Consumer complaint received 2024-03-29
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (MA)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I found a house listing on XXXX for rent. I reached out to the realtor, XXXX XXXX, with my personal email through the XXXX email relay. The realtor demanded my personal email address so he could send more information and the reservation contract of the listing. At this point, everything seems to be normal. XXXX appears to be an actual realtor who can legally practice broker services in the State of XXXX. However, the email XXXX sent has inconsistent font styles and sizes. Additionally, XXXX had few grammatical errors and unconventional English structures in his correspondent emails. Despite these suspicions, I chose to trust XXXX legitimacy and requested the contract document for the lease reservation. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX suggested I sign the contract and pay him the security deposit and first months rent for a total of {$3600.00} via XXXX for holding my leasing spot. I reviewed the contract ; it states that my payment is refundable if I choose not to proceed with the lease at the apartment viewing. Because I have a daily transfer limit of {$2000.00} for XXXX, I decided to transfer {$1800.00} for the security deposit to the said landlord XXXX XXXX. After the money transfer, I realized that more suspicions could be found than the leasing agreement and my communication with XXXX. 

In the contract, I revealed my legal name and phone number, so XXXX has retained my personal information. The next hour, I had a few African-origin phone numbers that started to spam my XXXX and added me to various bogus Stock Exchange group chats via my cellphone number. I looked up the property information on the XXXX of XXXX, XXXX, and found a mismatch between the property owners name and the owners name stated in the contract. Hence, XXXX XXXX is not the actual owner of the property. 

At the same time, I noticed the emails XXXX sent to me are not in the same time zone as mine. His time stamp of the email was 5 hours earlier than Eastern time, so it is possible that he is located on the other side of the Atlantic. 

With these new discoveries, I realized I was most likely scammed by XXXX, who impersonated the real XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX was not the owner of the property either. I decided to contact my bank, Chase Banks fraud department, to file a claim for my {$1800.00} transfer. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I also contacted XXXX, the transfer service. XXXX told me that I should contact Chase Bank for the claim process. XXXX has also informed me that XXXX transfer requires both recipient and sender to have a valid U.S. Social Security Number and U.S. number. Chase Bank has opened a case for me and informed me that the recipient, XXXX XXXX XXXX account, is also linked with Chase Bank. 

I requested that XXXX return my {$1800.00} to my account as I wanted to terminate the contract. XXXX then confirmed my email but left me with no more emails after retaining my legal name, XXXX email addresses, and phone number. 

When a Consumer receives no benefit after the transaction, it is clearly a violation covered by 12 CFR Part 1005.2 ( m ) - Electronic Fund Transfers ( Regulation E ). The recipient of the transfer is legally liable for the written agreement. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, Chase Bank notified me that they would not perform any action for my case because I had authorized the transfer. This would not be true as I have received no benefit from the transaction, and the recipients have stopped contacting me, likely giving my information to other scammers. Thus, Chase Banks reasoning is contradictory to that of clause 12 CFR Part 1005.2 ( m ).