Wells Fargo says it feels bad for a customer, but refuses to reimburse, after a con artist ripped $14,000 from her account.
It all started when California businesswoman Phi Dang was told a large invoice hadn’t been paid, reports NBC Los Angeles.
Dang had mailed a $14,000 check and her statement showed it had already been cashed.
But when Dang looked at an image of the check online, she noticed the payee’s name had been removed and replaced.
“Dang pieced together what likely happened. A thief stole the check from the mail, used chemicals to alter the payee, and then took the check to the bank and cashed it.”
US banks typically reimburse victims of check fraud.
But a Wells Fargo representative told Dang she waited too long to report the fraud, passing the bank’s 30 day deadline.
“He kept telling me, ‘Do you understand what I’m saying? Your money is gone, your money is gone.'”
In a statement, Wells Fargo says it “empathizes” with Dang, but her account will not be made whole.
Check fraud is on the rise in recent years. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, check fraud has surged nationwide by 385% since 2021.
“In 2021, financial institutions filed over 350,000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to FinCEN to report potential check fraud, a 23% increase over the number of check fraud-related SARs filed in 2020.
This upward trend continued into 2022, when the number of SARs related to check fraud reached over 680,000, nearly double from the previous year’s filings.”
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