Another Wells Fargo customer, Julia Gibson, lost $2,500 in October to a similar scam. After reporting the fraud to the bank, she was given a provisional credit for the lost money. But in January, the bank abruptly withdrew its credit, zeroed its balance and increased overdrafts. The bank had decided that the loss was not fraudulent.
“What was so frustrating about this whole thing was that the customer service representative I spoke to told me that so many people had been through this,” said Ms. Gibson.
In their appeal to Wells Fargo, Mr Faunce and Ms Gibson cited the consumer agency’s rules on fraudulent losses, but the bank repeatedly rejected them.
“There are certain indicators that we are looking for in the investigation to let us know that fraud has indeed been committed on the account,” Wells Fargo wrote to Mr. Faunce. “During the investigation, we did not find any of those indicators and denied the claim.”
After The Times contacted the bank, it refunded Mrs Gibson.
“We are committed to adhering to all rules governing transactions,” said Jim Seitz, a bank spokesperson. “We are actively working to raise awareness of common scams to help prevent these heartbreaking incidents.” He declined to discuss specific customer cases.
Other victims of fraud trying to get their money back from banks have had better luck citing the law.
Ken Page-Romer, a psychotherapist and author living in Long Beach, NY, was charged $19,500 from his account in November after receiving fake text messages and phone calls that appeared to be from Citigroup phone numbers. The bank initially denied its claims. At the urging of his financial adviser husband Gregory, Mr Page-Romer wrote the bank a letter citing Regulation E and sent copies to the police and bank regulators. Citi soon returned his stolen money.
