Consumer complaint received 2022-09-08 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: AZ

Complaint narrative:
I am a member of Wells Fargo and have been a victim of debit card fraud on XXXX separate occasions the last month. Back in XXXX somebody had made some fraudulent transactions through a XXXX XXXX on my business account. Due to the incident Wells Fargo shipped me new cards for all XXXX of my accounts. I travel for work and was on a 3-week work assignment in West Virginia when the cards were shipped via XXXX  XXXX XXXX On XXXX I started receiving alerts on my phone that I was over my daily balance on debit card numbers I didn't recognize. I immediately called Wells Fargo and reported that it was not me using the cards. I hadn't received any replacement cards as I was at work in XXXX XXXX and my home is in Arizona. The transactions occurring were out of XXXX, Florida. I explained to Wells Fargo that I have never been to Florida and submitted a fraud claim. Since it was XXXX separate accounts I had to submit XXXX separate claims. The XXXX claims totaled {$10000.00}. An investigation was opened by Well Fargo Fraud Team. ON XXXX the claims were denied. I contacted Wells Fargo and asked them to reconsider the claims as I had proof that I was in West Virginia and nowhere near Florida. Wells Fargo reopened the investigation. I flew back home on XXXX. I was supposed to receive replacement cards on XXXX via XXXX XXXX. On XXXX the exact same scenario happened a second time. I started receiving alerts that my card numbers I didn't recognize were being charged. I immediately drove to a Wells Fargo branch to figure out what was going on. After speaking with a banker, he was able to determine that someone had changed the shipping address to a Florida address. I asked how this happened, since obviously it was not me who changed the address, he informed me he didn't know. Both the banker and I spoke with a debit card fraud specialist to have the cards cancelled and new cards sent out yet again. The fraud specialist confirmed on the phone with both the banker and I, my home address she was having the cards shipped too. She said once confirmed there was no way address could be changed. The next morning, I woke up and had a notification that the new cards were shipped. When logging in to my online account I noticed the shipping address had been changed yet again to the same Florida address. I immediately went down to the local Wells Fargo branch in XXXX, AZ to speak to banker. The banker cancelled the cards and made phone calls to the Wells Fargo fraud branch. We opened an additional identity theft claim along with the fraud claims so all the claims could be credited back to me. The banker also communicated to me that he thought i was part of a phone fraud situation. He said he had seen a situation where two individuals call Wells Fargo and the victim simultaneously. The individual on the phone with the victim relays everything the actual Wells Fargo agent is saying to the accomplice. Wells Fargo verifies customers by sending a passcode to your phone. So, when the victim is told, he is going to receive a passcode to his phone and that code is received the victim thinks it's a legit Wells Fargo agent. In the meantime, the Wells Fargo agent has the code verified and the accomplice is able to change information with the account. The banker also physically typed in my address when ordering cards. This time i actually received replacement cards to the correct address. The following week Wells Fargo credited XXXX of the XXXX claims in the amount of {$2000.00} and denied the remaining {$14000.00} in claims. The following week Wells Fargo contacted me as i was on the wat to the airport and informed me as part of their investigation that they were revoking my debit card on one of my business accounts for 12 months. After spending 2 hours on the phone with them, and informing them I was travelling for business, they informed me that I should have access to XXXX of my XXXX accounts for travel. When I arrived in XXXX, NC for my layover I checked my email and noticed i had received several emails from Wells Fargo that they were closing all my accounts and I would not be able to receive any deposits until the accounts were terminated. I also had a voicemail from the Wells Fargo loss prevention department requesting a call back. Since it was late i called back first thing the following morning. After spending an hour on the phone with loss prevention I was able to convince them to remove the closures to my accounts and asked that I speak to someone about my claims. Later that day I received a call from an executive level Wells Fargo fraud specialist. He informed me that he was taking over my case and would be determining the outcome. He asked that I relay what had happened until this point and would be taking another look at everything and calling me back. The claims still haven't been reimbursed to my accounts even though on both occurrences I had proof I was nowhere near Florida and had never been there. I filed a police report and am now filing a report through the CFPB. This is wrong of Wells Fargo to treat an obvious fraud case like this and paint the victim out to be the bad guy. I never lost or misplaced my cards or showed any signs of being irresponsible. To them it may have no importance, however to an individual losing {$14000.00} it is life changing.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation