Consumer complaint received 2025-04-30 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Foreign currency exchange
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
From : XXXX XXXX XXXX Date : XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX To : XXXX Subject : Fwd : XXXX butchering scam inquiry Sent from my XXXX Begin forwarded message : From : XXXX XXXX XXXX Date : XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX To : XXXX Cc : XXXX, XXXX Subject : Pig butchering scam inquiry To whom it may concern, my name is XXXX XXXX XXXX and I want to initiate a dispute with your organization. On XX/XX/XXXX I walked into one of your branches located at XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and deposited a cashiers check number XXXX in the amount of {$23000.00} issued by my bank XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX to an account owned by XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX NJ XXXX account # XXXX Routing # XXXX I was informed by an attorney in the XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX to send the {$23000.00} to that account. This was for unpaid storage fees on precious metals that belong to XXXX XXXX who was the late father of a girl that I was involved with XXXX XXXX. After having several discussions with XXXX XXXX concerning retrieving these gold bars he informed me that the unpaid storage fees needed to be paid so the gold bars could be removed from the vault that they have been stored in for several years and would be available to be sold. After several conversations I agreed to send the {$23000.00}. XXXX XXXX Provided the information for XXXX XXXX XXXX. He explained that they are a XXXX XXXX, and at the money would have to go there in order to do the proper currency exchange, and that once the money was received that I would receive an invoice for the transaction. He asked me to put logistics on the cashiers check so that the process would be quick and easy, and there would be no questions as to what the cashiers check was for and eyebrows would not get raised concerning the amount of money. In good faith, I sent the money to the XXXX company. I did not hear anything from XXXX XXXX for several days. I sent him a copy of the deposit slip as well as the cashiers check and was expecting an invoice for the transaction after not receiving the invoice, a couple of days went by I started to have a very uneasy feeling about the transaction. I tried reaching out to the company that I sent the cashiers check to, but they had no phone number available to be reached. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I walked back into the same Wells Fargo branch where I made the deposit. I spoke to a teller and explained what was going on and asked if the cashiers check could be stopped because there was a six day hold put on the cashiers check by Wells Fargo. There was still a couple days left on the hold. The teller was very nice and said that he would speak to the branch manager about the situation and asked me to hang tight. A few minutes later, the manager met me inside the branch and said that he would send the information over to their fraud department and that they would get back to me that day again I expressed to him my concern that I might be in a scam situation that I wasnt completely sure but it did not feel right. He said that they would definitely look into it and get back to me. That afternoon I got a call from Wells Fargo fraud department. I do not remember the ladies name that I spoke with, however she was very adamant that no fraud had taken place. She stated that just because I feel like something is fraud doesnt necessarily mean that it is. I explained to her that I tried to reach out to the company but to no avail. She said she was able to reach a company representative on her end, I asked her for their contact information so that I could contact them myself, she explained to me that was private information and she was not allowed to share that with me bank policy. I could not believe how uncaring she was towards my situation and how unwilling she was to take this a step further and dig in and really see if there was something that she or that Wells Fargo fraud department could really do for me. She was adamant that there was no way of stopping the payment. I asked her why then do they put a hold for such a long time on a cashiers check? Isnt it to make sure that there is no fraudulent activity and that in case something like this would happen, the payment could be stopped. At that point she did not want to continue the conversation or engage any further. I could tell she was annoyed by me, and she simply said sir theres nothing we can do at this point. Im sure this conversation was recorded and Im sure that you can go back on the conversation to hear it for yourself. Up to this point, I have not received any information or any communication from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX or any invoice or any communication from XXXX XXXX XXXX Consult of the XXXX. My {$23000.00} is gone and I have nothing to show for it. I truly feel that Wells Fargo couldve done their due diligence in stopping this scam from moving forward. There was plenty of time left on the hold of the cashiers check for Wells Fargo to act responsibly. I have sought legal counsel and have reported this to law enforcement. We feel strongly that Wells Fargo violated the bank securities act of 1970 ( BSA ) ( 31 U.S.C. 5318 ) we also believe that Wells Fargo violated the anti-money, laundering act of XXXX. Im asking for a speedy response to my inquiry and asking Wells Fargo to provide me with a full refund of the money that I lost based on their actions in refusing to dig in deeper on my request and complaints of suspected fraud and a scam that I felt I was miss lead into. Im asking for Wells Fargos full cooperation concerning this matter and asking for a quick and speedy response to my request. I feel that a reasonable response time would be within the next XXXX  days. Im asking for Wells Fargos full cooperation and due diligence regarding this matter. 

Best regards XXXX XXXX XXXX

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