Consumer complaint received 2016-09-26 00:00:00
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
My mother was preparing to purchase a home. She received an email from lender instructing her to wire funds to a certain XXXX XXXX XXXX account. She wired her down payment/closing costs totaling {$57000.00} on XXXX from our joint Chase bank account to a XXXX XXXX XXXX account. Two days later, at the closing for the house, she is informed by lender that they never received the funds and that they never sent us email with wire transfer instructions. That 's when everyone discovered that someone had hacked into lender emails and sent a fraudulent email in an attempt to defraud my mother of this money. We immediately report the incident to Chase and to the FBI. Chase opens up a case # and initiates a wire recall request. A few days go by and no word from either Bank or the FBI. I have yet to hear from the FBI and from what I understand, the amount is too small for them to get involved. So, I reached out to my local police department and continued to follow up with both Chase and XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX informed me that they had flagged their customer 's ( receiving ) account and successfully frozen the funds on their customer 's ( fraudulent ) account. They also inform me that they are willing to transfer the money back to our Chase account and that they only need Chase to sign off on a " hold harmless '' letter. I reach out to Chase again by phone a few days later and to my surprise, I am informed that they ( Chase ) have cancelled my recall request and closed my case. After my initial shock, I drive to a branch and ask a Chase banker to double check the status of my case. They inform me that case was indeed closed because they were not willing to sign off on the hold harmless letter. I plead with them to reconsider, stating to them that I am their customer and that the other bank is willing to cooperate and send the money back. Again my own bank refuses to assist saying they will not be signing any letter because there was no fraud on their part. At this point, I am in disbelief that my own bank dropped the ball on us and did n't even have the decency to reach out or call at any point to inform me of their decision. If I had not called them asking for a status, I am not sure they would have ever reached out to me. It seems that the receiving bank is more interested in working with us to prevent this fraud than my own bank is. XXXX XXXX XXXX offered me an alternative by having a police report sent to them ( which I 've done ), but still unsure that this will resolve the issue. I am deeply appalled by the treatment and lack of concern by my own banking institution. Chase would rather sweep the issue under the rug and needlessly avoid resolution than to take care of their own customer. Again, the receiving bank is willing to cooperate and send the funds bank, but it 's my own bank that lacks any sense of duty to assist or prevent fraud by leaving its own customer out in the cold.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation