Consumer complaint received 2021-08-11
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
To : XXXX XXXX XXXX ( CEO ) XXXX and XXXX XXXX To : BofA Cards Executives  XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX To : BofA Cards Counsel XXXX, TX XXXX To : BofA Senior Leadership ( not representatives ) BofA Senior Leadership, My Wife XXXX and I are pleading for your help but we feel no matter what we say, BofA is not believing anything that we have presented to this point which is quite confusing. We have had nothing but a good relationship with BofA for many years and have had nearly perfect credit with all of creditors for over 30 years. We are under attack from fraudsters on one side, creating threats to my family and myself, and BofA who has added to those threats by continued inaction or placing fraud back upon on myself and my family. We have never seen such lunacy before! These problems have now gone beyond stress and it has become dangerous! We have gotten to the point where the conversations I have had with XXXX XXXX  XXXX ( XXXX x XXXX ) in the BofA Regulatory Response team through the use of the CFPB. Unfortunately, other than our first conversation, XXXX has not called me back, even with several attempts to contact her. We are feeling threatened and BofA has just heightened that by no performing an investigation beyond looking at where emails and texts were made at the time of these incidents. We are laying out the following in detail so that the gravity of our concern and danger is completely understood! 


1. Prior to contacting the CFPB and BofA created standard fraud cases and we had sent dozens of faxes from a BofA office nearby our home to ensure all information was received. Each time we met with different branch personnel ; they called to get the correct fax number ( s ) for the BofA Fraud Team, confirmed them and faxed all documents collected by myself and my wife 30+ times. Since we were receiving information that your teams were not receiving them, even from the branch location over and over again, we filed a CFPB complaint, and wouldnt you know it, you got our initial documents from this regulator. What we also fear is that with the 30+ faxes we have sent to your teams our Personal Identification Information ( PII ) is floating around allover BofA and that creates another danger as well. Also, several of you people have been confirmed to be working from home and nothing is in place to ensure the safety of the PII we provided the 30+ times has been properly handled or locked from printing or other distribution throughout your company. 

Now for the facts : a. We personally have proven that my computer was stolen while on work assignment in XXXX Florida in XX/XX/XXXX, and this is where we believe this start of this can be tracked back to. 
b. Upon realizing my XXXX Laptop was stolen from my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, Florida, I contacted the Hotel Front Desk, speaking to management and reported it to them. At that point, the employee stated they would do two things. First, they stated that they would question each employee assigned to the floor my room was on, and second, they would contact the XXXX Police so that a Police report could be filed. 
c. At the end of that day, I was contacted by the manager, stating security had questioned each employee extensively and it was determined that none of them had removed my laptop from my room. The only thing they could think of is that someone broke into my room, having a key or manufacturing one to break in. This was a keycard so they are programmed at the front desk. 
d. I showed them I had both keys they had given me the day before, since I had moved to the new room due to what I believed to be an unsanitary condition in my former room. This had to do with the toilet that was not working properly and due to Covid 19 I was being extra precautious.

