$68,000 lost in recent incident before bank returns funds
A Marina del Rey couple had their Wells Fargo account emptied recently through a fraudulent account.
As reported by ABC 7, the couple – referred to only by their first names, James and Diana – lost $68,000 in eight back-to-back transactions on December 13. According to James, a fraudulent account was set up years ago using his wife’s information. Then the suspects logged into the couple’s actual Wells Fargo account and transferred the funds.
“I log onto our account and I see that our entire savings account was drained and most of our checking account was drained,” James told ABC. “When you lose your entire savings and you have these very suspicious amounts going one after another and not to hear from them; that was very bizarre.”
While Wells Fargo has returned the money to the couple, they have lost trust in the bank.
“I don’t have confidence in the bank that our current checking and savings accounts would be safe from further fraud,” Diana told ABC.
Wells Fargo issued the following statement concerning the incident.
“After conducting our review, we’re pleased to resolve this matter for our customer. We are sorry for the inconvenience and worry our customer encountered as we know situations like these can weigh heavily on those impacted. We have a very extensive fraud program dedicated to protecting our customers and a thorough investigation process to research all reports of account fraud and identity theft. When we confirm fraud on an account, we take action to block the fraudulent activity and reimburse the fraud victim,” reads the statement.
