Consumer complaint received 2021-10-01
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (NV)

My husband and I were victims of wire fraud amounting to {$70000.00}. Here are the details of what transpired. We were in the process of making a home purchase. We are working with a realtor, a title company, and a loan company. The house in question is located in California. We were in constant communication with title company via email. We were able to successfully wire transfer Ernest funds to the tile company before using Chase. On the evening of XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX ), we received an email from the title company containing estimates and informing us that a mobile notary will arrive the same day for signing the closing documents. In the same email, they mentioned that we will receive a separate email shortly with all the details. At XXXX, we received another email confirming the time the mobile notary will arrive at our current address. We can verify that all communications up until this point were from the real title company. We did not receive any wiring information from the mobile notary and the notary mentioned that wire instructions may come to us directly from the title company as well. As soon as we signed the documents, we sent a follow up email at XXXX to the real title company informing her about a tax form that was incorrectly given to the mobile notary. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, we got an email response to our existing email thread with the title company saying that they had switched banks due to bad cheques and they attached updated wire instructions. This email was from a fake title company whose email address off by one letter. In this email, fake title company told us she was closing all day and we are to email her as soon as everything is confirmed so that our closing does not get delayed. The attached wiring instruction was to another Chase account and unknown to us, it was for someone random, not our title company. At around XXXX, we went to Chase bank to complete the wire transaction for {$70000.00} and made sure to include the title company 's name as the 'Account Name ' for the wire. At XXXX, my husband sent pictures of the wire transfer receipt which contains my drivers license, date of birth and most of my account information. At XXXX, fake title company responded confirming receipt and saying that everything is on track for closing. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, fake title company responded confirming the emails. That same morning, we got a call from our lender that the title company did not receive our funding. I called the title company and talked to the real person who said she didnt receive funding and the email confirmations were from someone else and that we need to call the bank right away. We went to a local Chase bank and informed them of the situation and they froze the receiving the account. We were told to contact phone/online support for a wire recall. After attempting to call and being re-routed multiple times to the Wire Research team, which is closed for covid, we were told the only way to reach them is online through secure messages. Even then, we were re-routed to calling a number, which again led to an automated message saying they are closed due to covid. Ultimately, I responded to the secured messages saying that I need to reach the team via messages ; however had not received a response by this time yet. We filed a police report on XX/XX/XXXX. On the same day, we went to the Chase branch from where we sent the wire from since we did not get a proper response from secure messages online. The branch manager checked all of the latest information, which indicated a case number was created for us regarding the wire investigation. The manager assured us that we were taking the right actions. The branch manager mentioned that since the 'Account Name ' did not match the account holder, the wire transfer should be flagged and bounced back even without us placing an investigation case. We checked on the case information today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and customer support agent mentioned that we are at fault for sending to the wrong account regardless of whether the account name matches or not and that the courtesy wire recall did not work. We explained we were victims of fraudulent emails and received wrong wiring instructions, but the agent said there was nothing the agent could do. We do not have any details on whether the money is fully in the recipient 's account or any details regarding the investigation. Contrary to what the agent told us, we got a response from secured messages saying the recall is still in process ; however this message is from the Retail Wire Service rather than the Wire Research team ( which is where everyone was attempting to re-route us to ) and provided no details as to when we can expect a resolution. We don't even know if the investigation was properly conducted and if the recipient 's account remains frozen ( as it should ).