Wells Fargo Bank decides to refund woman's money after being swindled out of her life savings

HOUSTON - Before FOX 26 got involved, Wells Fargo Bank told Heather Sanders they understood she unknowingly participated in a fraud scheme, but refused to assume liability. Now the bank is returning her money.

"I feel very blessed. It's a huge weight off my shoulders," said Heather. "It's money I've been saving, so I was very happy."

Wells Fargo has refunded more than $4,000 to Heather.

The backstory:

In an only on FOX report, we told you how she got a call from an actual Wells Fargo bank phone number.

"They were in my account when I was speaking with them," Heather said. "They were going through transactions I had already used. They had all the information, that's another reason I believed them."

She says the thief or thieves sent texts that looked real. Two couriers showed up to take her card, which she was instructed to cut in half. The faces of both were caught on camera. 

Sheriff's Deputies are investigating.

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What they're saying:

Heather believes it was our report that caused Wells Fargo to change its mind and return all her money.

"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," she said. "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 told FOX 26, "Upon reviewing additional information, we are happy we could resolve this matter working directly with our customer.  Wells Fargo will never ask you to give us your physical card and PIN number to prevent fraud or scams. If anyone asks you to do that, it's a scam." 

Tips for viewers from Wells Fargo Bank:

• Scammers will try to rush you into taking action, so you won’t take time to stop, think, and verify facts.
• Scammers can spoof their caller ID number.
• Common tactics include asking you to provide sensitive personal information or to send money to help stop a phony transaction or receive a refund.
• Your bank won’t ask you to send a payment or your physical card to prevent or stop fraud in your account. If you get a call asking for that, immediately hang up and call your bank directly.
• Providing personal information such as One-Time passcodes, passwords, or PIN can give scammers access to your account and your funds.
• If you are uncomfortable with a request received by phone call or text that you didn’t initiate, don’t respond and hang up immediately. Contact the company using legitimate sources.
• We encourage people to visit Wells Fargo’s online security center to learn about common scams and how to avoid them.

Additional Information from Wells Fargo Bank: 

• Our work to prevent scams is a priority and we’re increasing our education efforts through alerts in online banking sessions, mobile app, various customer communications, displaying warning notifications, through our Online Security Center, and resources like our Security Brochure. As well as through media outreach efforts with our video news releases (VNR) on scam/fraud topics…"