Wells Fargo has reportedly refused to reimburse a woman who lost her life savings to an impostor who claimed to work at the banking giant.
Houston resident Heather Sanders says she received a call bearing Wells Fargo’s phone number, reports FOX News.
Sanders says the person on the other line convinced her that her account was at risk, with someone trying to move funds out of her account and into Zelle.
During the call, Sanders says the thief asked her to input her old PIN into her phone and enter a new PIN twice before hitting the pound sign. She also says that the scammer told her to cut her debit card, place it inside of an envelope and wait for a courier to pick it up.
“I made the mistake, I didn’t cut the chip in half. I just cut the card in half like he said.”
At the end of the conversation, she says the thief told her to expect another call at 8:30 am the next day.
But instead of giving Sanders another call, the thieves plundered her account – withdrawing over $4,000 from different locations including a Wells Fargo ATM.
Sanders abruptly sought the assistance of Wells Fargo to recover her funds but the bank denied her request for reimbursement.
“We understand you unknowingly participated in a fraud scheme.
While you may have acted in good faith, we can’t assume liability for financial transactions a customer negotiates or otherwise authorizes with unknown individuals.”
Although all hope seemed lost, after FOX News aired Sanders’ story, Wells Fargo reportedly changed its tune.
Says the victim,
“After it aired Friday, they reached out by Monday, opened it, and escalated it to their highest department. I had an answer within three days, they said it could take up to 10. I don’t believe if you wouldn’t have run the story, they would have stuck with their decision, no matter what evidence I sent.”
In a statement, Wells Fargo says it is happy it could resolve the issue by “working directly with our customer.”
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