Consumer complaint received 2026-05-11 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: MORGAN STANLEY & CO. LLC
State: DC

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, my brokerage savings account was compromised, resulting in an unauthorized wire transfer of {$9500.00}, and the institution has subsequently engaged in deceptive practices to avoid institutional liability. The Security Failure : On the morning of XX/XX/year>, my personal email was targeted by a high-volume subscription " XXXX '' attack, a known tactic used to mask financial fraud. Simultaneously, an unauthorized party initiated a wire transfer of {$9500.00} from my premium savings account to a receiving account held at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Upon receiving a transaction alert, I immediately logged into my mobile brokerage application to secure my account. However, the institution 's security infrastructure failed to terminate the unrecognized, unauthorized session. Instead, the system forcibly logged me out, displaying an error stating " another device logged in, '' and concurrently approved the fraudulent {$9500.00} wire transfer. The institution also failed to verify the addition of an external account to receive the funds. It is standard practice to employ XXXX or other security precautions when adding a new external account to receive funds at other institutions I have banked with, such as XXXX or XXXX XXXX. Immediate Actions Taken : I contacted the institutions fraud support department within two minutes of the unauthorized transfer being approved to report the crime and initiate a wire re call. Willful Misrepresentation by the Institution : Fo r the following eight weeks, the institutions representatives repeatedly informed me that the wire recall investigation was " under review. '' At first, I was given a timeline of XXXX days. It has now been over 2 months, and during my most recent calls I have been told the timeline for a resolution is indefinite. I have yet to be contacted directly by Morgan Stanley, instead having to initiate calls myself every week to receive updates.Customer service representatives, through no fault of their own, have been unable to provide me detailed explanations of the process beyond what little vague information is left for them by the fraud team, because they are not experts. This timeline was a deliberate misrepresentation. I independently filed a federal complaint with the FDIC against the receiving institution ( XXXX XXXX Bank ). On XX/XX/year>, I received a formal, written response from XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX confirming the following facts : XXXX XXXX XXXX received a service message from my originating institution ( Morgan Stanley ) on the exact day of the fraud ( XX/XX/year> ). The custodial account holder ( Coinbase ) completed a fraud review and explicitly informed my brokerage on XX/XX/year>, that the transfer was fraudulent and the funds were already depleted and unrecoverable. Documentary evidence proves that the originating institution ( Morgan Stanley ) has known since XX/XX/year>, that the stolen funds were the result of identity theft, that they were immediately depleted, and a standard wire recall was impossible. They did not provide me with this information when I asked, but rather I had to find it out myself through filing an FDIC complaint and forcing a letter response from the receiving institution. Rather than acknowledging their liability for failing to employ commercially reasonable security procedures to block a concurrent session hijack, the institution deliberately misled me for nearly two months to stall the restitution process. I am demanding the immediate restitution of {$9500.00} to my account due to the institution 's security negligence and subsequent deceptive handling of this federal fraud case.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief