Consumer complaint received 2021-08-26
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: WA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I saw a listing for an apartment online, and I contacted the leasing agent. Upon my indicated interest in this unit, I was sent a lease agreement to sign, and a requirement for me to pay upfront first month 's rent and the security deposit ( equal to first month 's rent ) for a total of {$3200.00}. The leasing agent requested that I transfer money to the landlord 's bank account. The leasing agent was impersonating a property manager in the same area where I was looking for housing, registered under a well-known real estate company, which is what made me believe that this was a legitimate transaction. I am a Bank of America customer, and I made the transfer to another Bank of America account, under the landlord 's name. I made this transaction on the XXXX of XXXX, 2021. Every single day, I woke up with emails from the leasing agent, first telling me that the landlord in fact received the money, then going back to say that the landlord did not receive the money. I called Bank of America several times to confirm that the transfer has been made, and even visited a branch myself to see what was happening. Everything was okay on my end. Upon further insistence by the leasing agent that the money was not received, despite me having definitive proof that the transfer was made and confirmed, I filed for fraud at Bank of America, seeing that this leasing agent was not even letting me see the apartment I had signed a lease for. I also called the real estate company, who said that this was not a listing they had, and that the real property manager this person was impersonating received several reports of this happening to several individuals, and had filed a police report. I also filed a police report, reported this at the FTC, IC3, and the Washington State Attorney General 's Office. Bank of America, on the other hand, kept the fraudster 's account open. I kept calling them everyday to request an update on my claim, which I received notice today that it was denied, despite me having every shred of evidence to prove this was indeed fraud and that this person was using a Bank of America account to steal money from other customers. Bank of America is keeping this person 's account open, with their funds safe, while my money is stolen, and Bank of America is doing nothing to protect me or recover my funds. I asked for my claim to be reconsidered, and provided them with all the paperwork, email exchanges, and reports I filed with different government agencies. I also asked the fraudster to return my money, upon which she stated that she still never received the money. Despite the fraudster having a Bank of America bank account, they, a criminal, is allowed to continue to operate and harm more people, while I, being the victim and having my money stolen, am not being protected, refunded, or given my rights and the justice I deserve. In addition, I was told that Bank of America would send me an email with the results of my case, which they didn't. I had to call and find out myself, and upon requesting the decision to be resent did they send it to me, despite promising that I would be notified right away of the decision via email.

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