Consumer complaint received 2024-06-07 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/scrub>/24 - I was the victim of debit card scam and fraud and had {$10000.00} taken from my bank account via a money transfer to XXXX XXXX. 
XX/XX/scrub>/24 This scenario started with a text message from Wells Fargo regarding unusual activity that was detected with my account. I responded 'no ' to the text message stating I did not recognize the name/account attempting to access my account. 
About XXXX minutes later, I had an incoming call from Wells Fargo. The phone number of the incoming call was from the number on my Wells Fargo debit card. I do not know if this was someone within the Wells Fargo organization that is working with these criminals and will financially benefit from this fraud or if the number that was calling me was a front. At the time I assumed it as a legitimate call. The woman on the phone said that someone was attempting to access my account to transfer money and wanted to ensure I did not authorize this activity. She said she would connect me with a XXXX that would prevent the individual from accessing my account and reverse any transactions. 
She put me on hold and then come back to tell me that someone from the XXXX Support Team would be reaching out to me momentarily. I then had an incoming call from a XXXX XXXX XXXX number and the woman said that was the individual I needed to speak with and they could help me. While on that call, I did a screen share and I learned from XXXX XXXX that when I did this, my XXXX XXXX  was taken over and that is what allowed them to make a transfer for funds through XXXX XXXX. I was completely locked out of my XXXX XXXX account and it was unrecoverable. 
XX/XX/year>24 a @ XXXX I saw the money missing from my account and immediately called Wells Fargo to report the fraud and get my debit card closed. The woman I spoke with said she would file the claim and I would hear from someone within 10 business days. She also suggested calling the police to file a police report. 
XX/XX/year>24 @ XXXX I hung up the phone with Wells Fargo Customer Service and called the police to file a police report. I will be attaching that report to this claim. 
XX/XX/year>24 @ XXXX I hung up the phone with the police and called XXXX XXXX. I shared what had happened. It was at this point I was told that the criminal had taken over my XXXX XXXX There was absolutely no way to recover the account. I was on the phone with them for XXXX XXXX. The Support XXXX helped me set up a new XXXX XXXX. He told me I was starting all over and I needed to immediately go into every, single app I utilize and change my login, password, and set up 2nd level authentication. 
XX/XX/year>24  @ XXXX I called back in to Wells Fargo Customer Service . I obviously had a high level of XXXX  and wanted to ensure that everything had been closed and that my other accounts were protected. I was assured that everything was okay and protected. She also told me that I should expect to see my new debit card within 5-7 business days. 

XX/XX/year>24 @ XXXX I called back into XXXX XXXX. I sent up a new email with a XXXX Account and wanted my XXXX XXXX to be in line with my XXXX Account. The support representative helped me ensure I did this correctly. 
XXXX24 @ XXXX I called the Claims Department to follow up on the Claim that was submitted on XXXX/24. I called to ask if I needed to submit a copy of the Police Report that I filed on XX/XX/scrub>/24. The man I spoke with told me I did not need to submit the police report. He would notate it in my file and if anyone had any questions or needed additional information they would call me. 
XX/XX/year>24 @ XXXX I called in to Wells Fargo Customer Service because I had not received any email communication that my new debit card had shipped and I had not heard from anyone regarding my claim. It was at this point that I was told that the WF Customer Service representative that I spoke with on the evening of XX/XX/year>24 never closed out my debit card and just marked it as 'Restricted. ' I lost my mind. The woman I spoke with went through the entire process that was required to properly close my debit card. While reviewing the transactions I explained that a Claim for {$10000.00} was already filed on XXXX/24. Once we completed the process to close my debit card she pulled up the claim in her system. It was at that point that she told me it had been closed and denied. I again lost my mind and she transferred me to the Claim Dept. 
In addition to this negligence with my debit card not being closed, I was told that the Claim she submitted was closed on XX/XX/year>24 because she submitted it as 'Money Transfer, Non-Fraud . ' HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!?! 
The Claim Dept Representative calmed me down and said lets start from the beginning. I shared the story of what had happened on XX/XX/year>24, including my XXXX XXXX being taken over. She re-opened the claim stating it was clearly fraudulent activity. She asked me to email the screen shots of the text message and incoming call I had received on XX/XX/year>24 to be added to my Claim File. She advised me to continue to contact the claims dept to get a status update and ensure it doesn't get closed out. 
XX/XX/year>24 I spent time over the weekend putting together a detailed account of events, along with screenshots, since I no longer trust anyone within Wells Fargo. I am attaching it with this complaint. 
XX/XX/year>24 I called in to the Claims Dept to follow up. The woman I spoke with verified the claim was re-opened and she advised me to get a copy of the police report. 
XX/XX/year>24 I spoke with the XXXX XXXX Detective to see what I needed to do to get a copy of my Police Report for Wells Fargo. The detective said when I heard Wells Fargo my heart went out to you. I am dealing with so many similar reports. Wells Fargo is not doing anything to help. 
XXXX I received the PDF of my Police Report and emailed it to the claims dept to be added to the claim file. I also included the detailed account of events to be attached to the claim file. 
Throughout the week of XX/XX/year>24 I followed the recommendation to check in each day and get a status update. Each day I spoke with a Claims Dept Representative I received different information, conflicting information, or find out something new that I should have been told by any of the previous people I had spoken with. I learned on XX/XX/year>24 that no one in the Claims Dept could answer my questions, or provide me with a status update, because my claim was with the High Dollar Claim Team. I was advised to call back the next day to see if there were any updates. 
XX/XX/year>24 I called to the Claims Dept and asked to be given the phone number to the " High Dollar Claim Dept '' so I could get straight answers to my questions, get an update on the investigation, and see if they needed any additional information as I was done and over with the call back tomorrow and see if theres an update response. I was told all calls still needed to come through the general claim number. The man I spoke with said he put in a request for someone in the High Dollar Claim Dept to call me and said I should hear from someone within 2 business days. 
XX/XX/year>24 2 business days passed, and no one called me. I called to find out why no one had called me and again expressed my extreme frustration with the process. This is a very large sum of money and the fact that no one doing an investigation would reach out to me to discuss the events that took place, or possibly ask for any additional information is maddening. The man I spoke with put me on hold to review the information in the claim on file. When he came back on the phone he told me after reviewing all the information in the claim he was able to hit the Process Dispute button in his computer stating that each step in the claim process takes XXXX to XXXX hours to process which is why it has taken so long to get to this point in the system. He also said that since hes the one that processed the dispute there is XXXX more step which would allow for provisional dollars to be put back into my account as they continue the investigation. Since he was the one that processed the dispute he could not complete that last step. He said it should take less than XXXX hours for the step to process and told me to call in to follow up the next day. 
On XXXX/24, I called in to the claims dept to check the status on the dispute and relayed discussion with the claims representative from the previous day. I was the told that the decision for a provisional credit was made by the back office and no on in the claims dept has access to anyone in the back office. After losing my mind, over another piece of misinformation, I was then transferred to a Senior XXXX. After expressing my extreme level of frustration, she put me on hold to see if she could get someone in the High Dollar Claim Dept to contact me. When she came back on the phone she told me the claim was closed and denied on XX/XX/year>24. She said there wasnt enough evidence to support fraud. I completely lost my mind and asked how in the world that was even possible. I went through the key events that took place that demonstrated fraud, especially the fact that someone took over a portion of my identity by taking over my XXXX XXXX and having access to my entire life. At that point she said this sounds like an XXXX XXXX take-over so I could escalate this and you can check back in 10 business days. I was appalled that she acted as if this was new information. The reason this claim was RE-OPENED on XX/XX/year>24 was based on this information. The details were also included in the Detailed Account of Events I submitted to be attached to my claim on XX/XX/scrub>/24. 

XXXX/XXXX/24 I went to my local Wells Fargo bank and asked to speak with whoever was the most senior person in that building. The XXXX XXXX immediately brought me into her office. I provided her with the XXXX Detailed Account of Events and shared my extreme level of anger and frustration with this process due to people not doing their job from the first call to report this fraud. I went through everything with her and she made a call to the Claims Department. Her intention was to see if this could be escalated to the XXXX level for review as I was clearly a victim of fraud. The individual she spoke with said it was re-opened and has been escalated and I should check back on Friday or Monday. Quite frankly, Im done with their daily check-ins for them to string me along for 9 days and then close and deny my claim without even communicating with me or asking for any detail or more information. 
XX/XX/year>24 I put added additional documentation to the Detailed Account of Events to include anything I could think of to prove that my XXXX XXXX  had been taken over. I emailed it to the claims dept to be added to the re-opened claim. I am not hopeful that anyone will even look at it since they clearly didnt look at the previous detail. 
XX/XX/year>24 I have a follow up meeting with my local XXXX XXXX. She is going to call to check the status of the claim. Again, it was re-opened but they will be utilizing the same information that I have already provided and they closed and denied.

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