Consumer complaint received 2025-04-14 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Closing an account — Company closed your account
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
At XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX calls were made to me from this phone number XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX and had the USAA caller ID, spoof call, as well. 

5 minutes after the calls were made, I was sent 2 messages through text from this number XXXX. 

These were the 2 texts that were sent : USAA Savings- An online representative will be giving you a call shortly REPLY 1 to proceed with placing the call. 
USAA Savings Alert- Did you attempt a {$1000.00} XXXX payment on XX/XX/XXXX reply YES/NO/HELP. Dont want fraud text alerts? Reply STOP I replied to the message saying NO and proceeded to go to my USAA bank app to see if there was activity on my account. In order to make sure the fraud alert was real I messaged the live chat center in the app and asked if I was sent a fraud alert message to which the USAA app bot said I was in fact sent a fraud alert. 

A few minutes later I received a third call from the XXXX bank number with the USAA caller ID, spoof call, still and I answered. The person on the line said his name and that he was from the fraud department and was calling because there was an alert on my account for a {$1000.00} XXXX payment. I told him that it wasnt done by me, and he proceeded to say we were going to cancel the payment before it went through. He asked me to confirm my pin info for USAA to which I said I couldn't remember because I had recently changed it. So, in order to verify myself he needed my username and password. I also had recently changed that and didn't have it on me so I was told the only way to retrieve my info would be to confirm my social security number. 

I gave him my social number and he said I would receive a text shortly and it should have my online username ID. I told him my ID once received on text from the USAA number XXXX and then I was able to retrieve my password. 

At this point he had full access to my account and was going through my transactions making sure there was no fraudulent activity on my card. During this time, he was reading me the transactions confirming they were all done by me. He then put me on hold saying he was going to try and contact the wire department to let them know the XXXX payment was not approved by me. While waiting, there was even the USAA holding music they have during legitimate calls. 

I waited and when he came back, he said I would be receiving a text with a code that I would need to say to him and that this was all part of the process to try and cancel the payment. 

I received 4 different codes within the span of 15 minutes and read them all aloud like asked. These all came from the USAA, spoofed number, number XXXX. At the end of this process, he said the wire transfer had gone through and they were trying to do a second transfer. 

At this point I received a text from USAA XXXX, saying USAA : Wire transfer for {$5400.00} was initiated from a USAA account ending in XXXX. 

I called XXXX, when I asked why the wire transfer went through, I was told it was because it was already processing, and we stopped it too late. I was then told that he was going to verify with the wire department that it wasnt made by me, and he assured me I would have my money back by Monday since the recall wouldnt be done on the weekend. 

During this entire call the person on the phone knew exactly how the USAA protocols work, as far as security questions, verifying customers, how to retrieve login info, and even had the USAA music while you get put on hold. 

I believed I was talking to an actual representative from the company and due to the spoofed numbers for USAA, was tricked into giving my personal information so they could initiate the transfer themselves. Not once did USAA block this unusual transfer of funds to an out-of-state account nor did they offer assistance retrieving my stolen funds. 

All the above information was subsequently provided to USAA and they ultimately stated it was my fault for the money transfer and I was not going to be able to get my money back from USAA. USAA also closed my account and stated I could not bank with them anymore. This made me a victim twice, once for loss of my entire account funds and second for being a member of USAA.

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 monetary relief