Consumer complaint received 2023-02-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Scam I have been in contact with a lady named XXXX XXXX XXXX since XXXX. She claimed herself to be a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. We spoke to several month until she gained my trust. On XXXX XXXX deposit XXXX to my XXXX account that the fake XXXX helped me create, then transferred it to a different wallet where she would manage my money. The website was XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX I would see my investment in that website, it even had an option to withdraw the money if I wanted to. Then she told me she would suggest I invest XXXX, we spoke she explained why and all the details and I trusted her so much especially because she would post pictures of herself and her son and her daily life on XXXX. I really thought everything was legit and trustworthy especially since it took months. The XXXX was deposited to XXXX because XXXX took longer to verify my account. I started receiving emails form Coinbase to verify my account and then after my XXXX transaction went through, I received an email from Coinbase congratulating me for my first transaction and it said if I was to deposit XXXX I would get 30 % back immediately as a bonus. Well, that XXXX email was fake. It was her sending that email, but it looked identical to the Coinbase email I usually get so I fell for it especially becuase I trusted her. She guided me through all the steps. After I had sent the XXXX the said she was 100 % sure my money was safe and reassure me I would get it back. Then I receive another Coinbase email saying that I needed to send another XXXX to receive the bonus because I did not use the same transfer method. The XXXX was a regular transfer and the XXXX was a wire transfer and they said I needed to do the same method to receive the bonus. I told XXXX I had no money in my account. She left me with XXXX dollars so I had no way to transfer XXXX again. I called XXXX late at night and thats when they confirmed those emails were fake. I told her they were fake and she had me speak to her fake operations managers who tried to double scam me by charming me XXXX to recover my funds. I also realized she changes her XXXX and XXXX name to XXXX XXXX XXXX, her XXXX account is patriciavesely_ she even had a CRD # XXXX which I googled and it came up so everything looked so real and I really trusted her. Now I am here left with XXXX dollars. They stole everything from me, what took me years to build. I am all alone with a XXXX XXXX XXXX son and these scammers are so heartless. They left me with nothing and depressed. Overall they stole a lil over XXXX all my life savings. Now I dont even have money to pay my rent Since I was left with nothing. I had good intentions and all I wanted to do is invest my savings to provide a better life for myself and my son. She claimed to work for Merrill lynch and again I checked her XXXX # online and it came up. When I seen she changed her name and disappeared thats when I realized it was all a scam. I hope you guys can do something so this stops happening to good people. I have no strength and feel so stupid for trusting this lady and falling for it. I have done everything to at least get some of my money back, I am desperate for help. I was left with nothing. 

I filed a police report # XXXX I also filed a report on the fbi website XXXX And a case with my bank which is Bank of America # XXXX FTC.gov Report # XXXX

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