Consumer complaint received 2023-07-12
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: IN
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I sent the following to Bank of America and I was told that because I sent the money, theres nothing they can do about it. This is no different than me paying for a service and not receiving what I paid for and filing a fraud claim. Which I have done in the past and they went after my funds. I believe their reluctance is due in large part to their partnership with XXXX. 

My name is XXXX XXXX and I have been a Bank of America customer since XXXX. I am writing today to file a complaint against Bank of American and the XXXX Fraud Department. In XXXX of this year I sent money to a merchant, using XXXX, from my personal banking app. At that time Bank of America failed to list any warnings about the possible scams that could be associated with using XXXX nor did Bank of America mention that funds may not be able to be recovered if using XXXX. That verbiage and warning signs were only recently added. I believe that this was done in an attempt to cover your end and not protect your customers. Bank of America even lists on their website that XXXX is a safe way to send money, however you now have verbiage saying that people can be scammed when using XXXX. I find that to be a bit contradictory. During the course of the investigation, no one ever reached out to me for any documentation that I had supporting my claims of fraud against the merchant. This is the first time since Ive been a customer of Bank of America that this was not done. I have filed complaints in the past for fraud and I was always asked to submit any information that I had in the document center. This was not the case this time. And once the investigation was complete I was told that Bank of America was unable to retrieve my funds and that I needed to contact the merchant. I find your findings to be insufficient and unacceptable. I was told during the course of the investigation, by a Bank of America associate, that a police report was filed and I was also told that a decision had been reached and I would be receiving my funds soon. I recently requested that all information involved in the alleged investigation be sent to me ; I am still waiting. That information is essential, should litigation become necessary. Since all calls are monitored and recorded, that conversation should be able to be retrieved without any issues. The conversation then changed to, were still investigating and dont have an answer yet, to the investigation being complete with no resolution on my end. I trusted this institution to protect not only me but my money and you have failed and it appears that customers being scammed through a platform that you offer and promote on your website is of no concern to you. If something is deemed financially unsafe and you can not guarantee the protection of your customers funds, then why would you offer a platform such as this through your financial institution? And it is my firm belief that Bank of America is able to retrieve my funds and go after the merchant, but you are simply choosing not to. You are choosing to do what is in your best interest and not the best interest of your customer. I do know that a class action lawsuit was filed against Bank of America in XXXX of this year for the same exact matter and it wasnt until the media began promoting the story that the XXXX customers involved were refunded. That lets me know that you do have the power to rectify these types of situations on behalf of your customers, but you choose not to. I have been without my car since XXXX due to the fact that I have been failed by my financial institution. I am a mother, a XXXX student, and a full time employee. This has cost me more than the {$1700.00} that was stolen from me by using Bank of America and XXXX. Had I been properly informed of the risks involved before making the transaction, I would NOT have used XXXX as that is not a sensible risk to take. After all, were not talking about {$17.00} here. By not having any warnings posted I was led to believe that I was making a secure transaction. I used XXXX through my mobile banking app under false pretenses. I will speak to as many news outlets and file as many complaints as I need to in order to have this resolved. If you can not guarantee your customers safety through XXXX, then perhaps you shouldnt offer it. The warning signs were not there, your investigation was not thorough and lackadaisical at best. Due to you failing to warn me during the time of my XXXX transaction that fraud was a possibility, I feel that I am 100 % entitled to the returning of my funds. This serves as a request for the return of my funds of {$1700.00} due to misinformation on your end.

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