Consumer complaint received 2021-11-27
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
Bank of America has not provided us with any assistance or return of funds following being threatened in the following scenario : On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, victim XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was called by perpetrator who stated that he is a member of the police department in XXXX XXXX and that there was both a federal and state warrant out for XXXX XXXX 's arrest. There was a XXXX perpetrator that was impersonating a federal agent for the Department of Treasury at Washington DC that also was involved in the scam andt hreats. The perpetrator indicated that the warrant was for a crime which could not be named due to HIPAA ( a patient/work related claim for which she was being subpoenaed ), but that if XXXX XXXX did not send funding to the perpetrator that she would not only be arrested, but that she would also lose her medical license and future livelihood. The perpetrator instructed XXXX XXXX that there was a '' gag rule '' in effect on the case, and as a result that XXXX XXXX was not to tell anyone because doing so would jeopardize the case. The perpetrator indicated that if XXXX XXXX did tell anyone about the call, she would be arrested immediately and have her license revoked, and that the only way to avoid arrest was to send over money to keep her out of jail " failure to show '' and " contempt of court. '' The perpetrator kept XXXX XXXX on the phone and did not allow her to get off for most of XX/XX/21 and XX/XX/21. The perpetrator also stated that XXXX XXXX had to send over photographs of herself in areas where piercings or tattoos might have been, resulting in XXXX XXXX sending compromising pictures of herself because she was led to believe that this was part of identity confirmation in a police report.This communication took place over several days, and resulted in XXXX XXXX transferring a total of {$23000.00} to the perpetrator via XXXX, XXXX XXXX, Bank XXXX, and XXXX Pay. XXXX XXXX also requested the help of her brother, XXXX XXXX, to assist and he also contributed {$3500.00} to the perpetrator. The perpetrators then continued to call and harass XXXX XXXX, at which point she called the local police who informed her that the initial call by the perpetrator had been fraudulent. Despite this, the perpetrator continued to harass XXXX XXXX, including sending her XXXX in appropriate messages and indicating that he had photographs of her, at which point XXXX XXXX blocked his number completely and there were no further calls after that point. 
XXXX XXXX approached Bank of America, XXXX, and XXXX, and explained that she was coerced and threatened into paying this money ; however, none of the aforementioned lending institutions were supportive whatsoever. XXXX XXXX also fi led an official police report with the XXXX XXXX XXXX. Police Report XXXX is XXXX with all the information and history of texts and messages with all parties. 
XXXX XXXX did verbally confront the perpetrator around XXXX XX/XX/21 when the perpetrator had started to communicate less but continued to ask for more monetary funds and would not answer questions logically or clearly. Once XXXX XXXX stated she noticed that a similar scam with the exact premise had targeted another Physician in CA ( XXXX XXXX from XXXX, CA ) the perpetrator impersonating the a Federal Agent from Washington terminated.

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