Consumer complaint received 2024-03-20
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC. (NY)

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from someone claiming to be from Ally Bank letting me know a fraudulent wire transfer was made. While on the phone, I looked up the number online and saw that it was associated with Ally. I logged into my account and saw the wire transfer they referred to. The person on the phone assured me it was flagged and they would be working on reversing it. They also mentioned I would not have access to my account for 2 days at it was frozen to prevent further fraud. This caller was able to give me information about my accounts including my name, email address, and several transactions that I had made in the preceding few weeks. My interactions with the caller were indistinguishable from other interactions I've had with Ally in terms of tone of procedure. Unlike other scammers, the caller also sounded trained in customer service ( I work in XXXX XXXX myself ). 

After that call, I was traveling for a week. During that time I received no communications from Ally apart from a call I did not pick up from an Ally-associated number on XX/XX/XXXX. They didn't leave a message or send an email. Upon returning home, I realized that the wire transfer had not been stopped. 

I called Ally on Sunday morning, XX/XX/XXXX, with the case number the scammer had given me. At that point I learned from the Ally representative that my call on Friday was from a spoofed number used by the people carrying out the fraud. They had called me to prevent me reporting it. 

From there, Ally put my account on hold for 2 days and told me I would receive a call with further instructions in the next 24-48 hours ( note that the scammers told me the same thing ). The Ally employee on the phone, XXXX, did not commit to me getting my money back, which was {$17000.00} dollars. 

I tried to call after 24 hours, and when I reached out to their Account Take Over team, I was put on hold for over an hour and a half. I left a message, and received no further updates that day. 

I called again on Tuesday once 48 hours had passed since my call on Sunday. I waited an hour and half but this time got through. They allowed me access to my accounts again and opened new, secure ones. When I asked if and when I would receive my money, they were avoidant, even when I pressed them about the fraud protection guarantee prominently displayed on their website.

Once the process of opening new bank accounts was complete, I wanted to talk to someone who could speak to the process of recovering my money. I waited on hold another 45+ minutes. This rep again did not offer a guarantee that I would receive my money back, and said they would have an update in 10 days. Overall, I was on the phone with Ally on Tuesday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) for over 4 hours, of which 2.5 hours were spent on hold.

Each of these three reps said that they had been getting calls like this " all day, '' and one of them spoke of a " rash '' of attacks. Looking around online, I saw 1-2 other people reporting on a fraud attack in the same timeframe. Today, a colleague of mine who is an Ally customer said that they had gotten a similar, spoofed call around XX/XX/XXXX. I believe that the scammers must have gained access to my account through a breach before they called me, and that the call was intended to confuse and delay me. 

This makes me believe that there has been a breach at Ally which they have not disclosed to their customers. I have received little to no communication from Ally about the breach and have had to proactively reach out in a very time-intensive way. I find it extremely concerning that someone could empty my accounts without Ally reaching out to me, and that they've been so uncommunicative and evasive.