Consumer complaint received 2024-08-23 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Banking errors
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX of 2024, I saw an advertisement about Wells Fargo having data breaches and that we should check our account. I checked my account and noticed XXXX transactions from somewhere in Pennsylvania with XXXX withdrawals in a XXXX day period. 

I disputed said transactions, and followed the prompts which asked if I recognized the transactions, and then file a claim. They don't ask additional information. I figured once they looked at the transactions, and looked at the history of the account as per the regulatory know your customer process, it would be easily identified as fraudulent. 

I checked the claim today, since I still hadn't heard anything back, and saw that it was closed, however, there were no notes or anything on the account nor any messages or comments sent to me regarding the claim so I called to speak with an agent of Wells Fargo. I was transferred to the claim department from the checking banker and spoke with XXXX who researched the notes and said it as closed as there did not seem to be any fraudulent activity. I asked what this was based on and he was unsure. The investigator did not leave additional notes and it was just closed. 

I told them I needed to escalate it because it's clearly fraud and I wasn't sure how they could determine it wasn't. I live in XXXX and I do most of my banking from XXXX locations. XXXX in XXXX at their XXXX XXXX XXXX, close to my place of work, and a few on XXXX XXXX, which is the closest branch to me near my home. In addition, if they look at my history of banking they would see I only use Wells Fargo banks for withdrawals, and they're normally done by a teller. They would also see that I don't make multiple withdrawals in a XXXX day period in various amounts. 

These are standard procedures for any bank 's XXXX process and all of these transactions should've raised a red flag and had me alerted about them to confirm they were in fact, my transactions. None of this was followed. Somehow, this was determined to NOT be fraudulent despite all of the glaring discrepancies for how I usually bank with this institution. 

I asked the claims agent to escalate the issue, and asked them for the reference number. They also gave me the executive office number to follow up with them. I called them and gave them the reference number ( XXXX ) and they said it was a service escalation and not a fraud escalation and I needed to call the claim team back, and tell them to put in the correct escalation. Me, the consumer, not them. Then they transferred me back to claims and I was on hold for XXXX minutes trying to get someone to fix this issue. 

After explaining what occurred, they asked me why I didn't notify them of this previously. I explained that I rarely go online and transact all of my business at the branch in person. In addition, upon each transaction that I've done with a teller, I receive a confirmation alert to confirm it is me through my Wells Fargo app and I did not receive those either for these transactions.

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 monetary relief