Consumer complaint received 2024-02-19
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION (CA)

Good evening, I write to you with regards of reporting a scam for renting a unit and my actions with attempting to notify Navy Federal Credit Union ( my bank ) and XXXX XXXX ( the scammers bank ). 
On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX XXXX reaching back about a rental listing I had asked more information about through XXXX of the rental listing sites such as XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. This occurred during XXXX via email traffic. I have been searching for homes since early XXXX. The listing was for property located at ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXXXXXX ) XXXX sq ft which is currently available from XX/XX/XXXX for {$1700.00} monthly rental fee and {$1700.00} security deposit that was listed as refundable. Total move in cost would be {$3400.00}. They asked for personal details such as name DOB and photo of my drivers license and military ID which I provided. The email included photos of the property and what it looks like inside. 
I stated that I was interested and applied on the XXXX XXXX. The next day I received confirmation that my application was approved and that to secure the unit were through XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and bank transfer, I chose at first to use the XXXX transfer which my bank had denied 3 times and then resorted to do a wire transfer to the landlord. The following are his banking information : PAYMENT MODE : Wire Transfer Bank Name : XXXX XXXX bank Routing # XXXX Acct # XXXX XXXX XXXX ( Landlord ) Reference/Memo : XXXX # XXXX Bank Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX Turns out later on looking up this address, its of a XXXX XXXX located in XXXX 
On XXXX XXXX I sent over {$1700.00} at XXXX and {$1700.00} at XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX, the money was deducted but XXXX XXXX kept saying that the money has not gone through. I therefore at this point started to suspect that this was not feeling right and started to ask other coworkers about my situation and started to inspect any red flag signs such as the ID card provided to me and looked up the landlord through public records and could not find them. At this point my chain of command began to get involved and we were suspecting that this is a scam. We waited a day for a response. 
On XXXX XXXX XXXX responded and I asked for the landlords number and his number which he provided XXXX hours later. This day, I noticed that I could no longer log into my bank account and I called Navy Federal who provided limited to no help with my situation to the situation I was in. I did manage to confirm through the phone that the funds went through and was told that I could not get them back since I was the one who made the transfer. I called again and was transferred to a different department to attempt to unlock my account and was no help due to the short time window for me to retrieve the one-time passcode provided through the phone. The phone call was made through a phone located one floor above the only computer I could have access to the email registered to my bank account. In spite of having provided my social, DOB, full name, and requested to speak to management I was not awarded the opportunity to have a second chance to retrieve my account access through the phone while out in the middle of the ocean and limited resources. I opted for the second option which was to submit a written request to access my account which I was told it would be processed XXXX hours and sent that via email to XXXX. I never received confirmation or a response for the request. 
I maintained communication with XXXX and requested a refund for my money at XXXX on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX not respond until the XXXX XXXX at XXXX stating the following XXXX XXXX XXXX how are you today? Got your email about refund yesterday. We will definitely refund you. But we are having issue with wellsfargo and we still never access the money. 
I proceeded to call XXXX XXXX with the plan to hopefully flag his account as a fraudulent account and they suggested to talk to my bank since I am not a XXXX XXXX member and was not the account holder and to have the owner of the account be put on the phone to confirm the account. I stated multiple times that I understood not being an active account holder but that I was the victim to a scam and that I have the account holders information to be looked into. 
XXXX XXXX, I returned to XXXX XXXX and was able to have service, I picked up my car from storage and headed physically to the bank to unblock my account and also to receive help with submitting the claim to retrieve my money back. I was shown how to submit the claim but told that it most likely will be denied since I made the wire transfer. I still sent in the report with supporting documentation from the email conversations with the scammer, property manager and the real agent that sold the home on XX/XX/XXXX. I also proceeded to submit an FTC complaint with the case number XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received the response that my claim has been denied. I currently do not have a place to stay due to having lost all of my savings. I was planning on living in my car but luckily my chain of command allowed me to stay on base for the maximum of XXXX and search for homes. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I submit a CFPB complaint because I do not understand how does a military friendly bank not support their clients especially when being on XXXX with limited resources. All doors with this bank had been closed for me. If I would have had the knowledge on what to look out for this would have not happened. There were other members whom too were searching for rentals and were not scammed.