Consumer complaint received 2023-01-15
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( Friday ) Was on the market to purchase an automotive part for my car, specifically headlights. Because the digital market now has a wide array of ways for people to sell their products, I went ahead and found myself stumbling upon an XXXX page that was selling an item that suited my search. Of course, I am not usually easily fooled, so I tried to make sure that the persons/account was accountable. The account had almost XXXX followers ( so it was not just some unknown account ) and sort of had a following. So, I thought, okay well it seems like people have bought from this persons/account before based on the comments made on this persons/account. 

So, I went ahead and messaged the seller ( which I screenshotted and still have a recording of the conversation ). I made a payment of {$600.00} US Dollars through XXXX on my Bank of America app to the account recipient known as " XXXX XXXX '', and I titled the transaction as XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ' ( as this was the product that the persons/account was selling. 

I kept talking to the merchant, and the merchant then eventually asked for my personal information ( address, name, phone number, and email address ), to which I then provided. Then the merchant once again assured me that they will send me a notification when the product will ship. So, then I wait! 

XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( Saturday ) I wake up to a message from the XXXX persons/account saying, " Your package is about to get registered for delivery so you will have to pay {$300.00} to the insurance company for them to insure your package incase of any issues so they will deliver your complete which 99 % of the money you will pay to the insurance company will be refunded back into your account or in cash once you got your stuff at our doorstep or address. '' So, then I thought, " Okay this has to be a scam or fraud of some sort. '' There was no prior notification from the merchant about paying any insurance fee for the product, and I am pretty sure insurance costs don't for a product this big don't cost that much. I went ahead and messaged the persons/account again and tried to get a clear understanding of what this fee was about to which they assured me by saying, " I'm at the Agency and they won't let me ship without the package being insured but you have nothing to worry about because its fully refundable when the package gets to you. '' This is when they kind of got me. I have already bought product, and so I thought to myself, " Okay, well they won't send me the product unless I pay the insurance fee. '' So, yep you already know what happens next. I go ahead and send the insurance fee of {$300.00} US Dollars through XXXX on my Bank of America app to the account recipient ( this time it's a different account ) known as " XXXX XXXX. '' After the transaction, the merchant or person of whoever was running the account then again reassured me ( I have a recording of the conversation ) that they will send me a tracking number when the item is shipped out. 

Fast forward a couple hours later, they message me again saying, " They will ship out on Tuesday. '' Mind you, this whole event up to now was happening on Saturday after I have already made the first transaction of {$600.00} US Dollars the day before ( Friday ). 

XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( Tuesday ) I was out on lunch at XXXX XXXX, when I decided to message the merchant. I logged in on XXXX and messaged the account. I said, " Hello, will the headlights ship out today? '' The merchant responded about 30 minutes later and said, " Yes sir they'll update you when they ship out. '' So, I waited... waited... waited... It was now XXXX XXXX. I though to myself, " Well the day has not ended yet, and operation hours are still going on. '' Still, I went ahead and messaged the merchant and I said, " Hello, I have not received any updates yet? '' At this time is when I started to really get suspicious and worried, and have made the mistake of not calling in the scam/fraud sooner to my ban. But, in my benefit of the doubt, I waited... waited... waited... nothing. 

I check back on XXXX at about XXXXXXXX XXXX I went to the persons ' account, and NOTICED that they saw my last message ( you know because it is marked as " seen '' under your message ) but did not respond. I go and click on the XXXX account, and to my surprise... BOOM! Everything was gone. I was unable to see their posts, the amount of followers they had, and the amount of followers they were following. I KNEW I BEEN BLOCKED! 

By that time I knew my money was gone, and I was very aware that I needed to call my bank. But, it was already XXXXXXXX XXXX I tried calling Bank of America, to which became unsuccessful as there were no agents available at this time. So, I decided to wait and call again in the morning. 

XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( Wednesday ) Of course, knowing that I just been scammed, I went ahead and tried calling my bank again ( Bank of America ) and was transferred to their fraud/scam department. I went ahead and filed a claim through speaking to one of their agents, and explained the situation that happened. The agent told me claims like these were gon na take 10-45 business day 's, and that they were ready to file my claim. They asked me if I wanted to opt for either a call or an email regarding updates to my claim to which I replied with the option for email updates. The agent then proceeded to say that I would get some sort of email notification regarding the call, and we both said our goodbye 's. 

So, I wait... wait... for an email just regarding a notification about my claim, just to make sure it went through just like the presentative have said. After a couple minutes, NOTHING. So, I then had the idea to call Bank of America again. Long story short, this time I spoke with a different agent who asked me if I knew my claim number. I told the agent that the previous agent I literally just talked to 30 minutes ago to file my initial claim did not give me any information regarding what my claim # was. So, then the agent who I was talking to now sincerely apologized for the mistake of the other agent, and that I was indeed suppose to receive a claim # or at least have been told of what it was. I said, no worries, and fast forward into the conversation, I was given the instructions that the claim may take up to 45-90 business days. I then said, " Thank you '', and said our goodbye 's. 

XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX has passed and XXXX XXXX 's has passed. It was one of the worse losing {$900.00} US Dollars to which I could have used to buy gifts for my friends/family. Up until now, I did make two other calls regarding my claim if there were any updates, to which I was told the same message of no updates regarding my claim and that it will take up to XXXX business days. At this point, I been told 4 different day 's that I just tried to sit tight and wait patiently for my claim to be solved. 

This same day, I received an email update regarding my claim. I opened it and... well you already know what the message contained and what happened, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this complaint. The message is as follow 's... 

" We've completed our review of your claim. Our record indicate that we completed the transfer ( s ) according to the instructions you provided us and therefore no error occurred. Based on this, your account won't be credited. '' Well there goes my hopes. I " authorized '' a transaction based on the presumption that I was buying a legit product. So, if you follow my timeline, of course by the time I was able to call in the scam/fraud, the transfer has already been processed. I been duped! 

The message also contained another part to which it reads... 

" However, as a courtesy, we're researching your inquiry with the other party in an attempt to recover the funds for you, and will notify you if we need additional information. Keep in mind it may take up to 45 calendar days for us to hear back from the other party. If we receive any additional information from them we'll contact you. '' I am guessing the other party mentioned in the message is referring to the company XXXX? Anyways, it is currently XX/XX/XXXX when I am writing this complaint. So far, I have not been asked of any additional information, and as far as I know there might be a 0 % chance I am getting my money back and Bank of America did not approve of my claim even though I have 100 % evidence that I got scammed by a fraud account pretending to be an actual merchant/shop. 

And as we all know, XXXX has 0 % tolerance in refunding people 's money back even if they were scammed in broad daylight. 

If you read this far into my complaint, thank you for giving your time!

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