Consumer complaint received 2018-07-17
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (NC)

My son had opened a checking account with Wells Fargo Bank in 2013 after high school, and a savings account last summer. My husband and I were distressed he could only have only access and a debit card as we both knew the potential for tremendous fraud and Wells Fargo 's spotty record last summer. He had just XXXX   from XXXX and was unable to get a credit card as he did not find a fulltime paying job and was working an unpaid XXXX at a XXXX that quickly ballooned to 40-50 hours with an abusive boss. He had previously checked his account daily and recorded every debit amount and subtracted. Both my husband and son have battled XXXX since the death of my father-in-law of XXXX and XXXX  XXXX XXXX of my mother-in-law. She was admitted to the hospital in mid-XXXX and placed under XXXX XXXX. While this was going on, someone had obtained my son 's debit card number ( perhaps at a gas station with a skimmer or in a restaurant, and guessed his pin ( which he had set as the home phone number ). In the course of 24 days they systematically drained his checking and his savings account of {$36000.00} -- his lifetime earnings and inheritance and gifts toward XXXX  school. Multiple withdrawals were going through : with the dates processed by Wells Fargo : On XXXX XXXX, 3 purchases at XXXX XXXX # XXXX : {$510.00}, {$260.00}, and {$260.00} ; On XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX # XXXX : {$230.00} and {$280.00} ; On XXXX XXXX, 3 XXXX XXXX to XXXX : {$110.00}, {$130.00}, and {$360.00} Also on XXXX XXXX, 3 transfers from XXXX savings of {$500.00}, XXXX, and {$1000.00} On XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX, 2 purchases : {$700.00} and {$1000.00} ; On XXXX XXXX, at XXXX XXXX XXXX, {$1400.00} : On XXXX XXXX, transfers from XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX savings of {$1400.00} and {$3000.00} On XXXX XXXX, at XXXX XXXX XXXX, {$1800.00} On XXXX XXXX, transfers from XXXX Savings of {$2000.00} and {$2800.00} On XXXX, at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$2500.00} and {$2700.00}. 

On XXXX XXXX, transfers from XXXX savings of {$1400.00}, XXXX, XXXX and {$1500.00} On XXXX XXXX, a purchase at XXXX XXXX # XXXX : {$1300.00} : On XXXX XXXX, at XXXX XXXX XXXX : {$1500.00}. 
On XXXX XXXX, cash withdrawal of {$4000.00} in a Wells-Fargo branch. 
On XXXX XXXX, payments to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, NC : {$600.00} and {$500.00} ; On XXXX, Purchase at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXX XXXX {$200.00} On XXXX XXXX, purchase at XXXX XXXX # XXXX : {$1500.00}. 

HIs debit card was never out of his pocket. The number was easy to guess.He was negligent in not checking the balance before he began trying to fix it, but he did try. The fraud was obvious to the banker who took the initial complaint and to the investigator. Other than two charitable donations of {$100.00}, his average purchase was never more than {$25.00} and he averaged about {$96.00} a month in expenditures. In the 24 days above, over {$16000.00} was moved from savings to checking, and at least {$36000.00} was drained from checking. Despite a supposed daily ATM credit limit of {$310.00}, a " cash e-withdrawal '' {$550.00} was made in XXXX from the XXXX XXXX and the daily purchase limit of {$5000.00} exceeded. The payments to XXXX XXXX in another city, clearly fraudulent, were never questioned. We had filed the necessary sheriff 's reports, identify theft reports, checked his credit ( he does not have a credit rating or card ), and I had written the CEO of Wells Fargo a registered letter with signature confirmation. 
The fraud was not discovered earlier because I did not have access to a paper statement of the account even though Wells Fargo has taken $ XXXX yearly from me for years for a paper statement. My husband was being called to the XXXX home 4-5 times daily and he and my son were both grieving and XXXX. Nonetheless, we had NO NOTIFICATION whatsoever from Wells Fargo of the fraud except a single call to XXXX at the end of the 24 day emptying of both accounts that he was overdrawn and needed to move money. He even borrowed from a younger brother and that was likewise stolen. I did not discover this until the end of the school year when i began opening bank statements addressed only to my husband in violation of U.S. postal law and saw that a {$20000.00} balance in XXXX had been completely drained. In all, about {$46000.00} plus a couple of family loans was taken -- hourly pay from working other jobs. The branch manager at XXXXXXXX XXXX had assured us that while our boys needed to check bank statements, Wells Fargo had an excellent fraud department and would surely notice anything really unusual. 
The fraud was reported XX/XX/XXXX, his accounts closed, and the remaining checking and savings balances transferred to new accounts ( with his outside jobs and some other money, he had about {$7500.00} left of over {$46000.00} ). In supposed violation of the ten-day investigation period, a letter arrived yesterday stating that because no one could have used a chip debit card or guessed his pin without his loaning it out, the fraud was his own fault and no further action would be taken. We promptly called the XXXX XXXX  XXXX. We went through several levels of incompetence. XXXX could not explain who looked at fraudulent or questionable claims and how they were judged or who would have been responsible for letting us know of an issue. We had to go three levels up the chain of command before anyone had the slightest idea of what an " cash e-withdrawal '' was. They kept insisting that my son had been responsible because " our cards can not be defrauded '', yet we found numerous financial articles online explaining how the numbers are skimmed and the pin is obtained by hacking into merchant sites as the individual transaction numbers are completed. Information was available on how phony debit cards can be created with a chip that bypasses all three standard forms of pin verification, so that the thieves can simply type in any four random numbers for a PIN. Wells Fargo kept insisting their card was secure and had never been breached, a statement I trust about as much as their assertion " every customer 's well-being is equally important to us '' and their assertions of innocence in all of the fraud the last XXXXwo years with Wells Fargo. We also learned that " you were responsible for the fraud because the card and pin were used by you or someone with whom you shared the information '' is the standard bank response, going back to XXXX chip cards and EMVs, to avoid all charges of incompetence or failure on their part. Because my husband persisted for over an hour all the way to the top, Wells Fargo grudgingly opened a new investigation after he mentioned my registered letter to the CEO/President, XXXX XXXX XXXX. I am also pursuing this with you and through the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal trade Commission and considering other legal measures. This has worked an extreme hardship on him by wiping out the inheritance to be used for XXXX school and all of the monies he earned from 3 other jobs. He tried to handle it himself, without our help, and Wells Fargo has ruined his financial life at this point with blatant disregard for how their actions in a time of crisis and XXXX affected him.