Consumer complaint received 2021-03-15
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
Since XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America has not satisfactorily resolved {$10000.00} worth of fraudulent charges on my personal credit card. Between the period of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, {$10000.00} worth of fraudulent charges were charged to my Bank of America personal credit card ending in XXXX. Once I was notified of this unusual activity, I contacted Bank of America on XX/XX/XXXX to report the charges as fraudulent. Over the next several weeks, I discovered that my identity was stolen and I was in fact a victim of a broader SIM swapping scheme that impacted my personal cell phone account as well with XXXX. Numerous new credit cards were fraudulently opened in my name during this time period as well with other financial institutions ( XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and XXXX XXXX ) - all of which were determined to be fraudulent and ruled in my favor. The specific activity tied to Bank of America was related to a replacement credit card that was automatically ordered and mailed to me on XX/XX/XXXX per Bank of America. However, this replacement card was never in my possession nor did I ever receive it, and was in fact allegedly activated by way of telephone on XX/XX/XXXX ( the date the fraudulent activity began ). During the time period of this fraudulent activity XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ), my personal cell phone was not functioning properly ( see XXXX statement certifying this claim ) and was apparently impacted by an " unauthorized SIM card change '', allowing the individual that had stolen my identity to verify these unauthorized purchases/activate credit cards via text message and by way of my personal phone number ( basically posing as me by having my SIM card swapped into their personal device ). 

During the time period that these fraudulent charges took place, not only was my personal phone not working due to the unauthorized SIM card change ( verified by XXXX text message threads sent over WiFi on XX/XX/XXXX to various family members saying my phone was not functioning and XXXX statement ), but I was physically not in the locations where the purchases were made on this Bank of America account. The purchases were verified by Bank of America as occurring in store- however I have provided proof showing that I was actually not even in New York State at the time of purchases, but on vacation in XXXX TN ( flight receipts and other credit card receipts showing proof of location ). 

The reasoning behind Bank of America 's determination against my claim has varied, as the investigation has been opened and closed several times. However, the most recent reasoning is that " purchases were made with my PIN using the chip on the card and verified via text message and telephone from my phone number '' - this is proven as false given the signed statement from XXXX showing that my account was experiencing an unauthorized XXXX card change during this time period and I was both not geographically in the physical location of the purposes or in possession of the replacement card automatically sent out by Bank of America. 

Since this nightmare began in XX/XX/XXXX, I have already filed a CFPB complaint and tried to resolve the situation with Bank of America. However, they have since worked diligently to sneakily avoid CFPB federal rules regarding response times, given false information to the Federal Government in terms of my responsiveness to their third party resolution partner ( I have only been in contact with them once and was told contradictory resolution time periods for my " re-opened case '' during this time in comparison to what was given to CFPB ). In addition to my complaints of the unresolved claim, another big piece of my complaint is the lack of communication. It is next to impossible to speak to someone in the Bank of America fraud department that is actually working on your case. I have provided several pages of documents/evidence, yet it is unclear due to a lack of transparency that this information was ever actually taken into consideration in the case. Their third party complaint resolution partner ( XXXX XXXX ) is also very difficult to deal with and is clearly only deployed by Bank of America to try and avoid CFPB regulations. They do not respond via email, do not answer phone calls ( despite leaving exactly one message to call them back so they can verify your identity! ), and even switch your representative mid claim. There is clearly quite a bit of shady activity going on with the intent to just provide the bare minimum to CFPB while also ensuring the determination does not change. 

I have no recourse here- it is a David vs. Goliath scenario and I am an ordinary middle class person that is clearly out of my league here. The result is close to $ XXXX in charges that I did not make dragging down my credit, impacting my ability to start a family, buy a home, and make strategic investments in my future. The burden of proof should be on Bank of America in this situation, yet I am the one providing clear evidence that has not been fairly considered- all so they can report record profits while the average American continues to struggle. I really hope something can be done here to rectify this situation- not only for my sake but for others who I am sure are experiencing the same thing and also do not have the financial means to fight back.

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