Consumer complaint received 2024-12-10 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
Hello, 
I would like to make a formal complaint about the JPMorgan Chase fraud/claims/disputes departments. 

I am XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX working at my first real job XXXX XXXX XXXX, struggling like most of us are to make ends meet. I work full time as an XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  for extra money. I do whatever I can to make ends meet, and to help pay off my massive amount of student loan debt. 

You can see why I would be extremely alarmed when all of the sudden someone attempted to use my card on XXXX XXXX  to purchase XXXX of XXXX. I received the fraud alert text and email from Chase asking me if this purchase was authorized, and I marked no, it was not me. Chase then declined that transaction but to my surprise, someone (presumably the same person as the XXXX order) was then able to purchase a XXXX order at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX order didnt go through, XXXX order did go through. XXXX XXXX XXXX  - I receive a call from caller ID "Chase" at XXXX XXXX  to confirm that the XXXX transaction was fraud. I confirmed that this transaction was fraudulent and not me. The agent explained that they were filing a claim for the XXXX order, cancelling my current debit card, and mailing a new one. I recently moved so I asked the agent to read to me what address the card was being shipped to. She read me my correct address and mentioned that she would send the card 2 day express for a XXXX  fee. (This would mean I would receive the card on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX). During the call I had to authorize in the app via a Chase in-app pop up window that I was indeed speaking with an agent. The agent notified me that my pin may have been compromised and that with my new card I will have a new temporary pin to use, and that in the mail I would receive instructions on how to change my pin to something new to use there on out. She gave me a new temporary pin and I wrote it down. At this point I had no reason to believe that this Chase agent was scamming me at all.
XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX Someone was able to deposit two checks into my account totaling XXXX These checks came from someone who I do not know, and had the same first name on both, but different last names, one of them being my last name. There is no one in my family with this name, and I was dumbfounded who this could be. Shortly after the checks showed up in my account a few ATM withdrawals were made. These 4 withdrawals were made separately but one after another totaling XXXX plus the XXXX non-Chase ATM fee for each of the 4 withdrawals totaling XXXX.
XXXX XXXX - Then this person was able to go into a Chase Bank Branch and withdrawal money via the teller for a total of XXXX  On the withdrawal receipt it says that the person authorized the pin. Now I want to be clear, I have never shared my pin with anyone, so I am not sure how this person got that information unless they hacked me or spoofed my card info somehow? I was working this whole day in the office and therefore did not notice the ATM and teller withdrawals until the next morning. 
XXXX XXXX - I woke up, and checked my banking as I usually do, and noticed all of the fraudulent activity. I received a weird call from caller ID "Chase" shortly after waking up, and I was speaking to the exact same agent I spoke to on XXXX XXXX which I thought was suspicious, so I basically asked why she was calling again, and I noted there was more fraud on my account, but I didn't go into detail. She said she needed to authorize via the Chase in-app window that I was indeed speaking to an agent. I went into the app, the window popped up and I selected yes. She abruptly hung up on me after that went through. This is when it started to occur to me that this might be the scammer, this Chase agent because it was weird for them to hang up, I also thought it was weird that I had not yet received the new debit card in the mail yet. I went down and checked my mailbox anyways, and it was not there. At this point I contacted Chase by calling them myself and I started to report and create claims for all of the fraudulent transactions that had taken place, including the fake checks, and the withdrawal of XXXX at the branch. I spoke to several different Chase agents between this day and XXXXXXXX XXXX, attempting to get all of it reported and cleaned up. So much had happened in my account, and so many different kinds of transactions that I had to file several separate claims, and had to be careful to not miss anything. The agents I spoke to appeared to be helpful, but retrospectively were awful at being thorough. Basically many transactions were missed the first time, leading me to have to call back several times. The agents all urged me to do different things as well. Some said to close my account, some said keep it open, some told me that I should wait to dispute the fraudulent checks as it would make my account go negative, etc. No clear and consistent advice was given, and I left every phone call feeling like things were unresolved.
XXXX XXXX - I continued to follow up calling this day. The agent I spoke to urged me to go to the branch 1st thing in the morning on Monday for further instructions on how to sort this all out, close the old checking account, and open a new one. 
XXXX XXXX - I continued to follow up, checking my account. I created a new checking account online, and received a call from Chase to confirm that this was indeed me creating the new account. I verified this for them. Then I booked an appointment at a branch close to where I work to meet with a banker about this matter. My appt was for noon on XXXX XXXX. I started to change my username and password for a ton of my bank/financial log ins. XXXX XXXX - I went to my appointment early and was called back early around XXXX. The agent I worked with urged me to change my passwords, username for Chase, and any digital wallet apps after hearing my story. He helped me go through the process of doing this. He also called Chase fraud while I was there with him and tried to help me get this all sorted out. Chase fraud urged him to advise me not to close the checking account yet because the bank was still investigating and there would be credits coming back into the account or coming out of it over the next several days. The banker was able to investigate and noted a few suspicious things. One thing he noted was that there was no record on his end of the original call I received on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX from caller ID "Chase". Subsequently, this initial so-called agent never reported the XXXX order, but rather just put in the new debit card request. I noted that this was odd given that she confirmed my details, I didn't have to provide her more than my name and birthdate, and she even sent the security in-app window confirming she was an agent with Chase and I was authorizing to speak with her. I also told the banker that I received the $5 dollar card replacement fee. The banker mentioned that this was odd because in order to access the app and also send that card fee either this person truly does work for Chase or was somehow able to hack into the system to be able to send the in-app window and the card replacement fee. I then asked him if it shows what address the new card was sent to make sure they had my address on file, and to our surprise, the addresses did not match. The address