Consumer complaint received 2023-04-19
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NJ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Account opened as a result of fraud

Complaint:
As of today, 3 fraudulent " XXXX '' checking accounts have been opened in my name with Bank of America ( BoA ), with a fourth account still pending today ( XX/XX/XXXX ). The dates of the incidents were XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I was alerted to these accounts because the scammers used my personal email address, where I received notifications about the account application process. 

For each account, I contacted BoA fraud services to close the accounts at XXXX. No money was ever deposited in these accounts. All emails were also forwarded to XXXX. Four claims were filed with the following claim numbers : XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. After the initial attempt on XX/XX/XXXX I went through the recommended identity theft protection steps including freezing my credit with all agencies, implementing a 1 year fraud alert, freezing my XXXX profile, changing all passwords and using XXXX. I have also filed FTC reports ( XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX ), and submitted a complaint with the SSA OIG ( XX/XX/XXXX ). Despite these measures, as well as assurances from BoA that all future accounts opened with my SSN would be flagged and denied following my XX/XX/XXXX claim, two applications were approved ( XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ) and one is still pending. If BoA was truly implementing security measures ( ie utilizing XXXX, checking their own supposed fraud flagging system ), any of the security actions I took should have stopped the new applications in their tracks. 

I requested information about my claim be mailed to me at my home address after the XX/XX/XXXX attempt, and was told that an investigation would be opened once I filled out the information requested in the BoA forms. As of today I have received nothing from Bank of America, despite a representative today assuring me that forms *were* sent out for the first claim. I have spoken many times with BoA fraud as well as in person at a local BoA branch, received multiple assurances, yet continue to experience fraudulent account openings, and have no evidence of any fraud investigation actually being conducted by BoA. 

A quick search online shows that I am not alone in experiencing recent fraudulent XXXX account openings with BoA in recent months, with a particular uptick in activity within the past month ( for example, see XXXX ). Online discussions show that other victims are also experiencing account openings *despite* implementing recommended security measures. This is particularly egregious given recent news articles about BoA experiencing higher than expected profits due in *particular* to increased deposits and checking account openings. Overall, there is clearly some of kind of systematic abuse, or security flaw within BoA that needs to be investigated and addressed.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation