Consumer complaint received 2023-07-14
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: PNC Bank N.A. (CO)

I submitted disputes for several charges that occurred in parts over the course of about a month, resulting in the fraudulent and unauthorized activity on my bank account through online purchases and XXXX transfers I did not authorize from the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX until the end of XX/XX/XXXX, with an estimated total in excess of {$35000.00}. A detailed record of these transactions directly from PNC Bank statements is enclosed. 

My account information was never voluntarily shared with anyone and the use of my device was not voluntarily given to anyone. These transactions are in error because they were not authorized transactions. 

To the best of my knowledge, the fraudulent activity was made possible by and began after completing a device swap of my cell phone with an identical phone under my phone warranty program. At one point, these devices had all account details stored and I suspect some fraudulent interception transpired. I cant say for sure, and I have no way to prove who I think did it - but the bottom line is that these transactions were not done by me or authorized by me. 

In XXXX of XXXX I was forced to close my two retail stores at the onset of COVID and my commercial landlord conducted an unlawful eviction of my business. To this day we are still in litigation. Like many people, I lost my source of income, but in my particular case that was just the beginning of the end for me, my family, my legacy, and even just the basic dignity of human expression and American freedom. Its beyond words how it feels to go from $ XXXX in sales per month to being forcibly stripped of your lifes work and in less than a year find yourself homeless. Part of coping with all of that is I got to a point where I became accustomed to having nothing and fell out of the habit of staying on top of stuff. 

So when I received a large settlement from when I was hit by a car, I just deposited it all into my PNC account and didnt think much of it nor monitor it in any way that would alert me to the initial fraud that affected my bank account. I brought it to PNC Banks attention immediately when I did notice it, and I was given the impression by PNC Bank that they quickly investigated the matter and returned the stolen funds. I thought that put an end to the misuse of my money through my account. 

Because a new card was issued by PNC, my old one was canceled, I was assured by PNC Bank that they had thoroughly addressed the problem, and reopening my business was still months away ; it seemed like it was safe to just let my settlement money sit and continue living frugally. Within weeks, however, my PNC bank account was suddenly emptied of more than {$30000.00}, evidently through XXXX transfers transpiring after I thought the situation was resolved. 

This time, before I contacted PNC, I sought out a solution with the merchants that processed the unreasonable volume of transactions but they would not refund the money. I then notified XXXX directly and tried to initiate disputes but XXXX support refused to process the disputes in bulk. 

I repeatedly asked for alternative ways to report the fraud through their system, a phone call, or even the postal service and I was unequivocally told by XXXX support that their dispute process of each transaction, one at a time in the app was the only way to notify them of the fraud and dispute the transactions. Obviously, this wasnt true. 

I then gave up on trying to address this fraud through XXXX and initiated efforts to resolve this directly with PNC Bank. In this additional effort to resolve this, I learned that PNC Bank had only investigated a portion of the original disputed transactions, the excuse I was given was that there were a lot of transactions, which did not sound like an appropriate reason to outright refuse to follow its own dispute procedures. 

Upon this additional submission of disputes for additional unauthorized transactions, these unresolved prior disputes were also followed-up-on, and I was assured they were properly submitted at that point. I believe the initial transactions I disputed have been investigated and the money has been refunded, but the additional transactions related to XXXX have been improperly denied. PNC Bank also did not provide a provisional credit nor communicate to me that I needed to submit anything in writing. 

From what I understand, PNC Bank and XXXX jointly decided that the unauthorized transactions were valid based on prior account activity. The possibility of similar prior transactions with the same or similar merchants does not constitute proof that these transactions were authorized - especially when said prior activity consists entirely of transactions PNC had already concluded were fraudulent in the original partial investigation (!!! ). If you look at my account history before the settlement, my spending habits were not at all reflective of what transpired during the period these transactions took place. Upon request, I can also provide the 5 years of business and personal accounts I maintained before I lost everything to COVID which will further prove my point. 

There appears to be a range of violations by PNC Bank of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act ( EFTA ) and Regulation E after I had given PNC Bank timely notice of the transaction errors.