on file (my real address) and the one where the new debit card was actually sent were different places. This started to make sense because if someone else (maybe the chase agent) received that debit card to the address they chose, then they would be able to take that debit card to an ATM or into the branch to withdrawal money. I was baffled by this, considering this is some pretty high-level hacking and possibly someone who works for Chase. I left the bank feeling rather defeated because I felt like nothing I came there to fix was actually sorted out. I knew more information, such as the address where the card was sent, I knew that this person knew my pin somehow, and I knew that they must have had access to my account or digital wallet potentially too. I took the bankers advice, kept the original checking account open for now, and decided to overhaul all my log in's and passwords for everything I use for fear that this person knows more of my information than I even realize. I did feel good knowing that I could potentially file a police report now and provide them with a suspected address to the scammer and hopefully get some pay back for this mess. At this point, I thought it was just a waiting game until Chase finished investigating and fixing everything, then I would close the account and get my life back to normal. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX After checking my bank account this morning I realized two things, One, the XXXX order still did not have a claim for it, and the fraudulent checks were finally returned because Chase was able to prove that the account the money was coming from did not exist. I was happy to hear this because I do not want anything to do with that fake money, and I was happy knowing things appeared to be moving in the right direction. I decided to call Chase to report the XXXX  order for the XXXX XXXX XXXX  time now and also check to see if the ATM and branch withdrawals were going to be credited back to my account soon since the checks reversed, and my account was negative. The initial agent I spoke with was not helpful. All he told me was that I needed to immediately close the affected checking account, and even close my new one too? I started to get frustrated because the day before the banker at my local branch notified me NOT to close the account yet. Also, if I am not mistaken, you cannot close an account with a negative balance, and as of now my account is negative over XXXX because of this mess. So I asked to speak to a supervisor because I felt I was not being heard, and my complex case was not being understood. The next lady I spoke to was helpful, she did her research and carefully went over all the claims I had, but then hit a brick wall by noting that the only thing she can do for me is put a claim in for the XXXX order and then freeze my checking account for now. She didnt seem to understand if I should close or keep the account open for now, so instead opted to freeze it, which I complied with. She then explained that all the claims for the fraudulent checks and for the debit card had been resolved, but that the ATM and branch withdrawals were denied. I about blew up at this point, so completely shocked why they would deny the claims for these fraudulent withdrawals that were not me. 
I reiterated that there is very blatant proof of fraud given that all of this took place within a week span, the card was not sent to my address but rather some unknown address, and clearly the checks were fraudulant. She refused to acknowledge these facts and mentioned that the person used my pin at the bank and ATM therefore it must have been me. In her eyes it was extremely un-likely that anyone would have my pin number and my physical card other than myself. Again, this person deposited fake checks into my account, this person chose a different address and received the physical debit card, so yes they very easily could have known my information and were able to go up to the ATM and the teller and insert MY debit card, and MY pin. I mean they already had a great chance of scamming me, they had my live debit card in their hands, and all they needed was my pin to use it. The biggest evidence is I never touched the new debit card. I couldn't have, because it didn't come to my home address as it should have. It blows my mind that Chase is denying these claims simply because my pin was used (so the transactions were verified, in their eyes). Why would I send my card to a different address and get myself into this mess. Why would I deposit clearly fake checks that I knew wouldn't go through? None of it makes sense. My pin information and account number and stuff was obviously spoofed or breached somehow. I feel that that is way more common than Chase is making it out to be. 
The agent ended the conversation by telling me that I can try to talk to her supervisor but that this is not going to be resolved and Chase will continue to deny it. I then asked her what about the security camera footage at the branch and at the ATM's and she said I have a right to pursue obtaining that footage but that I would need a court subpoena to get this footage. She said that is probably my only option to fight this, is to prove with camera footage that it wasn't me who made those withdrawals. 
Here is the thing, I do not have money to be paying over XXXX back to the bank for withdrawals that I did not do. I barely have enough money to get by between paychecks. Now this whole thing is going to cost my big time! They will most likely send me to collections because I am unable to deposit money into the account to make it not be negative anymore. That will harm my credit, and my credit is already not the best given all my student loan debt and amount of credit. This will also cost me time away from my job, coordinating this all, and cost me in legal fees. I am the little guy tyring to go against this massive financial institution and therefore I will have to get a lawyer/attorney if I even want to have a slight chance in getting my money back. Chase has not handled this in an organized and clear manor. I was left feeling confused after talking to several people, and never truly knew what actions to take. I also only received one fraud alert throughout this whole past week, and that was for the 1st occurrence with the XXXX  order. Why am I not getting other alerts? I could've potentially stopped some of this from happening if I had received alerts. The negligence and lack of thorough investigating is leading Chase to overlook this case probably because to them XXXX is chump change, but to me that will make and break whether or not I become evicted from not being able to pay my rent the next couple months. What is even more frustrating is the evidence points to the fact that either an employee of Chase is scamming, or a scammer has access to Chase information given the suspicious phone calls, and the access to change my address from the inside. By denying this case of mine, Chase is simply carefree knowing the potential liability under their roof, one of their own employees. I am just so beyond frustrated and distraught about this. Just in time for the holidays. I can never catch a break. 

 I hope they know that even though I am in the lower class, and I don't have the funds or the access to good legal advice, I will fight this regardless. I will go after that footage and I will go after Chase if they do not resolve this. Cause XXXX is a lot of money to me, and I cannot afford to pay for some criminal's actions.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief