Consumer complaint received 2026-03-07 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/year> XXXX I got a text stating, " Wells Fargo Fraud Alerts : Did you attempt a wire transfer for the amount of {$9000.00}? Reply ( YES ) Authorize ( NO ) Fraud. One of our agents will contact you shortly. Msg & data rates may apply. '' I sent, " NO '' immediately. In response, I got a text back saying, " Wells Fargo Fraud Alerts : Thank you for your response. An agent will contact you shortly. Msg & data rates may apply. '' The text number was from XXXX. XX/XX/year> XXXX I got a call from XXXX ( The wells fargo Service line written on the back of my debit card ). The person on the line was a male, no accent that I recall, spoke proper fluent English, sounded middle-aged, and introduced himself as XXXX XXXX XXXX a Wells Fargo representative calling me in response to fraud activity that was occurring with my account. He offerred his employee ID #, stated he worked at a branch in XXXX, etc. Our calls also started with the usual XXXX prompt saying, " Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance ... '' He stated a " XXXX XXXX '' from XXXX was trying to wire {$9000.00} out of my account. I said I was not seeing any of that activity on my end. He said that is because he is attempting to stop the wire. He stated, " Wire transfers are not FDIC insured, so it needs to be stopped immediately. '' He instructed me to log in and move all of my money into another account so the " AI scammer, XXXX XXXX, '' could not access it while he ( the actual scammer & Wells Fargo impersonator ) was trying to freeze my accounts/put it in a " Level 3 hold. '' He used many of the prompts and protocols that Wells Fargo employees have used with me. I asked, " Why can't you just cancel the wire right now? I did not initiate it or authorize it. '' He stated, " That is not how wire transfers work, but I am here to help you. We have to create a new account for you to put your money in since yours is compromised. '' I was in the middle of a stressful situation, which he absolutely took advantage of. I said it's not a good time to talk. He said, " I don't want you to lose your money, this won't take long to fix. '' I followed his prompts while trying to get into the airport to tag luggage and go through security. He gave me two " claim numbers '' for the money he ( very forcefully ) instructed me to wire to my " new account '' that he created. ( Claim # XXXX XXXX and XXXX ). He was sending out the normal Wells Fargo Security codes that I receive when signing in or transferring money, etc. He said the scammer had already wired two transfers out of my account that he was fixing, and my assets would be frozen while we were flying. We spoke again at XXXX on the phone so he could resolve " the breach in my account, and unauthorized wire transfers. '' However, it was very noisy, and he stated, " There are alot of people around you, you have not authorized third parties to have this information. '' He scheduled a call for another time for us to continue working on the issue after I landed and was in a quieter location. He stated, " We will contact you then. Make sure you are alone, for investigative purposes and security measures. '' XX/XX/year> XXXX XXXX- He sent a text saying, " Balance on online account for claims will be updated by tomorrow morning. We will contact you directly between XXXX XXXX. '' He also told me I could go to my nearest Wells Fargo branch to follow up on this, in order to foster a sense of trust, but knowing I was unable to. XX/XX/year> XXXX He called, again stated he is the Wells Fargo representative assigned to my case. He instructed me step by step how to perform transfers to cancel out the scammer 's wire transfers. I don't ever wire money, so I didn't know better. I asked alot of questions, and he answered all of them. I added alot of security parameters to my account, so the wires ( for {$7000.00} & XXXX he wanted me to perform wouldn't go through since I was not in a " familiar place '' ). I stated this was creating so much stress and turmoil, and if was accounts were frozen, it shouldn't be imminent to do all of this on the phone while on vacation. He set up a time to call when I returned home. He called on XX/XX/year> at XXXX when I was home and said another transfer had been made and needed to be cancelled out. I asked a lot of questions, and he got irritated. ( He tried two back to back transfers at this time- {$8000.00} and {$12000.00} again ). {$8000.00} went through, but the second transfer had to be spaced out by an hour, per the Wells Fargo impersonator. XXXX He called back, I didn't answer. I thought it was very odd he did not leave a voicemail. He started repeatedly calling from XXXX ( XXXX ), XXXX ( XXXX ), and texting from XXXX. I also received many emails from him afterward, from XXXX, stating XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX my wires. I immediately called my bank and reported the whole situation. They transferred me around to many, many different departments. Only one person asked any true details. I kept getting different numbers to call back to for details. Within two days, a Wells Fargo executive called me. I requested their direct line so I could call them back myself, as I have lost a lot of trust with Wells Fargo after dealing with an impersonator lying to me for a week. They seemed annoyed, but stated I could call them. I was unable to get back on the line with that same executive. He never attempted to call me back, either. I was then transferred to about ten different departments, no one knew what was going on, they couldn't figure out the situation from the claim numbers I was given, and someone finally told me, " All your claims have been denied. You will receive a letter in the mail. '' I began crying and expressed that this was incredibly stressful, as it was half of my life savings that was stolen from me. I stated I have been going through a divorce, need that money for a down payment, and to live as a single mother. They finally filed a " complaint '' on my behalf and stated they will get back to me. I have not heard from anyone since. The wires were placed in my name to go to me, with my address. He was able to change the recipient of the wires to XXXX XXXX and possibly XXXX XXXX XXXX. The impersonator 's name on the phone was XXXX XXXX.

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