Fraud is a latent risk for all, including people with great economic resources. Steve’s story in relation to Wells Fargo He is being very popular in the US and has crossed borders, experimenting to be a victim of theft of a check for the IRS. This situation led him to have difficulty months later with a Federal tax payment of $ 310,000. This is a person who owns a company that supports lawyers in the delivery of legal documents.
To cover the estimate of federal taxes of the first quarter of 2024 of Steve, his wife issued a check for $ 310,000 in the name of IRS from your personal account of Wells Fargo. The check was deposited in a safe mailbox in Seattle and charged on January 31, as indicated by the bank extract of the financial entity.
Alerted by his accountant in November of the following year, Steve understood that the Irs had not received the check. On December 18, the United States Internal Revenue Service required a copy of both sides of the turn of $ 310,000. When obtaining it in Wells Fargo, the victim confirmed fraud: the check had been chemically washing and the beneficiary was replaced by «Ezavier Josiah Staples»who signed the reverse of the check and deposited it in a JPMorgan Chase account.
At the time of questioning Steve, he justified his ignorance of the theft of the check, pointing out that each quarter manages “more than one hundred” payments through its various businesses in different states. This amount ($ 310,000) made it difficult to realize that the IRS had not received the payment, whose individual review considered “exhausting.”
Check fraud in the US spend very frequent
The considerable magnitude of fraud with checks, which in 2023 reached approximately 21.1 billion dollars in the United States, represents almost 80% of global fraud, according to statistics from the Global Financial Crimes Report. Given these scandalous figures, in March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order for the Federal Government to abandon the use of paper checks and adopt safe electronic payments before September 30, thus seeking to prevent such crimes.
He Check washing is a common practicethat is why lawyers and specialists urge US citizens to examine their financial accounts and report any anomaly to the banking entity and police authorities.
Wells Fargo states that no reimbursement occurred
When Steve realized the fraud on December 18, he did not hesitate to claim Wells Fargo. To his surprise, the bank rejected his claim a week later for considering it out of time. Then, by denouncing the fact to the Seattle Police, they explained that he had a year since the discovery of fraud to make the complaint. Given this, the victim commented on his strangeness for the lack of insurance or interest of banks to protect customers from this type of fraud.
What does UCC say about check fraud
The uniform commercial code grants a year to claim fraud with checks in the US. Fulfilling this period is key for the financial entity to begin with the recovery processes of stolen funds.
The victim does not receive any response from any entity
Steve formalized his complaint before the Office of the Comptroller of La Moneda (OCC), the Office for Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) and the Crimes of Crimes on the Internet (IC3). To date, there has been no communication by the Occ or IC3. The CFPB communicated Steve the unfeasibility of its performance by not verifying any illegal by Wells Fargo.
Steve vs Wells Fargo, a dispute without resolving
Despite legal actions initiated against Wells Fargothe dispute is still unresolved. In a communication on February 11, the Bank reported having requested Chase the recovery of $ 310,000. For his part, a spokesman for that bank confirmed the reception of the claim and his current investigation.
Steve expressed concern that the case was resolved in arbitration, a scenario in which it could be losing and be forced to pay a substantial amount, including the fees of Wells Fargo lawyers.
WHAT DOES Wells Fargo to avoid check fraud
Wells Fargo takes measures to prevent fraud with checks. With this case, which is the focus of attention throughout the country, the bank encourages the use of digital or online alternatives. In addition, it recommends configuring account alerts and reviewing the states of checking the checks.
