Wells fargo trying to screw me

Submitted by Jonny24v01 t3_z7q81u in personalfinance

A few months ago i got scammed on a website and got charged $2532. I got the charges reversed. I just got a determination letter from Wells Fargo, and they think i gave someone permission to wire the money. They said they are reversing the credit on 12/05. I dont know if i can appeal their decision. Luckily, they gave me that date. Im going to close my account and credit card tomorrow. I just got to find a new bank and give that direct deposit info to my work. Anything else i would need to do to prevent them from screwing me over? They can screw off when my closed account goes negative. I dont care about collections at this point. No way im paying penalties for my account going negative for something i didnt do

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SpiritualQuokka t1_iy7oc9w wrote

>Anything else i would need to do to prevent them from screwing me over?

You would need to actually resolve the issue. You need to appeal their decision, ask for the evidence that you authorized the payment, and send a copy of the police report you filed stating that money was stolen from your account via a fraudulent wire transaction. If they don't rule in your favor, file a complaint with the CFPB providing all of that and an explanation of all of your communication with Wells Fargo.

Closing the account and letting it go to collections is a great way to wind up with a lawsuit, and an judgment saying you HAVE to pay the penalties for your account going negative, and they can garnish your wages to make you do it.

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Jonny24v01 OP t1_iy7ouva wrote

Good advice, im just very frustrated and got to make sure to calm down before i make a decision. I dont feel like banking with them after this is resolved in some form. Only problem is i didnt file a police report. I know there is nothing they could do. I didnt expect it to turn out like this

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rpsls t1_iy7pmra wrote

You can file a police report at any time.

The key is whether during the course of the scam information was taken which allowed them to do the transfer without you (in which case it was a fraudulent transfer), or whether they convinced YOU to do the transfer through lies or deceit (in which case it was a valid transfer, based on fraudulent information). These are very different cases from a bank fraud point of view.

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Jonny24v01 OP t1_iy7u6rv wrote

Very good point, im thinking the second scenario is whats going on here. Based on the determination letter, they mentioned it was based on info they got from me and the merchant that led them to their decision. I find that odd because i had no ability to contact the merchant, even from a different e-mail. I had reported the fraudulent website to google and its still up. I need to find a better outlet to report the website to give me some leverage in this scenario. Thanks for the good advice rather than taking time to point out my shortcomings that led me to this predicament.

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rpsls t1_iy7w7il wrote

If the selling site itself was/is fraudulent and you transferred money to them, then didn’t receive the promised services, that is also a valid reason to dispute the charge. Without more information it’s hard to advise you, and I’m not a lawyer or a financial crimes expert myself anyway. Was just trying to point out that “being scammed” takes many forms and the credit/bank companies handle them differently. I’d continue to appeal then CFPB it if you couldn’t get resolution.

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Jonny24v01 OP t1_iy7xape wrote

I got to see if they will, not reverse the credit until i appeal. The fact that they claimed they contacted the merchant makes me wonder if they followed federal regulations for the supposed investigation. First i got to request the decision making documents. Short story of what happened, came across website through a google search. I bought an item for 6 bucks. The payment timed out. I checked my e-mail and got no receipt or order confirmation. I checked my bank account and i had the $2532 charge. I reported it right away. The charge was from ACBA link pay, a bank in Armenia. They wired money using my debit card. It sounds like an international scam.

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limitless__ t1_iy85m42 wrote

Not filing a police report pretty much guarantees they are not going to find in your favor. Report it today and get that filed and then appeal the decision from Wells Fargo. Once you get your money back THEN you close the accounts.

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Prolingus t1_iy86eua wrote

Regardless of what the outcome is here, one lesson you are learning right now is to never use your debit card online. Or ever, really.

Also, I think you need to look at the situation with less hostility toward the bank. Wells Fargo isn't trying to screw you over. You screwed yourself by entering your debit card info into a sketchy website and are now hoping Wells Fargo will bail you out.

I understand it is going to leave a bad taste in your mouth, and you are free to move to another bank. But that isn't going to make the money reappear. Continue to do whatever documentation is needed, file a police report, do everything asked of you by WF in hopes they reverse the charge. But most importantly, use this as a learning experience to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I am sorry this is happening to you, and I am sorry this reply was so blunt.

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Jonny24v01 OP t1_iy9fmbk wrote

I strongly agree with that, no longer using a debit card unless its at a actual store using a pin. I wouldn't consider it a blunt response. For the people defending Wells Fargo, they have horrible fraud monitoring and this is the first time i had to reach out to them rather than them notifying me of suspicious activity. There are scandals they have been involved in, which some i know has been personally involved. They are going to send me the paperwork that led them to their decision in 30 days. They initially said they didnt have any until i asked if they actually did a investigation as required by law. After a long hold they miraculously have something they are going to send me something after 30 days

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Siphyre t1_iyb1h8v wrote

> I strongly agree with that, no longer using a debit card unless its at a actual store using a pin.

This is what gets you into trouble. NEVER MEANS NEVER. Stop using it. You can get skimmed and your pin taken.

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CJ-Me t1_iy8ewfv wrote

The first thing you should do is understand that you were in charge of your money and directed where it should go. The bank had nothing to do with the situation. Since the mistake was yours, why should the bank have to pay for it. You should look at this as an online class that you paid for. Hopefully, you learned enough from the class and you won't have to repeat the class.
Own the debt and come up with a way to pay it back. It's the honorable thing to do. They will still bill you, and if you ignore it, it will go to collections. You'll end up paying for it one way or another.

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Particular-Earth-453 t1_iy8k35d wrote

How did they wire money using your debit card? To wire money you need the actual account and routing numbers. There’s got to be more to this than what you’re posting. Did you provide your actual bank account information to this website? Or just plug in your debit card number?

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willy--wanka t1_iy879op wrote

You are not going to be able to ignore this, even if they close your account they are going to bill you.

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Shaybahm t1_iy8ljkb wrote

You’re going to pay penalties for your account going negative no matter what. When an account goes negative, it’s not just collections you need to worry about. It’s your Qualifile score that’s gonna tank. When you try to open an account anywhere, your most likely account is going to be whatever “second chance” account that institution offers. These accounts are often restricted. Sometimes you can’t have debit cards, only ATM cards. They’re often accounts with heavy monthly maintenance fees. And if you’re thinking you can just close the account and immediately open a new one to avoid the reporting, sorry to say many institutions now do repeated Qualifile checks after you open an account. So you might slip through initially, but after that one month mark when they review and potentially pull it again, you’re at risk of that account being shut down too. Trying to just dodge the issue isn’t really the best way to go about this.

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Siphyre t1_iyb2vpt wrote

Did the website deliver goods? What exactly was the scam?

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guapo131 t1_iy8ot92 wrote

"Wells fargo trying to screw me"

In other news: The sky is up, and the grass is green.

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No_Tension_280 t1_iy936dk wrote

I have a Coach brand wallet, and a crook convinced me to give them $100. Does Coach owe me that money?

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