this point, it became clear to me that I fell for a scam so I immediately blocked these numbers. I called Wells Fargo explaining the situation, as I felt my credit card had been compromised given the scammers knew a lot of my information ( below is the record of my phone call ). Wells Fargo cancelled my XXXX card and sent me a new one. They also helped me open a dispute for the {$300.00} XXXX  gift card I bought, even though I knew it would not ultimately be successful ( I was later called by their department where I gave my permission to close the dispute for this {$300.00} charge for the XXXX  gift card ). I felt at this point that the rest of my money would be secure. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received several texts from the scammers telling me that I needed to activate my promotion in order to receive my {$400.00} refund. I ignored these texts and blocked these numbers. The next day XX/XX/XXXX, however, I received XXXX texts saying I was being charged {$1000.00} due to not following through with the payment. I then received an official email from XXXX saying that I paid {$1000.00} via my XXXX card with Automated Agent. The scammers sent a follow-up text confirming that I had been charged {$1000.00}. I was extremely confused how the scammers could still use my XXXX card given it had been cancelled by Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX. I also received a call from Wells Fargo regarding this payment, as it had triggered a suspicious activity alert. I called back immediately to alert Wells Fargo that I was NOT the one who made this payment and was told that the fraud team would help me handle it. At this point, my newly mailed credit card was again cancelled, and a new one was sent. 
I called XXXX immediately after getting off the phone with Wells Fargo to clarify the situation and see why someone else could call in and make payments on my card. I was told by the agent on the phone that this XXXX gift card story was a known scam to XXXX. She explained that the scammers would promote the scam, get customers to pay for some amount of months up front via gift card, and then call back asking for more. She also said that as long as you know XXXX ) the customers name, XXXX ) service address and XXXX ) the last XXXX digits of a saved payment method of a XXXX customer, anyone around the world can call into XXXX  automated system to make a payment ( aka you dont even need to speak to an agent to make a payment ). Unfortunately, the XXXX card was a saved payment on my account, which is how the scammers made the fraudulent payment. The XXXX agent explained to me that the scammers would make these payments as a scare tactic to get their victims to quickly buy more gift cards in an attempt to avoid more charges. At this point, the {$1000.00} was still pending and I was told by XXXX that my bank, Wells Fargo, should help me dispute and prevent this transaction from going through. She also told me to remove the card from my saved payment methods to prevent future similar incidences, which I did the next morning. I no longer have cards saved to my XXXX account. 
Attached is a picture of my statements for XXXX, showing that I am only signed up for wifi services for a {$36.00} charge per month ( apart from the {$1.00} and {$1000.00} charges made by the scammers ). There is no reason why I should have been charged {$1000.00} NOR a reason for why I would make such payments. 
After I received this explanation from XXXX, I called Wells Fargo again to give them this update and confirm that I wanted to dispute the fraudulent charges. I was told that Wells Fargo would help me handle this case and that I should not worry. I was not given a dispute number during this phone call. Following this, I did not receive any further phone correspondence. It was during this period that the previously pending {$1000.00} posted to my account, meaning that the fraud department did not stop the transaction successfully. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Wells Fargo to check on the status of the investigation. I was told by the XXXX  agent that since I am a paying customer of XXXX, the fraudulent {$1000.00} charge should be handled by the credit card disputes department. This was quite frustrating to me given that I had waited for almost XXXX weeks just to be told nothing was being done because I was directed to the wrong department. I was given the number to credit card disputes, which I called on the same day to explain the situation. The agent told me on the phone that she could help me handle the {$1.00} ( which has been credited back to my account successfully ), but that the large value of {$1000.00} should be handled by the XXXX department as this was a payment fraudulently made in my name. She told me she would write a firm message to the fraud department about their responsibility to handle this case. I then called back the fraud department and told them the situation. Unfortunately, the XXXX  agent I reached had a lot of difficulty understanding, which was exhausting as this was the XXXX or XXXX time I have explained the entire story to Wells Fargo. I decided to call back later in hopes of getting a different agent. When I called back later the same day, I was told by this different agent that my second newly shipped credit card would AGAIN be cancelled ( he explained this was needed in order to start a fraud dispute ). This is incredibly confusing given a fraud dispute should have already been started XX/XX/XXXX when I called and explained the situation in full the XXXX  time. It has been almost a month of back and forth at this point. 
As far as correspondence from Wells Fargo, I have received XXXX letters in the mail regarding this dispute. The XXXX  has postage date XX/XX/XXXX, asking for additional supplemental documents, giving me XXXX  days to respond. I did not receive this letter in my mailbox until XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, at which point I started to draft this evidence document. The next one with postage date XX/XX/XXXX alerts me of my fraud claim being sent to the fraud department. On XX/XX/XXXX, not even XXXX  days after the postage date of the initial mail ( and only XXXX  days after they apparently formally forwarded my dispute to the fraud department ), Wells Fargo mailed me saying they investigated my claim and found that no fraud occurred. I received this in the mail today, XX/XX/XXXX. I emailed this evidence document to them via XXXX today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) at XXXX AND mailed a copy to them soon after. Today falls within the XXXX  days from my receipt of Wells Fargo 's mail, though it does not appear they intended to give me XXXX  days anyways. I called the Wells Fargo credit card fraud claims department today to clarify the situation and was told that he has re-forwarded the case to the fraud department and that I should receive news of their decision in XXXX  days. I have been told this same phrase XXXX times at this point. I do not believe Wells Fargo has taken the proper actions for this investigation. I have lost faith in the Wells Fargo fraud department completely and am asking for your help as a last hope. My Wells Fargo dispute number is XXXX.