Consumer complaint received 2024-04-28
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (GA)

To whom it may concern, I am a victim of fraud through wire transfer. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from Wells Fargo. The caller id on phone appeared as Wells Fargo and the number that appeared was Wells Fargos customer service number. When I answered the phone the person on the other line identified his self as XXXX XXXX from the fraud department at Wells Fargo. He told me that there was suspicious activity on my business account involving two wire transfers. He was requesting verbal authorization to confirm these two wire transfers. I asked whom the wire transfers were being sent to? He stated that both wire transfers were being sent to XXXX XXXX. One of the wire transfers were to a roofing company based out of XXXX and the other wire transfer was to a man named XXXX XXXX. I told XXXX that both of those wires were not authorized. He told me that we need to recall both wires for the total amount of {$23000.00}. He placed me on hold to gather the additional information about these wire transfers and to place a hold on any other transactions on my business account. When being placed on hold. The hold music was exactly the same as Wells Fargo. When XXXX returned back to our conversation. He had me access my business account on my phone. He talked me through how to perform a recall by using the option to wire money. He had me list him as the receipt ant. He talked me through all the text messages that I was receiving from Wells Fargo. He stated that they were auto generated and to dismiss them. After the wire transfer was completed. He told me that my account would be locked for 24-hours while an investigation was being performed. I would also not be able to access the account during this time. He gave me the wire id number. He also told me that he would be in contact with on XX/XX/XXXX to transfer the funds to a new account because of fraud. He provided me with a new account number. 
I alerted the rest of the business partners as to what had happened. One of the partners did access the account and showed me that there was a pending amount for {$23000.00}. I hung up the phone and called Wells Fargo from the number that XXXX called me from. The phone number was in fact Wells Fargos customer service line. By the time that the wire went though, and the fraud claim was reported was a little over an hour. When I spoke to Wells Fargo about what had happened, I was transferred to serval people in different departments. I explained what had taken place to several people within different departments. I finally got a hold of someone who could place a recall on the wire. I was given a case number. I was never told by Wells Fargo at any point of me reporting fraud initially that I need to contact my local law enforcement to report the crime or to contact the FTC. I found this out by researching. I reached out to my local law enforcement and the FTC the next following day. During the day I received another telephone call from XXXX with the same credentials on my caller ID. He proceeded to try to get me to transfer the funds from business account to the account number that he provided with yesterday. I told him that I was in a business meeting, and I would need to get a phone number to contact him later because I was unsure how long the meeting would last. He provided me with a phone number. He called serval times though out the day. I did not answer. 
I was in contact with Wells Fargo consistently during the 15-day investigation inquiring about the status of the money that was stolen. Each telephone call that I placed, I have to retell the whole event and was transferred to deferent departments to retell the event again, even though I had a case number about my claim. I was told by multiple personal during these conversations that fraud is prevalent. I was also told that Wells Fargo will not directly call you during these conversations. However, during these conversations I was asked to provide a call back number in case the phone call was dropped during this conversation. During one of my conversations with Wells Fargo, my call was transferred to a customer advocacy representative. I had to retell the event again and during our conversation, it was mentioned that it could be someone working for Wells Fargo. Due to the caller Id, hold music and correct terminology that was used during my conversation with XXXX. 
The case was closed on XX/XX/XXXX and a refund of {$3200.00} was issued to the business account. I called Wells Fargo. I wanted to know where the rest of the money was. I was told by a representative that there was a loss due to fees and exchange. I didnt understand because how is there {$20000.00} in fees and this was a domestic wire. I was transferred to many departments until I spoke with a representative at the wire department. I was then told that the amount that was returned was what funds were available in the account that the money was wired to. I asked to re-open this case. I was transferred to another representative that explained to me that I would get a case manger to review the case and that I would be contacted in 1-2 business days. The case manager did contact me to review the case. I was told by the case manager that the review should not take longer that XX/XX/XXXX unless an extension is needed. During this conversation, I pointed out that the account number that was given to me when I first reported the fraud matches the last 4 digits of XXXX XXXX account were the money was wired to. I also mentioned that a customer advocacy representative I told me that this fraud could be from someone who is employed at Wells Fargo. The representative stated that I would receive a call once the determination was made. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a telephone call from the case manager. I was told that only {$3200.00} was reimbursed and that there were no other reimbursements to be credited to the account. During this conversation, the case manger was recalling details of the multiple conversations that were documented from pervious conversations that I had with Wells Fargo. The case manager stated that the fraud took place on XX/XX/XXXX and that the fraud was reported on XX/XX/XXXX. I corrected the case manager. The case manager also stated that I feel like an employee that works at Wells Fargo is responsible for committing fraud. I corrected the case manager and stated that a customer advocacy representative had eluded me to this possible outcome. I ended the conversation. 
I do have a letter and email from Wells Fargo with details as well. 
This situation has caused me extreme stress, trust issues, and has cost my business a financial hardship. 
I would like to bring awareness to the public about wire fraud and the outcome of my experience. I feel that the Wells Fargo did not have proper protocols set in place to prevent this from happening to me and many others that this has happened to. I have never wired money out of any accounts in this way. I was also not aware that there are many was to educate yourself about fraud on the Wells Fargo website. Which is not visible as fraud on the home page. Fraud is listed under education and tools. I feel that if this information was more visible clients would take notice instead as an afterthought. I also dont trust that all the information I reported initially was documented properly, even though I was on a recorded line. Their needs to be protocols in place for wire transfers to stop wire fraud. Money can be transferred as wires immediately. It is dangerous because all that is required to wire money is a recipients name and security texts that warn you to make sure that your sending the wire to the right recipient. In my situation how could I have known about the proper ways to have a wire recalled. 
We are a small business that specializes in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX