Consumer complaint received 2026-03-02 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: OR

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a phone call from the USAA phone number at about XXXX. When the call came through to my phone, the caller ID said USAA at the top of the screen and was the identical number that is listed on the back of my card. When I answered I was told that USAA was calling because they had detected some suspicious activity on our account and would need to confirm if I made the fraudulent charges. After this person explained there were several charges that ranged within $ XXXX {$2000.00} dollars, the " USAA employee/imposter '' told me that they had locked our cards and accounts for our safety and would dispute the charges but that I would need to confirm the recent charges I HAD made. He proceeded to read off current charges on my account that matched what I was looking at. He explained that if I logged into my account I could see that our accounts were all put under investigation for our safety while they disputed the fraudulent charges. I received a fraudulent notice text from USAA automated texting system. I was then told that there was also a locally made charge in the form of a cash advance for XXXX dollars made at a XXXX bank by a local company. The employee from USAA then sent me a series of security codes through the USAA automated system ( at the time I did not know he was logged into my bank and do not know how he gained access, nor was I notified of an unknown login by USAA ) He said I would need to go to XXXX bank to start a process for declining those charges and that it was urgent or time sensitive. I went to the bank and followed the instructions this USAA employee gave me in which my card declined. He instructed me that was normal because our accounts were locked so no funds could be transferred out of our accounts. He then instructed me to fill out a deposit slip with a fake bank account and number that USAA uses for these types of fraudulent charges. I was then sent another text from USAA automated system notifying me that they detected possible fraudulent activity and asked me to confirm if I made the attempt or not for the {$9800.00} dollar charge. I responded N for no. He then instructed me to go to XXXX XXXX, he explained that USAA doesnt have a branch in Oregon so they allow their members to use local banks. When I walked into XXXX XXXX he instructed me to fill out the same information on another deposit slip. When I handed it to the banker she tried it and the advance successfully went through and the money was then removed immediately from our accounts even though I was under the impression that they were locked and nothing could be taken in or out of our accounts. The bank lobby cash advance limit for all of our debit cards was at the USAA default of {$1000.00} dollars and can only be temporarily increased, per USAA policy. At no time, did we ever make a change to increase the limits. This charge should have NEVER been successful. So it is obvious that the fraudster deliberately increased the limits of our cards in an attempt to make the transaction successful, while being logged into our account and WITHOUT our knowledge. I called my husband to let him know what was going on. This person instructed XXXX that he could call into USAA on his phone and confirm with USAA that he was an employee. He gave us his name XXXX XXXX. XXXX then called USAA and they confirmed that they had not called us and XXXX instructed me to hang up the phone with the fraudster. When looking at our bank accounts you could see where the fraudster was logged in and actively moving/transferring money between ALL of our accounts. At no time did we receive an attempted login warning from USAA or a new device login notification. You can clearly see where he transferred the money from each account, shuffling the money between all 4 accounts trying to figure out how much total he could remove. When the first card declined he then shifted the money around AGAIN into my husband 's account and then instructed me to try my card that was linked to my husband 's account. The second transaction for {$9300.00} dollars was approved by USAA without ever notifying us by text message, like they did for the previous attempt at XXXX bank. My question being, If USAA sent a fraudulent detection text at the XXXX bank ( XXXX bank ) why would they approve a SECOND attempt at a different bank for the same amount that they had just labeled as fraud? Why wasnt that declined and why was a call not put into us to explain what they were seeing? When I spoke with USAA later that afternoon they sent me automated codes from the same system that the fraudster used and then asked me to read them back to them even though the text instructs not to do so. While I was filing the dispute USAA informed me that this kind of scam is called spoofing where the fraudsters link their numbers to USAA so that it looks like USAA is calling. They even confirmed they had the fraudsters IP address that was registering in Florida. Why would we not be notified of an unknown login from Florida when we live in Oregon? I spoke with " XXXX '' in the fraud department informing me that they reopened/unfroze all of our accounts. We explained to them that we would like to remove the money in those accounts because whoever was logged in had full access to each account 's routing information, account numbers, and any personal information that was in our accounts. They did provide a provisional credit within 10 days which we also transferred out because we did not want that money to be stolen also. I had not heard from them since the original date on XX/XX/XXXX about where our dispute was at in the process of being investigated even though I have placed multiple calls into them. They instructed me that the dispute can take up to 45 days and that their investigators for disputes are unreachable, they are in a separate office that the USAA team can not speak to. I received a document on XX/XX/XXXX requesting a description of the " counterfeit merchandise '' deemed a scam. The date it happened and location of the merchandise. I immediately called USAA that day and spoke with XXXX, a USAA employee, regarding this request since the document USAA had sent was requesting counterfeit merchandise and there was no counterfeit merchandise. All the information they requested was on the document they sent me. XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, and the amount of the transaction {$9300.00}. The employee stated that he agreed, the documents request did not make sense and that he would place a callback request so someone would reach out explaining exactly what documentation they needed from me to proceed with the investigation, within 10 business days. I confirmed with XXXX that this would not hold up the investigation since the request for documentation was needed by XX/XX/XXXX, and he confirmed there was nothing further needed on my part ( no document uploaded ) until I received the callback with clarification. I had not heard back from USAA so on XX/XX/XXXX I called and spent over 2 hours on the phone with 3 different USAA employees who recorded my issues and said that XXXX never filed the call back request and that they would file a callback request on my behalf. The first employee I spoke with stated that they would most likely need a document with my statement of what had happened but that the callback would confirm what was needed. I also confirmed that I had already provided a statement to " XXXX '' who was the employee that originally filed our dispute on XX/XX/XXXX. I was then transferred to a second employee, whose name was not given, after re-explaining the entire situation to a second employee in the same phone call, he explained to me that he had confidence in this dispute that it would be resolved and that the callback could take up to 10 days but there was nothing further needed on my end. I never received a callback. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email with a document stating that they have closed my dispute due to lack of documentation provided. This was the first I had heard from USAA since my last phone call encounter on XX/XX/XXXX. I then called USAA first thing the morning of XX/XX/XXXX. After explaining the letter I received and informing this USAA employee that the dispute was closed wrongfully due to the fault and lies of multiple USAA employees, the USAA employee I was speaking with deemed it was my fault because I didn't upload the document requested. I explained to him that the request from USAA requested information that was wrong and I did not have, and that is why I spent all week on the phone with USAA to try and figure out what the next step was that I needed to complete,. for the investigation and I was wrongfully informed that there was no further action needed by me, to simply wait for a callback from USAA. I then requested to speak to a supervisor, and " XXXX '' got on the phone and apologized several times for the incorrect information/impression that the previous employees had given me, because the information was incorrect/false. He said that dispute investigators do not make callbacks and unfortunately there was nothing he could do to " re-open '' the case. He asked me to upload a document with my statement of everything that has happened so far, I then immediately uploaded a document with the requested information and asked him to confirm that he had received it. He explained that he could not do that, that it can take up to 48 hours to receive the uploaded document. He confirmed he filed a request to the investigator team to re-investigate the new information I provided and then decide if they would reopen my dispute case. He confirmed that there were no promises that it would be reopened at this point even though it was USAA 's fault that they closed my dispute without the proper investigation. He said the Decision letter will be sent within 30 business days. And there is no way of knowing if it will be a different decision from what they already provided. They removed/took back our {$9300.00} provisional credit on XX/XX/XXXX. I believe the lack of employees, lack of follow-up that was promised, and the false information that each employee provided and guaranteed would happen, lead to the wrongful closing of my dispute. This goes against my rights and it is now XX/XX/XXXX and I have not heard from USAA on the status of the request submitted to re-investigate my dispute. - USAA did not detect or prevent a login from an unknown computer. - The fraudster provided confidential information about my account that gave credibility to the " USAA fraud call ''. - USAA did not prevent spoofing of their customer service phone number. - XXXX mimicked USAA standard practices of sending me a security code. - USAA did not impose a debit card transaction limit that would have minimized loss. - USAA did not warn me of this possible scam or provide adequate security training. All of these factors contributed to me falling victim to this scam. I am protected by XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and would like this matter investigated.

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