I have a tenant who pays $3,600/month by personal check. This month, the check was written for $36,000 instead. I assumed it was an honest mistake and asked the tenant whether they wanted me to return the difference.
The tenant said yes and asked me to send the overpaid amount back either by wire transfer or by writing a new check to a different account. That immediately made me uncomfortable, so before doing anything, I called Wells Fargo directly using the number on their website and explained the situation.
Wells Fargo opened a Corporate Fraud & Claims case. They told me not to send any money back, not to wire anything, and not to mail a check. They said any correction needs to be done bank-to-bank, initiated by the tenant’s bank. They specifically told me not to work with branch-level staff and not to coordinate anything outside of the official claims process. I was also told not to share the fraud representative’s name or direct contact info.
I relayed this information to the tenant. In response, the tenant kept asking for the fraud rep’s name and phone number, saying that “both banks said you should just send the refund directly” and that this is causing them hardship because the excess funds are needed for their daughter’s tuition. They also suggested that if the refund didn’t happen first, they would just deduct the amount from future rent.
I clarified that rent needed to be paid as usual while the matter is under review, and that I will not be sending funds directly because Wells Fargo Corporate Fraud instructed me not to.
After that, the tenant CC’d several new people into the email thread claiming they were bank managers from Wells Fargo and Chase. They kept pushing the idea that the fastest and “most secure” solution was for me to wire the money back, and one of them asked me to go to my local Wells Fargo branch and have the branch manager call them. They also said they couldn’t locate my fraud case number and requested details of who I spoke with.
I forwarded all of this to the Wells Fargo Corporate Fraud department. They are now verifying whether the individuals who were CC’d are actually Wells Fargo employees. They reiterated that I should not send any funds or engage in side coordination and that everything needs to be resolved through the bank-to-bank process.
So as of now, I’m not responding to further emails in the thread, I’m not sending any refund, and I’m waiting for Wells Fargo Corporate Fraud to complete their investigation and tell me next steps in writing. The tenant has not followed up since I provided the official case number and shifted all further action to the fraud department.
The key issue here is that if the original $36,000 check turns out to be fraudulent or is reversed later, and I send money back from my own account, I would be out that money permanently. The bank would not reimburse me for voluntarily issuing a refund. So I’m following the fraud department’s instructions exactly and waiting for a final decision.
Quick clarification — the check was written to ME (my name), not to the tenant or anyone else. The tenant has been depositing checks into my Wells Fargo account for months because I manage the property remotely. This is the normal arrangement and has never been an issue before.
The only problem here is the amount: it was written as $36,000 instead of $3,600. Wells Fargo Corporate Fraud told me not to return the difference directly because if the original check ends up being reversed later, I’d be out the money. So at this point I’m just following their instructions and letting the banks handle it through a formal claims process.
