Consumer complaint received 2022-03-30
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
I had previously filed a complain ( XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX " From XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, three separate, unauthorized transactions were made through my Bank of America bank account XXXX An unknown checking account was linked to my bank account and transferred three separate amounts : XX/XX/XXXX : Transfer of {$1700.00} XX/XX/XXXX : Transfer of {$1200.00} XX/XX/XXXX : Transfer of {$1800.00} A total of {$4800.00} was withdrawn from my account without my consent or authorization to an unknown entity. I have no information on the account number, or who it belongs to, as the moment fraud was detected, I was advised to immediately delete the linked account and change email/password. This is a widespread problem for Bank of America, and hundreds of thousands are having the same problem of foreign entities withdrawing money without their authorization. Hindsight, at this point, is irrelevant. The issue is the way Bank of America refuses to give victims their money back. I filed a dispute earlier this month, and received a letter telling me that there were 'no errors ' found and that my claim was closed. Once again, hundreds of thousands are being told the same thing, and are having their money held hostage. People 's livelihoods are at stake and Bank of America refuses to do thorough investigations into this matter, and give victims what belongs to them. I was also told that, if no resolution were found in ten days, I would receive a credit to my account, but this did not happen ( this is besides the point, however ). '' On XX/XX/XXXX Bank of America responded ( paraphrased ). with " One time passcodes were sent to the email, so no errors were found '' and I was denied. I received the official notice in the mail about a week later and found oiut. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Bank of America and told a representative about my case and told them that NO one time passcodes were sent to my email to confirm these fraudulent transfers. I demanded, at the very least, that I be told the account number and routing number of where my money was transferred to so I could move forward with an attorney, since Bank of America has been negligent. Not only did I provide a police report, FBI report, CFPB complain - but I also sent personal bank statements of the given months to prove that these funds never went into my bank account. After all this, I was still denied, so I figured there was nothing else to do, but to move forward myself with a lawsuit. 

The representative told me that she could not provide me with the information I was asking for and transferred me to a different person. Two and a half hours and 7 transfers later, I got to speak with the supposed supervisor of the escalations/claims department ( XXXX from Kentucky ) XXXX For the XXXX time that day, I told her what was happening and asked for the account and routing numbers. To my dismay, she responded the same way the others had and told me she could not provide me with that. She did, however, give me the last four digits associated with the fraudulent transfers, along with emails and a phone number. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX My suspicion was correct - my email was changed to the criminal 's so THEY would receive the XXXX and verify the transfer. Besides the blatant fraud, why Bank of America negligently decided to overlook this is beyond me, XXXX assured me that these documents would be mailed to me so I could reopen my case. She said to call by next week if I hadn't received them. 

I called the following week and was told to " wait ''. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called once again and was reassured and told to " wait '', as they were on their way. I called on XX/XX/XXXX, and asked how long I would have to wait to receive these documents. I was told " Wait 7-10 business days - you'll receive them in the mail. '' Yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX, I called and voiced my frustrations with a representative and asked if I was going to receive the documents or I was just being played with. The representative had no idea what I was talking about and told me " we don't do that here '', in regards to sending over the documents with the information I was verbally told. She asked me why I didn't just reopen my claim, and I let her know that I wasn't going to waste my time reopening a case if my previous evidence wasn't enough, and that it was my word against theirs with the information that was given to me ( account numbers & emails ). 

I was on hold for about twenty minutes as she looked into my account. After the hold, she said she would reopen my claim. I have never had as much transparency with Bank of America as I have with her. She told me that she probably shouldn't be telling me, but there was so much blatant fraud during these transfers ( phone calls with with missed security questions, wrong name, etc. ) and so many red flags, that she didn't know why these things were blatantly overlooked. The rep herself agreed that this was 100 %, blatant fraud and told me she hopes that I will finally get my stolen money back 117 days later, I somehow doubt i'm going to get my money back. I retract my previous word usage of 'negligent ' to describe Bank of America XXXX The more appropriate word is criminal. This money is being held hostage and its apparent they're going out of their way to prevent it from getting out of their hands. Blatant lies upon lies, and so much wasted time on their part has resulted in such a negative impact on my life from the dire need of the money I haven't been able to recuperate.

I'm using the CFPB, not as a beacon of home that this will somehow get me my {$4800.00} back, but as an affidavit. The next logical step is to move forward to litigation, but that's not enough for me. I'm going to send this to media outlets, along with the comptroller of state. If restitution isn't paid to me, at the very least the satisfaction of exposing Bank of America 's criminal behavior will suffice. Unfortunately, I'm not the only person this has been done to ( backed up by lawsuits in the past two years ) and I won't be the last. Godspeed to anybody trying to deal with the criminality of Bank of America.

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