Consumer complaint received 2019-05-07
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: SC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
In 4 of my Bank of America accounts I discovered that funds were being transferred from three of the accounts into the 4th trust account and then 2 wire transfers were made from the account that the funds were transferred to. The first wire was for {$17000.00} on XXXX XXXX, 2019 to XXXX XXXX, ( which was not me ). I did some investigation and it was actually made to XXXX XXXX. The 2nd wire was for {$15000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XXXX, ( whom I do not know ). The accounts that the money was transferred to were banks that I have never heard of. The wires occurred within 24 hrs. to accounts that I have never heard of. I tried to stop the 2nd wire as it that said it was processing, but was told by the bank that I could not stop this. The date was XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX in the XXXX. The actual wire did not leave the bank until XXXX XXXX. 
I later realized the transaction did not finish processing until 2-3 hours after I had tried to stop the transaction. I learned from the fraud department at the bank that a telephone number had been added to my account on XX/XX/XXXX. This was not authorized. I was never alerted by the bank that any changes had happened to any of my accounts. ( I am always alerted each and every time a debit or credit happens in my account via text. This did not happen either. 
I do not know how someone was able to access my accounts or get my passwords.I do not know how someone could have signed on to my account with an unfamiliar computer and how would they know the security questions. I do not understand how the phone number was added to my account without authorization, and also how not 1, but 2 wires were done in accounts that have never had any wire with this type of transaction without alerts or flags going off. I have had these accounts for more than 20 years with Bank of America. I have never signed up for online wiring. I have never wired money from my accounts. I certainly have never online wired and this should have sent red flags to the accounts and then to have 2 in less than 24 hours. I have never made transfers between my accounts. 
I had no idea all of the accounts that were linked. These accounts all had different IDs and passwords could be opened with any of the passwords. I do not understand this as there are different signers on the accounts. If this had not been done by the bank, they would not have wiped out but 1 account. If I had gotten an alert that the alert phone number had been changed, the fraud would have never happened. 
I have always taken every safety precaution available, including firewalls, virus protections, and I have an excellent IT guy that provides daily monitoring and has for 30 years. I do not know how someone was able to access my accounts. I have never shared passwords with anyone that was not on the account and these passwords are always in a locked fireproof filing cabinet. I do not have debit cards for any of these accounts. I definitely take security very seriously. I also trusted Bank of America to alert me if my security has been changed. 
Bank of America has sent me an email that states that they have completed their research on the fraud claim and will not honor my claim of fraud. They claim the transactions in question were completed by a third party who was given access to my accounts or account information. This absolutely has not happened. As I stated before, I have 14 accounts at this bank and have had them more than 20 years. I have always been safe with security. I have never had a problem with my accounts and I have had some accounts in other banks for more than 40 years. I have never had any problems in any bank. 
On Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I opened new accounts at XXXX XXXX. After opening my accounts, I signed up for online banking and as soon as I went online with the new accounts, XXXX XXXX closed the online portal. I was not able to access my account online. I received an email which stated there was malware on my computer and I would need to remove this from my computer before I could sign online with this bank. I do not understand why Bank of America did not detect this. 
While trying to deal with this since XX/XX/XXXX, I have had to hold on when calling to the Bank of America Fraud Department for hours and hours just trying to get information. I have called and called and have spent many hours just listening to the elevator music while trying to talk with someone about this scam. I can never talk to the same person twice, and no one will even give you their last names. I finally talked to the man one day  ( XXXX? No last name ) who said that I was negligent, and my claim was turned down and Bank of America would not be returning my money. I can not get him back on the phone to discuss that I have learned new details about my account and I would like to know when the new phone number was added to my account. ( The number that gave the authorization ) for the wires to be processed. I learned that the recipient to one of the wires was to an account called XXXX XXXX and this guy named XXXX had said the recipient was me. I would like to have the time that the wires originated and the time that the wires left the bank. I do believe I was at the bank 3 hours before the 2nd wire was sent out. I was there telling them that the wire that had gone out the day before was not one I had sent and that there was another that was processing and could they please stop this from happening. While at the bank, the loan officer got the Fraud department on the line. They said it could not be stopped. And one of the times while talking with the fraud department, the lady said that they would try to contact these banks to see if they could get them to give me my money back. This was on XX/XX/XXXX. The frauds happened on XX/XX/XXXX. I have also been working with Police Sargent XXXX in the XXXX XXXX Police Department. 
My main problem is that the number for the alerts to go to, was changed and I was not notified. This number gave the authorization to let the online wires just take my money and give it to thieves.

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