e. The Manager on duty agreed, switching me to a different room right away. 
f. Soon after moving all of my items, including my clothing, laptop that was in my laptop bag I left the room to have dinner. Prior to leaving my room I took my wallet which had all cards, etc. enclosed g. The next morning, I had to take care of some business and went to get my laptop that I had placed in the closet. To my dismay, my computer bag was gone, along with my computer and a few personal effects. 
h. I immediately searched the room, and when my laptop was not found I contacted the front desk to advise my laptop had been removed my room. 
i. I also contacted XXXX and asked that they assist in securing my cloud account where I also had stored some of my family information. They assisted but this was now more than 24 hours later so they stated some of my items could have been compromised but they could offer me no proof of this. 
j. I spoke to the police, filed a police report ( BofA has this ), and waited to get home in XXXX to purchase a new XXXX Laptop. I then transferred my Cloud account to this new device and retrieved all of the information I had in my cloud account. I didnt notice anything was missing but over 2 months later, it was obvious that I had been hacked. 
2. Before what is mentioned in j above, on XX/XX/XXXX a charge for {$500.00} showed up on my BofA Card that I did not make. I called the hotel at that time wondering if it had possibly been compromised since this is the card, I used to pay my bill upon leaving a couple of days later. They could find no evidence of this and I reported the fraudulent item to BofA, along with the police report. BofA credited my account immediately and that was the last I heard of it. 
3. On XX/XX/XXXX I went out of country on business, not returning until XX/XX/XXXX. ( My Itineraries have been sent and received by BofA through the CFPB ) 4. On XX/XX/XXXX I sat down to pay my bills and began pulling up my credit card accounts first. The first place I went to was BofA, noticing some very strange activity on my XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. I then opened all other credit card accounts from other banks, noticing the same. So, of course I got extremely nervous, diving into the issues as the start of my own investigation on the XXXX and XXXX ( Saturday and Sunday ). Once I reviewed everything, I realized we were victims of fraud and contacted BofA and every other creditor right away to let them know. I was told by each creditor that I had 100 % fraud protection and to not worry since they were there to help. 
5. On XX/XX/XXXX I filed a second police report and this was due to fraud to both cover my family and to supply to creditors as needed. During this time, I continued to research this and noticing many payments had been made using specifically a BofA and XXXX XXXX bank accounts. I also let all creditors, including BofA know this. 
6. On XX/XX/XXXX I began making calls on the charges and tried to research the bank accounts as well. I also verified with both BofA and XXXX XXXX that nobody had opened, nor did I have any bank accounts with my name. Though this was relieving I also called three stores that appeared regularly on all of my card accounts ( XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX ). Upon discussion with each and visiting both XXXX  and XXXX XXXX I was stunned to find out that the fraud surrounded GIFT CARDS. I called the gift card divisions of each and confirmed this, both XXXX  and XXXX XXXX had the Cards purchased IN PERSON but XXXX was purchased over the phone. 
7. I then realized I had to be victim of Identity Theft and this all had taken place while I was out of the country. Nevertheless, this freaked me out! I contacted the police again and filed another police report for Identity Theft for myself and my family! 
8. I then contacted the credit bureaus, freezing all of my familys credit and placing a statement on each that we were victims of Fraud and Identity Theft and to not open any credit without my express authorization and verification. 

Note : all of the above info and documentation has been supplied to BofA! 


The following is where things got a lot worse! 

9. I was going to get our mail from our community mailbox ( we live in a master planned community ) and told my wife as much. She then said, Oh I forgot to tell you that our mailboxes were broken into while you were away and it appears the thieves were likely after checks and/or money in the mailbox. I went to the mailboxes anyhow and took pictures. I told her this was a major issue and was assured that the community had gone to the HOA and the police to report it. The next day I contacted our HOA, confirming the same! XXXX Pictures have been supplied to BofA ) 10. I was keeping a close eye on our credit at this time when all of a sudden, in XXXX, other charges started to appear and even more 3rd party payments were being made, and therefore bouncing. 

11. What myself and the police believe is that the fraudsters were looking to pay down/off our card to trick BofA to release more of my credit for the fraudsters to use. I tried to stop all of these but at first believed one could have been made by a new client I was working with. I later debunked this because the payments from that new client showed up in my XXXX XXXX XXXX account ending in XXXX ( I will discuss that issue in a bit because that account was compromised as well ). When I realized what was going on the payments had already been posted and even though I wanted them removed, BofAs Customer Service group who apparently handles payments, said they either needed to bounce or go through. I was appalled because I did not want someone else defrauded by these fraudsters by stealing their money. Then, as reviewing my accounts I found BofA had closed my accounts were to be frozen until the payments went through or bounced! Absolute insanity and the only way I found this all out is by attempting to use a card when my family went to dinner and the payment did not process on my credit card. 
12. I was beside myself because I am in the Anti-fraud and Anti-Money Laundering business as a well- trained investigator and knew this was causing a terrible mess that I was helpless to do anything about, even though I tried. I couldnt even use the uncharged balances since everything was frozen and BofA started to get very secretive. That scared me even more! 
13. Thats when one of the worst things happened. I made a call to BofA to provide more information and the person I spoke to read me some of the notes from the past couple of weeks or so. They stated that what I was saying was contradictory to what I had said earlier that day, days or weeks. I could not believe my ears and then I realized we were not only victims of Account Takeover but this was way worse! The fraudsters were taking this to a much more dangerous level and thats when I knew we were really under attack from some very bad people. Not only were they impersonating me at stores, online and over the phone with merchants, they were now doing the same with BofA as well! They had all of my info and all of my familys info as well! This became scary as heck and we were stuck in so many ways. 
14. First, I was told by the police and my mobile carrier that they believe I was the victim of having my phone spoofed. I am not going to explain this in detail as its well documented on the web, had been addressed and agreed to by the police and my mobile carrier ( XXXX Now XXXX ). 
15. It was also known by XXXX that I had called BofA. In addition, I asked the BofA Fraud representative to help me with checking to see if there was anyone else accessing my/our accounts. This is when they asked me to go to a profile page which I didnt know existed, and to the amazement of myself and my son there was an email and phone number in place that was not mine or anyone in my family. We determined, by a XXXX search, that the phone number was from Florida and we have no idea who owned that email address, since it was nobody in our family either. BofA you WERE sending texts to a spoofed phone ( mine ) or a changed number/email and I therefore did not receive any that XXXX noted on our most recent call. I have no doubt that BofA was also sending texts to this improper number and emails to this improper email account as well. BofA not only were you communicating with the ID Theft fraudster, but you also allowed complete account takeover. Why were you not looking out for our best interests when you knew full well that I had reported ID Theft and Account Takeover that led to fraud and bounced ACH payments? What are you doing BofA and what have you placed myself and my family in such a dangerous position? BofA increased the threat with these fraudsters and we know hold BofA accountable. On top of this, your fraud teams do not even appear to communicate with each other, yet the system we use as a consumer pulls up everything/// ( cards, bank accounts, etc. ) in ONE place! This is very, very odd! 
16. Now as of XX/XX/XXXX, my daughter was accosted by one of these fraudsters as she stepped out of her car. This was when a black or dark blue sedan pulled up to her and said Your Dad better back off on this credit card claim or someone will be getting hurt! He peeled off and confused/scared my daughter got back in her car and drove away, calling me as she did. So now BofA the fraudsters have made contact with my family and even though I have called in, asking for XXXX to discuss, she still has not returned my call. Once a fraudster makes contact with the victim this can and often does get very dangerous! BofA you are out of line ; you dont care and you are making this more dangerous by the hour for my family. I am not only disappointed, but I am also going to bring this to the local, national and international press. This will be very embarrassing since you have done nothing that you would and we will NOT pay for others fraudulent purchase. 

I want this to go all the way to the President and CEO of BofA who is at the top of this letter. The question comes down to, why would my wife and I do all of these highly malicious things, change our passwords on our accounts, change out emails, change our phone numbers, etc. when we have been such upstanding customers of the bank? To this day BofA is still blaming us for being victims of Identity theft that occurred potentially twice in a matter of a few months, having our online account taken over, fraudulence on our credit cards, and to top that payment ( ACH bounces ) fraud! So, 30+ years of particularly good credit goes down the tubes because of what? Because we were all defrauded and you BofA believe the fraudsters beyond your customers because you have recorded conversation of me calling the bank to authorize charges, etc.? This is absolutely out of hand now! This is what ID Theft and account takeover most often leads to and you are blaming me in particular? You, BofA you appear to be doing all in your power to destroy us and are unwilling to handle this appropriately, causing a great deal of increased danger for our family. 

Ignorance of a regulation is no excuse BofA and this was stated in the Dodd/Frank Act that was where the CFPB was born out of due to poor consumer protection that was rampant during the Financial Crisis! 

a. FBCA Fair Credit Billing Act FCBA ( investopedia.com ) - easier to read b. FRCA - PDF c. Credit Card Act d. PCIDSS For example, per the FCBA we are NOT liable for any of this Fraud because 1. None of these charges were authorized by myself, my wife or my children ( BofA must prove or remove by regulation and US law )! BofA has not supplied any proof that they say they have information to us which is unsettling and dangerous. 
2. We never received any merchandise from any of these fraudulent purchases!

3. BofA has not provided any proof that any of their accusations to us whatsoever. Per the FCBA, for instance, the customer is required to receive proof, not hearsay which is by law within our rights! I have proven I was not in the XXXX  store, as the store told me but they did not recognize me when I went to speat to XXXX  or XXXX XXXX ( I was in XXXX XXXXXXXX ). 
4. We as Consumers have 60 days from the time, we receive our credit card bill any charge with a card issuer. This was performed over and over again!

5. The biggest takeaway here is that The FCBA protects consumers from unfair billing practices and none were never authorized by anyone in my family. BofA I was out of the Country for much of this and that has been proven by my itineraries ( these have been supplied to BofA over 30 times ).

6. On top of that The Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ) protects us as consumers from unfair practices regarding improper disclosure of our personal information. You fed the Fraudsters even more information about us by speaking to them without proper authorization. They used my STOLEN information to get to you BofA and they have Harmed myself and my family. This must stop this instant! 
7. Finally, BofA has 30 days to acknowledge receipt of a complaint. This do not take place you only did when we got the CFPB involved, yet we faxed all documents from your BofA offices over 30 times ). BofA then has two billing cycles to complete their investigation ; during that time the issuer is NOT ALLOWED to try to collect the payment, charge interest on it, or report it to credit bureaus as late ( not only did you not do this you reported right away that creditor closed accounts ) These limitations are to be applied to all disputed payments and other charges made during the same billing cycle, which can still accrue interest and be reported as late if not paid. In our case all of these charges are FRAUD, all of them are DISPUTED and NONE of them should have been reported to the credit reports during that set period of time. One thing I can tell you BofA, you reported these account closures right away ( AGAINST REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS ) as has been reflected on our credit and we have credit monitoring proof to show this! 

In Summary BofA, the FCBA protects consumers from unfair billing practices while the FCRA protects consumers from unfair practices regarding their personal information. You have violated both acts, have not provided us with proof of any wrongdoing and have shared our personal information with fraudsters that then mounted lies upon good information. You not only tainted the investigation, but you had also so many investigators involved that they all did not have the same information or were misinformed along the way as my case went from group to group. Finally, we are quite concerned that due to your poor investigative process overall, you have our personal information floating around your company and more than likely on an international scale which now exposes us to even more danger and fraud! We believe this is an inside job at this point which is profoundly serious! 

BofA, we ask this one more time. Please handle these issues safely, properly and with proper care with us only. You have not done this. We as a family have been threatened by fraudsters stealing our identities, account takeover and fraud. In fact, BofA has now increased this threat by enabling fraudsters to contact us! You, BofA have made this dangerous, have threatened my family even more by allowing fraud that should never have taken place and now you will not take any accountability, placing my family further at risk! I even asked for the address where local authorities could address the threats BofA has increased on my family in person and was denied! So BofA you are threatening us! Is BofA afraid to assist a client that is feeling threatened by fraudsters and now even more by yourselves? Thats dangerous and unethical, and I think it may even be against the law because when a threat is made it becomes enforceable by legal authorities. Thats how we feel BofA! You are and have been wrong BofA since this beginning, and we are now under worse attack because of it! 

This entire madness needs to stop now and we need to have a proper and sane discussion to get through this! 


Regards, XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( direct )

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 monetary relief