Consumer complaint received 2022-02-18
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I was recently the victim of an internet scam ( this occurred XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ), because I replied to what turned out to be a fraudulent job posting. They sent me checks to deposit through my bank XXXX Bank of America- and then had me use XXXX to send money to their " hardware vendor. '' Once I grew suspicious enough to push back against them, we stopped communicating. At that point, the checks they had sent started to be returned, because they were fraudulent checks. As a result, I lost {$3800.00}. Extensive details of the scam can be found in my attached report. As soon as I saw that the first check was being returned, I contacted Bank of America and started fraud claims with both their XXXX division and Checking division on XX/XX/XXXX. 

My first complaint against Bank of America is that when the person who scammed me had me deposit a check on XX/XX/XXXX ( there were XXXX checks total ), I waited to send any funds through XXXX until I believed the check had cleared. When I checked my online bank account on XX/XX/XXXX and looked at the deposit details, it showed, " Status : Cleared '' ( an image of this is attached in my documentation ). That language led me to believe that it was safe to send those funds through XXXX ( even though it seemed unusual ) because it was showing as CLEARED. I later found out that apparently " cleared '' does not really mean cleared. It only means that Bank of America made those funds available " as a convenience '' to me. I have asked multiple people at Bank of America over and over again why they use the language " Cleared '' instead of something accurate like, " Pending, but funds made available '' and they will never directly answer that question. I think that your average person would agree that if a check status says " Cleared '' it means that the check was legitimate and has actually cleared. If I look at other normal, legitimate check deposits I've made, they ALSO show " Status : Cleared '' so there is absolutely no difference in the language they use for checks that have REALLY cleared, and those that are still pending. So how am I expected to know from that whether a check has ACTUALLY cleared? If I had not been led to believe that the checks had cleared, I would never have proceeded to send those funds out through XXXX and fallen victim to this scam. 

My second complaint against Bank of America is that on Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I discovered that they had closed my account. When I contacted them, they told me it was because I had deposited fraudulent checks. I tried explaining that I had already filed a fraud claim with them, but no one I spoke with ( 5 people total including 2 supervisors ) seemed to care about that at all. After being a loyal customer for 25 YEARS, with no prior incidents, they decided that I was a risk, and seemed to be implying that I knowingly deposited fraudulent checks. Additionally, they will not release the remaining LEGITIMATE funds I have in the account ( close to {$1000.00} ) until they complete their fraud investigation - or if I rescind my fraud complaint, which to me would be an admission of guilt, which I will NOT do. No one I have spoken with there will give me a timeline on WHEN my funds will be returned to me. So they are holding MY money hostagXXXX right now. On top of that, they also sent my information to a check reporting service ( probably XXXX, though I did not clarify that ) which will prevent me from opening a normal bank account at other institutions that use that service for 7 years. So now I have to dispute that as well, via snail mail, to try and have my name cleared there. 

I did not initially file a police report, because I thought that I could work this out through my bank, but yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a report with the XXXX, TX police department. I then composed a detailed letter including all of my documentation and faxed it to the bank 's fraud department ( which is what I will be attaching to this complaint ), but based on the callous and evasive way they have treated me so far, I do not expect any resolution from Bank of America. I would very much appreciate it if you could intervene with Bank of America on my behalf. 

Thank you.

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