Consumer complaint received 2025-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
Here 's what happened : My husband and I have had a Platinum Savings Account with Wells Fargo for a few years. The account was opened for the purpose of saving money for our retirement. I am XXXX XXXX XXXX and my husband is XXXX. The balance of {$47000.00} has stayed the same since the account opened in XXXX as we have never made even XXXX withdrawal. On XX/XX/XXXX my husband went to the Wells Fargo online banking site and was shocked to find the balance had dropped to {$10000.00}. He saw that multiple unauthorized XXXX withdrawals had been made on the account beginning on XX/XX/XXXX. He immediately called Wells Fargo XXXX department the afternoon of XX/XX/XXXX to report the unauthorized withdrawals. While on the phone with the representative to report the fraud, a XXXX withdrawal was seen in progress and the representative said she would stop it and open a new account for us. The next day we saw that the XXXX unauthorized withdrawal has actually gone through for almost {$5000.00}. We have never used XXXX and we have never made any withdrawals from this account. We contacted your agency to help us but you closed our case. We are appealing to you to look at these facts : First and foremost, I am outraged at the response by Wells Fargo to the fraud that occurred under their very negligent watch over our retirement savings! We never authorized any XXXX transactions on our account. How could Wells Fargo allow XXXX unauthorized XXXX withdrawals to occur and erode more than {$42.00}, XXXX to be stolen from our life savings account at their bank! 
We immediately notified Wells Fargo of unauthorized XXXX electronic fund transfers that appeared in our online bank statement. Wells Fargo has an obligation to investigate and correct errors! Instead, they have chosen to keep our money after completing a shoddy investigation. Wells Fargo is negligent for not notifying us of even one of those ten unauthorized and unusual transactions! We never received a text, an email, a phone call or a letter questioning the validity of any of these withdrawals. Wells Fargo has violated professional banking policies and standards by not notifying us of these withdrawals totaling {$42000.00}. What kind of bank would do that? And what kind of bank would have the audacity to accuse us of taking our own money and voluntarily sending it to a fraudster? 
As a XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, I would like to talk about integrity! I have spent my life striving to meet standards of honesty and fairness as a model for my XXXX XXXX. I just XXXX XXXX XXXX  XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I would never risk my professional integrity to lie or deceive the CFPB or Wells Fargo. My husband is a professional civil engineer and adheres religiously to the engineering code of ethics. Why would either of us want to send our hard-earned savings to the XXXX completely unknown XXXX criminals whose names were listed on our Wells Fargo account statement. The three fraudsters have oddball names XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX ( XXXX is listed without a first name ). Those names certainly sound like foreign names to me! I suspect the three fraudsters are probably XXXX XXXX For sure, it is likely they are not even XXXX citizens! Those three names were listed by Wells Fargo as the recipients of our funds through the 1XXXX unauthorized withdrawals! My guess is that those names are completely fake fictitious names that the criminal fraudsters simply made up. But if they are real, tell me this- why arent those real people being investigated? Could it be that a Wells Fargo employee withdrew my funds? I can assure you of this- as senior citizens, we have worked hard all our lives to enjoy our retirement. We would never jeopardize our professional integrity or honesty to send our hard-earned money to the three likely illegal alien recipients listed in our Wells Fargo Platinum Savings Account .

When we found out that our balance had been pilfered, we immediately informed Wells Fargo on the same day, XX/XX/XXXX. We visited our Wells Fargo XXXX XXXX the next day and spoke for almost two hours with XXXX XXXX and the XXXX Wells Fargo branch manager, XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XXXX XXXX we reported the theft in-person to XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Raising XXXX hand and under oath, XXXX XXXX described to XXXX XXXX everything that had occurred. We did all that is expected as good citizens who are victims of cybercrime. Now it is Wells Fargos turn to show some integrity by returning funds that our legally ours! However, since reporting the ten unauthorized withdrawals to Wells Fargo, we have had nothing but the runaround. Every time we telephoned Wells Fargo to inquire about their investigation, they would transfer our calls to multiple divisions and departments, and we would never get to the person who could answer the questions we had. Each time I sent them an email or a letter, they would create a new case number. I believe Wells Fargo does this to get victims of their theft so upset and frustrated that they give up!!!! They created almost 10 case numbers! I will guarantee you one thing ; we are not giving up our {$47000.00}! We will pursue this to the end. 
We requested the XXXX division of Wells Fargo to send us the details of their investigation. We wanted to know the full names of the fraudsters ; their email addresses used for the transactions and their phone numbers. We also wanted the names of the banks where the funds were sent. Wells Fargo still hasnt released this basic information. In addition, the IP addresses and Device IDs listed in the XXXX investigation package mailed to us by Wells Fargo do not match the IP addresses or device IDs of our personally owed desktops, laptops or cell phones. How could it be us if none of those numbers match our devices! The answer is simple- it cant. 
Wells Fargo stated that their investigation does not just consider the IPs used for the unauthorized XXXX transactions but rather specific device IDs. Wells Fargo further stated that our fraud claim was denied because a certain device ( WF Device ID # XXXX in the XXXX report ) had been used for all transactions with our Wells Fargo account XXXX was attributed to us. THIS IS FALSE! - WE HAVE NEVER USED THIS DEVICE!. We have two computers ( a desktop and a laptop ) and XXXX cell phones with Device IDs that do not match the device ID # XXXX used to perform the unauthorized XXXX transactions in the XXXX report. We do not own and have never owned Device ID XXXX, and we can attest to the XXXX XXXX XXXX and/or the courts to this effect. Our Wells Fargo account XXXX was stolen likely by malware in our phones or computers and then used by device ID # XXXX to perform the unauthorized XXXX transactions remotely as indicated by the different IP addresses shown in the partial XXXX report for cities throughout XXXX Florida, XXXX Florida and even California. 
The statement that Wells Fargo tried to reach us and that we failed to stop the last ( XXXX ) illegal/unauthorized XXXX transaction XXXX absurd! We would like to point out that on the day my husband reported the fraudulent activity, while speaking to my husband the Wells Fargo representative saw the XXXX XXXX withdrawal going through and promised she would stop it. She closed our account immediately and gave us a new account with a new account number. The next morning, that tenth withdrawal went through on the new account. We couldnt believe it! Another {$5000.00} loss after we had made the report. We also received an email from Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX inviting us to re-enroll in XXXX and listing a bogus XXXX XXXX phone number that wasnt ours! That proves it right there! What more proof do you need to know that fraud has occurred! 
Finally, I will end this letter with one most important point. According to the stipulations of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, EFTA, it is illegal for a bank to accept or permit unauthorized transactions or withdrawals. Instead of putting the burden of proof on the customer to prove fraud, we demand that Wells Fargo show us solid evidence that we ever authorized those XXXX XXXX withdrawals. Where is the proof that we authorized these XXXX withdrawals? Show us the evidence! 
I would appreciate it if you would get back to us with a response to this letter. 
Thank you, XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ), or XXXX ( XXXX ) 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