Consumer complaint received 2023-09-06
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Yesterday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) morning, I was trying to open a chiropractor website to schedule an appointment. Then there was a popup on my screen from XXXX XXXX XXXX with a phone number. I could not do anything to the laptop and was paranoid. I then called the number and a representative picked up. He told me that my IP address has been compromised and that I needed to contact the bank to check and stop any suspicious transaction. Then they also told me that my phone has been compromised so it was not safe to contact the bank directly. I was resisted but they told me that many people have lost money this way, I should call as fast as possible. Because my phone has been compromised, they said they could transfer me to Bank of America using IRV or IRA line for safety. I thought it did not hurt to just check and the moment he transferred me to Bank of America line, there was an auto voice from Bank of America, then someone picked up saying his name is XXXX XXXX. He told me that there were two websites had been visited by me, one is a gambler site and the other is a XXXX site. He said that there was a {$18000.00} transaction was made to the gambler site and that it was already approved by my phone and my laptop. There was an investigation has been started by Bank of America headquarter. They kept telling me to not contact anyone at the moment because my phone has been compromised. Then he told me that I should drive to the local banks to withdraw the cash and put money into encrypted machine, that way they could cancel the transaction. He gave me an address of an encrypted machine which is near a gas station. I was prepared to go to work but he said that I should tell my workplace that I had an emergency. I followed his instruction to go to the local banks, he was on the line with me, he told to XXXX XXXX and he would be staying on the line to support me if I have any question. Because it was a huge amount of money to withdraw, he told me to not tell the local bank why I withdraw such a huge amount of money, because there was an investigation going on and the moment the local bank knows, they would cancel my account which would alert the hacker. I was running around to different banks and ATMs to withdraw the money. He told me to leave my phone in the car and just bring the cards to go inside the banks. Because I said I was on a rush to go to work, and the bank has not opened until XXXX, he told me to just get some cash from ATM and put into the machine to open my account. Then I got {$1000.00} and put into the machine. After I put into the machine, I drove back to the bank to get some cash, they only allowed me to get {$5000.00}. I told him that I could only get {$5000.00}, then he suggested me to go to a bigger bank and get the rest which is {$12000.00}. I got that amount and put into the machine again, but the machine had a limit of {$14000.00}. QR code for bitcoin address was sent from a different phone number for security purpose, he told me. After every transaction, he told me to send a receipt to him via that same number. After that, he gave me another address for a different machine. When getting there I saw an alarm on the machine that 'do not buy bitcoin to protect your money from bank account compromise ' and that got me to think whether I was actually in a scam. I requested him to talk to his coworker who was from fraud department. Someone named XXXX XXXX picked up and introduced himself, telling everything I was doing is right.

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