Consumer complaint received 2022-08-14
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
I received a text from XXXX that said : XXXX : BANK OF AMERICA XXXX XXXX. Did You attempt {$3500.00} XXXX? REPLY YES OR NO. Don't Want XXXX Texts? Reply XXXX I said no and quickly received a call from XXXX ( Bank XXXX XXXX number ). He said his name was XXXX XXXX and that someone in the XXXX area had attempted to transfer {$3500.00} via XXXX. He asked me to login to my account to and we would transfer the money to myself via XXXX so that I could prevent the {$3500.00} from being deducted from my account. He instructed me to use a nickname or middle name and add myself as the recipient to the XXXX Transfer app that is within the Bank of America XXXX application ( he seemed to know a lot about the Bank of America XXXX XXXX. So I used my middle name of XXXX and last name XXXX. Then he told me to use XXXX as the phone number. I typed that in on XXXX and the name XXXX XXXX did pop up. I had {$1200.00} in my account and I sent {$1200.00} to XXXX XXXX with the phone number XXXX. Now how can XXXX allow a transfer to a recipient of XXXX XXXX but the phone number on the account has the name XXXX XXXX? 

I didnt know it at the time but as soon as I requested that transfer, Bank of America XXXX me a text ( from XXXX ) saying to call them immediately at XXXX to confirm a recent attempt to transfer money. It also said that Bank of America would never ask me to transfer money to anyone including myself. Now I saw this text message about an hour later and checked my balance and the {$1200.00} was gone. I called the number listed in the text and I reached a woman who handles XXXX transfers in Bank of America. I told her what happened and explained that now I realized I had been tricked and she said that since the transfer had already gone through, there was nothing she could do. She transferred me to someone in Bank of Americas fraud department. I told her what happened and she said that they take fraud very seriously and that they would be investigating. However, she also said that they would be unable to reverse the transaction and that all she could do is notify the recipients bank that this transfer was fraudulent and basically it was up to them. She said they would investigate and I would receive a letter in writing in I believe she said XXXX business days or XXXX XXXX cant remember. 
Well, I received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX that said since I am the one who requested the XXXX transfer, there was nothing they could do and that the service functioned as it was supposed to. 
Now I dont know what kind of investigation actually took place but XXXX XXXX owned by several of the largest banks in the country. And even though XXXX not a direct customer of XXXX ( I am through BofA ), all that is required to open a XXXX account is a phone number or email. XXXX all for convenience but how about requiring some identification? 

And how can Bank of America NOT be able to reverse a transaction if I call the same day ( literally and hour later ) and say that the transaction was fraudulent? 

And how can they not refund me my money when THEY sent ME a security alert about the very transaction I was tricked into sending ( {$1200.00} )? 

When the lady told me we take fraud very seriously here, I assumed that would be it. That the bank would see that hey we sent out an alert about a suspicious transfer and the customer called us about an hour later about said transfer that yes it was fraudulent. 

But no, since its easier ( and cheaper ) for Bank of America to just blame the victim, they REFUSE to do anything about these XXXX scammers. And its not even Bank of America, its happened to XXXX XXXX and chase and other large banks and none of them are doing anything about it. 

Something needs to happen here. Either they drop XXXX altogether or they start requiring some form of ID to open a XXXX account. At least XXXX requires a social security number. Phone number/email can easily be faked. 

Since Bank of America didnt take care of it, I have since filed a police report with the local police AND with the internet crimes division of the DOJ ( www.IC3.org ). But these banks need to be held accountable.

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