Consumer complaint received 2026-02-12 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: WV

Complaint narrative:
On Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX I, XXXX XXXX XXXX owner of XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX received an email from someone claiming to be XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX who is my closing attorney for real estate. This email instructed me to wire closings costs for my upcoming real estate acquisition, which we were scheduled to close XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX. 

At approximately XXXX, I followed the wire instructions and sent the {$29000.00} as directed. XXXX XXXX  which is who I use for my business flagged it and sent me an email asking for me to call them and discuss my wire. I called them at approximately XXXX. 

The XXXX representative asked a series of questions regarding my wire, confirming who it was going to and what the purpose of it was. Upon this questioning I started feeling anxious and reached out to my realtor, XXXX XXXX. As soon as the XXXX representative placed me on hold to send the wire, XXXX replied and stated that was not my closing attorney, and not to wire the funds as it was a scam. 

The wire was sent by XXXX at approximately XXXX. As soon as the XXXX representative got back on the line, I immediately informed her it was fraud and a scam, and she recalled the wire immediately. I then spoke with her wire recall manager and the claims department. I was given a wire recall reference number and the direct phone lines for the wire recovery department and claims department. 

The scammer emailed me again at around XXXX asking for confirmation that the funds had been sent. I called the wire recovery line at XXXX to ask for an update. The XXXX representative informed me that the receiving bank, Wells Fargo, had acknowledged the fraud recall but no other updates were given. 

I have tried reaching out to Wells Fargo to get a status on the funds, to see if they are frozen and/or returnable, but they will not speak with me as Im not a Wells Fargo customer . 

I was told by a XXXX representative that when a recall is coded as fraud, it is standard procedure to freeze the funds in order to keep them recoverable so they can be sent back. Wells Fargo clearly did not do this, as when I received the last update on XX/XX/XXXX, they had already credited the recipients account and deemed the funds unrecoverable. 

I am stating that Wells Fargo was negligent in this transaction as they did not comply with standard procedure of freezing the funds when it was immediately recalled due to fraud, even though they acknowledged the recall. The account information did not match the intended recipient information on the wire, yet they still credited the funds. I do not believe they cared or tried at all to recall or recover the funds. They refused to speak to me or my husband in any capacity, even when asking general questions even though we were the victims and it was our money I question. We had statements from our agent and our closing office, as well as an IC3 case number, and they would not receive and entertain any evidence from us to assist in their fraud investigation.

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