Consumer complaint received 2021-07-19
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NJ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
Bank of America 's gross incompetence has cost me my livelihood and my business. This all started with my business account being hacked in XXXX of 2020. I immediately took action when I noticed the issue and proactively contacted Bank of America XXXX BOA ). While in the process of trying to resolve this incident, my account was hacked for a second time in XXXX of 2020. BOA was quick to return my money that had been stolen in the XXXX incident. While being fully aware of the XXXX incident, BOA punished me for the second incident which as I said, took place while working to resolve the first one. They tried to blame me for the XXXX hacking and punished me by taking almost 2 months to return my money. They knew that my information was compromised in XXXX, and yet they failed to take the proper actions to ensure protection of my account and personal information. They're grossly negligent in not upholding the most basic of industry standards of account security. In addition, my XXXX and XXXX XXXX accounts were hacked through the lackadaisical security from BOA. It is solely their fault due to their gross negligence and neglect that XXXX has sent collection people after me and that both XXXX and XXXX XXXX have closed my accounts. There inaction has resulted in the loss of these two tools/apps that I use with my business. This has also cause major damaged to my credit score. 

In XXXX, via phone, I spoke with and worked directly with their headquarters fraud department to make sure that my account was secure. They instructed me to change my password and to turn on 2-step verification. They said that by taking these actions, my account would now be secure again. I immediately complied with all of their instructions. BOA is supposed to be the banking experts therefore I as a member of the general public relied solely on their expertise. The instructions and advice I received was both false and misleading. Beyond that it was negligent and not the standard of care for the industry. BOAs headquarters fraud department failed miserably to protect my account and my personal sensitive information in which they were entrusted with. 

In XXXX, BOA calls to inform me that my account is frozen, being closed immediately and that they are seizing all my funds. This is my business account and I was given no warning. All the measures and instructions directly provided by the BOA fraud department were dangerously inaccurate and blatantly incorrect. Hackers gained access to my account again. This time instead of stealing my money, the hackers processes what appears to be stolen money from others through my account. This was all done without my knowledge in any way. BOA is working to cover up their incompetence by trying to blame me, their customer. This whole situation is 100 % their fault. It is completely their fault that my account was not secured. I called and asked them for help before it became a bigger issue. 

BOA knew full well that my account was previously hacked. A basic standard of care would be to watch and monitor my account with greater scrutiny. Instead, they did nothing to protect me and sat back watching this happen. The day after BOA froze and closed my account, I went to a local branch office. The BOA personnel at the branch office knew more about fraud and hacking protection than the BOA headquarters fraud department. They questioned why BOA HQ had failed to close my account after the first incident in XXXX. They went on to say that its standard procedure and practice that when an account has been compromised, it should be closed immediately and new account opened. These BOA employees told me that once a persons account number and information is no longer secure and out there that things like changing passwords and putting on 2-step verification is useless. The BOA HQ people should know this and not knowing is not an excuse.

Once again, BOAs is negligent, and their behavior directly put my account and personal information in harms way. They didnt follow standard industry procedures and their own protocols. Procedures and protocols that are in place to protect the public. BOA closed my account and left me no access to it in any way. After the account is permanently closed, BOA allowed XXXX different checks to be deposited totaling {$7400.00}. BOA illegally allowed checks to be deposited into a closed account. Those check that were deposited were NOT made out to my business. They were clearly made out to my wife and I as part of the Covid relief package. BOA accepted checks into my closed business account that were clearly not business related in any way. BOA should be charged with fraud and theft as they illegally deposited personal checks into my closed business account. The deposits were clearly marked as being made out to XXXX and XXXX XXXX. They were not made out to my business, XXXX XXXX XXXX. Knowingly depositing someone elses check is uttering a forged instrument. It is grand theft and bank fraud along with being a felony in all states. 

BOA ignored Federal regulations and laws by not informing me to the extent of the hacking and how much of my sensitive information had been compromised. This is blatant willful misconduct and intentional harm. They have ignored all standards of care for banking and their industry as a whole. They are well informed as to all of the proper steps to take and laws to follow. Their inaction is equivalent to them being complicit in the hacking and fraud that occurred. Due to their gross negligence, Ive been fielding multiple fraud attempts utilizing my now compromised information. These fraud attempts are coming in the form of attempts to file unemployment claims in other states. The ones Ive found out about are multiple attempts in Colorado along with a few attempts in Ohio and Virginia. In as many cases as possible, Ive reached out to each states fraud division to let them know. What I dont know is how many more are out there. 

BOA ignored their simplest and most basic duty of assuming reasonable care, their fiduciary responsibility and the protection of their customers. Instead of addressing the string of errors, gross negligence, and incompetence in their response to my account being compromised, theyve chosen to try to push the blame on me. As part of their dishonorable, illegal, and callous behavior, theyve illegally stolen funds that are rightfully mine. Theyve illegally seized my money to cover up and hide their willful misconduct and breach of duty. 

At the first sign of trouble, I reached out to BOA for their expertise and assistance. I needed help from experts to stop all unauthorized activity regarding my account. Im the one who filed police reports for all of the incidents with my local police, XXXX PD. BOAs representatives didnt follow proper protocol and procedures. It is all due to their lack of proper care that this situation exists at all. 

In addition and not to be overlooked ; there is a huge amount of added stress put upon me due to their behavior. It has directly had a negative impact to my business and the decline of my other financial involvement, i.e., personal and company. BOAs incompetence, negligence and disregard for their fiduciary responsibility has resulted in collections people contacting me, damaged my credit and exposed my personal and sensitive information. Their causation and willful misconduct regarding security breaches has others attempting to use my information to create more fraudulent situations. 

BOA has illegally seized my funds to cover up their failings. Theyve effectively committed grand theft and stolen money that was clearly not intended to go to my business. They failed to implement and completely disregarded proper protocols and industry standards and must be held accountable for their actions and the damage they have caused. Enough with forcing me to succumb to their timeline and schedule as it just increases the pain and suffering that Im facing. Working through Covid has been difficult enough. BOAs actions have left me penniless and unable to operate my business. Im demanding that they be held accountable for their negligence, failure of reasonable care and incompetence. All my money should be returned to be immediately. Im on the verge of being forced to close my business and lose my livelihood directly due to their gross negligence. They should be forced to pay me damages, interest plus additional monies for pain and suffering that they singly created. BOA should be assessed fines for their multitude of failures along with being publicly reprimanded. Theyve violated basic security breach laws at both state and federal levels. Id prefer not to take the legal route. If thats what must happen to get both justice and satisfaction ; so be it. 

BOA should know upfront that I will make this incident as public as possible. I will be a thorn in their side for the foreseeable future on wide variety of platforms. I will showcase their blatant disregard for their customers along with their numerous failings both regulatory and within the industry. From my research BOA has a long track record for causing harm to their customers and gross incompetence. BOA has been allowed to continue unchecked with their unscrupulous, harmful, negligent, and illegal behaviors. Im formally requesting that BOA be forced to finally end their ability to act with complete impunity and with total disregarding their fiduciary responsibilities to the general public. Thank you in advance, I look forward to hearing from 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