Consumer complaint received 2026-04-13 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
I have been a Navy Federal Credit Union ( NFCU ) member for more than 25 years. I am filing this complaint against NFCU regarding their gross mishandling of a fraudulent wire transfer recall, leading to a ( likely avoidable ) loss of more than {$120000.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX and again on XX/XX/XXXX, I was targeted by highly sophisticated criminals spoofing the Navy Federal Credit Union Fraud Department phone number and impersonating NFCU Fraud personnel. Stating they were working together with the FBI, they requested my assistance in a joint investigation to identify an alleged NFCU employee who was leaking members account information. Their story seemed believable as I had been in contact with the actual NFCU Fraud Department earlier in the year due to possible fraudulent activity on my NFCU credit card. Under this pretext, the scammers manipulated me into authorizing a {$130000.00} wire transfer ( money that I believed the FBI had deposited in the account as part of the investigation ) in person at a local NFCU branch while the scammers were listening on the phone. The account from which the money was sent normally holds less than {$15000.00}, lowering my guard that the funds might by my own. However the criminals had secretly transferred the money from my personal account to the joint account before directing me to send the fraudulent wire. I recognized the fraud the same day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and reported it NFCU less than 12 hours after the transfer. Per subsequent conversations with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, the receiving institution ) the transfer was recognized as fraudulent, the transfer was rejected and the money never posted to the recipients account. I trusted NFCU to take appropriate steps as their letters have stated that they will " make every effort '' to recover my money. Despite these deceptive assurances, NFCU closed their investigation after 45 days without recovering any funds. They ascribed blame to XXXX, stating that XXXX had failed to respond to their requests. However the truth, as I later determined, was NFCU 's failing to perform even the most basic, standard, wire recall procedures until months after I reported the scam. After the shock of NFCU 's closure of the investigation, I began investigating what had actually transpired, writing repeated requests to NFCU for communications logs and petitioning for them to reopen the case. I even escalated my concerns to the NFCU Executive Resolution Team ( who simply referred me back to the same Wire Fraud team. ) They continued to blame XXXX. It wasn't until I threatened to take the matter to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX that they reopened their investigation, resulting in the eventual recovery of less than 10 % of the wire transfer amount more than 3 months after the fraudulent transfer took place. They continued to blamed the partial recovery on XXXX. Given the disconnect between NFCU 's claims and what I had been told by XXXX, I sent repeated requests to NFCU ( and XXXX ) for logs of the interbank communications that had occurred in response to the fraudulent wire. XXXX referred me back to my own financial institution ( NFCU ). It wasn't until XX/XX/XXXX ( more than 4 months after the scam ) that NFCU finally provided me with a letter describing their interactions with XXXX following the scam. I believe they sent this narrative ( as opposed to a log ) to attempt to hide their significant delays and failures to perform basic steps to recover my fund. Their letter documented the following dates, confirming my suspicions of grossly mishandling of the recall : XX/XX/XXXX ( the day after the transfer ) NFCU sent XXXX a recall request ( by service message ). XXXX identified the transfer as fraudulent and requested a Hold Harmless Letter ( HHL ) from NFCU ( standard procedure ). XXXX XXXX XXXX days later - NFCU faxed the HHL ( disregarding XXXX instructions to email it. ) XX/XX/XXXX NFCU re-sends the initial interbank service message to XXXX requesting return of funds XX/XX/XXXX XXXX denies the request ( perhaps due to not having received the HHL. ) XX/XX/XXXX another XXXX weeks later - NFCU resends the same recall message to XXXX a third time XX/XX/XXXX NFCU closes their investigation, stating that they never received a response from XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX XXXX week ( 44 days ) later ( and after repeated attempts from me to provide documentation and reopen the case ) - NFCU sends XXXX a follow-up email XX/XX/XXXX XXXX replies that the HHL ( which they were expecting along with the recall request ) could not be located and needed to be resubmitted XX/XX/XXXX NFCU re-faxes HHL. XX/XX/XXXX weeks ( 98 days ) after the fraudulent transfer XXXX confirms receipt of HHL. XX/XX/XXXX XXXX returns {$12000.00} ( approx. 9 % ). NFCU 's letter raises serious concerns about the actions of their own Wire FraXXXXd team. Their more than 3-month delay in sending XXXX the HHL materially reduced the possibility of recovery of my funds. Additionally : NFCU still has refused to provide a true interbank communication log ( e.g., SWIFT messages with timestamps ). Multiple XXXX fraud representatives previously stated that funds were rejected and returned to NFCU in XX/XX/XXXX. NFCU denies receiving them and has not provided reconciliation documentation. NFCU has closed the investigation twice after minimal recovery attempts without addressing these contradictions. If one accepts NFCUs narrative as accurate, it demonstrates significant procedural delay in a time-sensitive fraud recall, delays that likely resulted in the loss of almost all of the wire transfer funds. I most recently sent an email directly to the President/CEO of NFCU, XXXX XXXX XXXX requesting that the Executive Leadership Team examine the actions of their Wire Fraud team, and specifically their failure to perform the most basic steps necessary to recover funds following a fraudulent wire transfer. I again got referred back to the division that containing the Wire Fraud Department, who maintained that their delays did not impact the recovery outcome. I asked them for some sort of objective information or resource to fact-check their story. I also requested that someone on their leadership team send me a letter standing behind the investigation as conducted by their Wire Fraud Team. I have received neither. Total wire : {$130000.00} Recovered : {$12000.00} Lost : {$120000.00}

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation