Consumer complaint received 2022-12-01
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: AZ
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: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
I am providing information regarding a fraudulent charge of {$240.00} on my VISA from XXXX 

The services offered were never provided. The company that received the funds falsely represented themselves as XXXX XXXX customer service representatives from XXXX, when in fact they were not affiliated with XXXX or any legitimate service. They were scammers. 

I am a paid subscriber of XXXX XXXX, which includes XXXX XXXX streaming services. When I went to view a show on XXXX XXXX, a message was displayed on the TV screen asking me to re-enter my login and password, but the password kept failing. On the third attempt, a message was displayed on the XXXX login TV screen to call a toll-free number beginning with XXXX. Because the number was on the XXXX XXXX login screen, I believed it was legitimate and dialed the number on my phone. I spoke with someone who answered, Hi, this is XXXX from XXXX Customer Service. How may I help? 

After describing my problem, he reviewed my account and told me my subscription had expired and I had to pay {$140.00} for a one year or {$240.00} for a three year renewal. When I tried to enter my account on my laptop at the same time to check on my account I found I couldnt access my account. My password no longer worked. When I asked the him to verify that he was calling from XXXX, he read to me my latest purchases from XXXX. When I told him I was still reluctant to give him my CC # he said hed activate my XXXX XXXX account on the TV to demonstrate he was from XXXX and the streaming channel came up! I then gave him my BoA CC # to pay for the subscription. I then got a text from XXXX verifying the amount, along with the Bank of America name and graphic/logo on the text. The text also included my last ( and legitimate ) payment of {$16.00} to XXXX, a monthly ( legitimate ) charge. 

Upon hanging up, I immediately went online and changed the password to my account and discovered that I had been paid up on my XXXX subscription until XX/XX/2023, that the annual price is {$130.00}, not XXXX, and there was no XXXX {$240.00} option available. I cancelled my BoA XXXX immediately via the BoA online website and a few hours later ( the next morning ) called the number on the back of the card. I spoke with a young lady who explained to me that the scammer must have had my password ( purchased from a data leak ) and that scammers can hack streaming TV displays because the data stream travels over the internet. She said a new card would be sent to me and shed enter my fraud claim. After not hearing back from BoA after a few days, I entered an online fraud dispute claim and received temporary credit for the amount I was scammed. 

I later searched online for XXXX and the toll-free number. XXXX led me to XXXX XXXX XXXX, but no XXXX The XXXX number I was provided by XXXX took me to another scam, an online travel agency with a XXXX address that the content indicated clearly was not legitimate, XXXX. 

About a month after I reported the fraud, I received a letter from BoA giving me the opportunity to mail a letter describing certain details of the fraud. I mailed the letter to them the next day. Much of text from the letter is reprinted in the above paragraphs. I heard nothing for another month until I received a letter from BoA about a week ago denying my claim because " '' We confirmed the merchandise was shipped or the service ( XXXX ) was provided to an address listed on your account. '' The " service '' was certainly not provided by the scammer who used information from my XXXX hacked account to extort {$240.00} from me. 

The letter provided a phone number to call if I wanted " copies of the documents we used to make this decision. '' I called and after a wait of over XXXX minutes was told I was connected with the wrong number. The BoA representative gave me the same number I called and told me to call again. I called again three more times, each time after a 10-minute wait was told by a recorded message that the volume of calls are currently high and to try again later. I called the next day and received the same recorded message after the same 10-minute wait. There was no opportunity to leave a message or speak with a representative or operator. When I went to my neighborhood branch of BoA and spoke with a representative, I was told there was nothing they could do as fraud is processed centrally and not by the bank branches.

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