Consumer complaint received 2025-03-17 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Money order, traveler's check or cashier's check
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
Our XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, was contacted over the phone by XXXX XXXX on Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX. She said her husband, XXXX XXXX, and herself wanted to purchase some gold and silver and wire transfer the money over to our account so they could lock in the spot price on gold & silver that day. We corresponded back and forth over the phone that day, I got her phone number and email address so I could send her an invoice with the amount that would be due along with the banking information they would need to send us a wire transfer for the purchase. I asked her since they were located down in XXXX how they had heard of us, and she said her husband had been into our XXXX  before XXXX and purchased XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from us and came in again last month but didnt purchase anything the second time. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX We get a lot of that once folks learn about us. 
A total of {$22000.00} was deposited into our account on Thursday XX/XX/XXXX and it was a pending transaction. I let her know that it was showing pending and would update her once it is posted. XXXX informed me they were trying to schedule her husbands travel plans to pick up the XXXX XXXX XXXX purchase by the weekend because it was her husbands brothers birthday that weekend and they wanted to give him a couple of the coins they were purchasing. She had told me her husband worked in the XXXX XXXX and travelled from the XXXX area where they lived to the XXXX area once a month and some other areas for work. The transaction was now posted in our checking account the following morning, Friday XX/XX/XXXX. I called our bank branch at XXXX on Friday XX/XX/XXXX, PNC XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX of the bankers, to make sure everything was okay with the transaction. I explained the situation and he said everything should be fine with it. I texted XXXX to let her know the funds had been posted so we could now arrange for a pickup. She called me a bit later at our XXXX  and said that the XXXX  XXXX  XXXX  her husband worked for had contracted couriers in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX so they wanted to set up the courier company to pick up the package Friday afternoon. I called over to the PNC XXXX XXXX, which is our branch, again and XXXX answered the phone again. I asked him if he could pull up my account and take a look at the transaction, he asked for my social security number which I gave him and told him it was our XXXX  account on the deposit of {$22000.00} that had shown as a posted transaction on XX/XX/XXXX, I could see it was a cashier 's check from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX I told him this was such a large transaction I needed to make absolutely sure that there was no way the funds could be reversed for any reason as the customer wanted to send a courier to pick up the package and I needed to know before I let it leave my possession. XXXX reassured me stating " everything looks fine, I promise you that ''. My husband, XXXX XXXX, was sitting right next to me when I had him on the speaker phone during this discussion. I also have the recording downloaded from our XXXX XXXX. Once I was reassured by a PNC Bank Representative that the funds were secured, I let XXXX XXXX know it was fine for them to set up a courier to pick up. She texted and emailed me with the couriers name, XXXX XXXX, and that I could get XXXX driver 's license to verify her identity when she picked up the package. XXXX also sent me a picture of the front and back of the drivers license of her husband, XXXX XXXX. When XXXX XXXX arrived, I asked for her drivers license which she had to run back out to her vehicle to grab. I took a photograph of her license and had her print and sign a copy of the invoice that she was picking up the sealed and secured package. 
We discovered Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX evening that the deposit was being returned when I looked up our accounts online. Since it was after hours at almost XXXX, I called the XXXX number on the back of our PNC XXXX debit card. We spoke with XXXX with PNC XXXX Banking, she spent about a half hour on the phone with us. She put us on hold while she found out why the payment was being returned and informed us because it's a fraudulent account that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  is stating is not a valid account number. XXXX asked if anyone at the bank tried to call the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX the cashiers check but that was never mentioned or offered any instruction of waiting for so long to make sure the funds cleared. Absolutely no guidance from the bank whatsoever, the ones I thought were supposed to protect their customers and accounts. She also said that branch doesnt deal with a lot of fraud so it would be a learning lesson for them. But XXXX did say that our funds were insured with the FDIC and PNC would help us figure this out. XXXX sent our case up to the Escalation department and she said we should get a call back from that department in the next XXXX hours and she had notated everything we discussed. I also sent an email Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX to our Branch Manager, XXXX XXXX XXXX at the PNC XXXX XXXX of where the PNC bank representative, XXXX XXXX works and the location of where we opened all of our accounts and conducted all of our banking. We never received any contact from the branch whatsoever.2 We were then contacted on Wednesday XXXX, approximately around XXXX, by XXXX XXXX with PNC Retail Support, XXXX XXXX  from ( XXXX ) XXXX. They assigned case # XXXX. I explained the whole situation to her, and she asked if she could investigate this further and call me back. I asked for her email so I could send her an email of everything that happened with times and dates along with the Ring video recording providing proof of the negligence by a PNC Bank Representative promising me the transaction was good. She provided an email of XXXX which I sent the XXXX videos of the conversation with the PNC Bank Representative, XXXX. I received a phone call back XXXX hours later on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX left me a voicemail to return her call which I did at XXXX and spent over XXXX minutes on the phone with here. She responded with they apologize for the miscommunication but theres nothing they could do. She said we need to contact the person that provided the cashiers check which of course we can not reach, and I reminded her of that. She stated PNC is not going to give you your {$22000.00} back, that will not happen. I reminded her of the negligence by a representative of PNC Bank that misinformed me, and I would not be out my items if he had done his due diligence as I had done mine. I asked her if theres someone else I can talk to and was told no, I was already at the highest level with the Escalations Department. I was given no more guidance or help at all. She was just on repeat, contact the person who wrote the check and were not getting you your money back. We have never been in a situation like this in our lives and were just in shock that weve been left hanging with no resolution or answers whatsoever. 
We have filed a police report with the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX and filed complaints with the Texas Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ). We also filed a complaint with the FDIC which responded that they had forwarded our complaint to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ( OCC ), which is where you received our complaint from. I have also recently filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well. We were just looking into contacting an attorney as our next step since we have received no help from PNC or ownership of the obvious negligence by their bank representative.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation