Consumer complaint received 2021-03-22
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I am a BANK OF AMERICA loyal customer since XXXX. I have recently filed a claim to BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER. The reason for my letter is not to waste your departments valuable time. The entire pandemic has already made the normal world take a toll yet the financial world must keep going to generate any sort of change towards the stock market and consumer affairs. I will be very straight forward with this letter due to the fact that its my letter of contestation to the BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER, LETTER TO THE CALIFORNIA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, CALIFORNIAS DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS and any institution with local, state and federal authority that can help mend and defend my claim. 

My partner and I have been searching and arranging a solution to purchase an ENGINE for our XXXX XXXX XXXX DIESEL TRUCK located in FL with the IN-LAWS. We found a company via XXXX  XXXX  MARKET  place on XX/XX/XXXX. We sent a message via XXXX  XXXX  MESSENGER  and they directed us to contact a company with a phone number from XXXX, TX. At the time were just looking and although we found the engine and they provided unbeatable prices we decided to just wait and research some more. On XXXX I contacted a company by the name of XXXX a gentleman by the name of XXXX supposedly provided an engine with all the parts, warranty and pricing that we needed. I asked him to give me one day to make a decision with my partner. During that one day period I researched to see if they were a XXXX, TX local company. I found a XXXX PAGE, XXXX WEBSITE, and PHONE NUMBERS AND REVIEWS. Therefore they felt legitimate so we decided to purchase the engine but when the purchase order and payment came up they didnt want my credit card instead they asked for XXXX payment through our bank. I was very skeptical and questioned the reason of why such specific payment? And I told XXXX I wasnt comfortable proceeding and felt that I was being scammed. I asked for some time to think it over. So he of course sweet talked me and insisted that I only XXXX half the engine price and once the engine be delivered that we send the remainder balance. I still found that odd and asked to speak with a supervisor another gentleman by the name of XXXX got on the phone and told me not to worry that the reason why they were requesting XXXX as form of payment vs. bank card was because CUSTOMERS IN THE PAST HAD ORDERED ENGINES AND THEN CANCELED THE TRANSACTION AND HAD GENERATED SCAMMS ON THEIR END & THAT DUE TO THE PANDEMIC THEIR BUSINESS HAD DECREASED & MANY SMALL BUSINESSES LIKE THEIRS WERE NOT USING MERCHANT SERVICES AND USING XXXX OR XXXX INSTEAD. Stupidly that explanation seemed reasonable as I had encountered some local businesses such as nail, beauty and mechanic shops request XXXX AND XXXX PAYMENT VS BANK OR CREDIT CARD. At the time for me to complete the XXXX transaction he didnt provide a phone number or company merchant name under XXXX. Instead he provided a XXXX email under XXXX and asked that I send {$1300.00} to that email as the first payment but when I saw the email address I saw the red flags and called BOA customer service number. The banker on the phone answered and asked me a few questions but I had already confirmed the transaction via text messaging and she wasnt able to reverse the transaction. She stated that it was unusual and definitely screamed SCAMM ALERT ALL OVER. She transferred me to BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER AND THE REPRESENTATIVE HELPED ME FILE THE CLAIM ABOVE. I was ecstatic and began to panic so I called the guy XXXX and requested a refund but he said he needed to run a DUMMY TRANSACTION WITH A CODE {$110000.00} on my XXXX because they still hadnt received the first XXXX transaction for {$1300.00}. I was so desperate to get my money back that I entered that code and fact was that it was for another XXXX transaction for {$1100.00}. BOA sent me another verification code and he insisted I confirm it for him to return my money. Yet I never saw a return hit my bank account. Shortly after I requested my tracking number but XXXX wasnt able to and he insisted that I would see the money on the following business day. The following business day came but I never saw the money so I called him but then he asked for my bank of America user log in and password. After he asked for that very personal information I called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, TX and a gentleman who claimed to be the owner assured me he didnt sell me an engine and that I was scammed. I immediately contacted BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER and filed both claims. The claim department representative told me not to be hard on myself mam its a scammers job to convince you to trust them she assured me that the DEPARTMENT OF INVESTIGATION would try to get these guys but didnt guarantee a full recovery of the funds but also wasnt impossible. As of XX/XX/XXXX I contacted the BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER to follow up on the claim but all the representatives stated the same thing WE ARE STILL INVESTIGATING, WE CANT HAVE AN ANSWER UNTIL DAY 10 MAYBE TRY CALLING AGAIN TOMORROW TO SPEED THE PROCESS. On day XXXX XX/XX/XXXX after 14 consecutive days of contacting the BOA FRAUD DEPARTMENT I was told that THE CLAIM IS STILL PROCESSING WE HAVE NO SOLUTION AND CANT REFFUND YOU THE MONEY WE WILL NEED TO ISSUE A FULL INVESTIGATION OF POSSIBLY 45 DAYS I asked for more specific details and the representative stated that since I was involved in the transaction therefore it didnt look as if a SCAMM OR FRAUD BECAUSE XXXX GOT YOUR CONSENT I again explained everything from A-Z and after he heard my details he disclosed that the funds were issued onto two banks here in USA. One is XXXX XXXX BANK AND BANK PRO OF AMERICA. Meaning both bank accounts are linked to the XXXX  transaction that I wired and sent money into thinking that I was purchasing an engine from a small business. Therefore those are actual accounts managed by workers, owners and scammers that use those banks to process white collar crimes such as scamming consumers such as me. He disclosed that they had issued letters to each of those banks XXXX XXXX XXXX AND XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX but had no response and that I had to wait for the investigation which most likely might be successful by day 45th like most of their former investigations. Ive cried every single day because those funds were not mine to spend or give away. They XXXX  transaction for {$1300.00} and {$1100.00} was a company loan to fix our truck and although I explained that to the BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER I had no choice but to wait for them to complete the investigation and determine returning my money. After a long wait on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from the BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER stating and I quote UNFORTUNATELY WERE UNABLE TO APPROVE YOUR RECENT CLAIM Ive attached a copy of that letter to this dispute letter envelope because I am under the impression that the BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER r pretty much is accusing me of being involved in the scam OUR RECORDS INDICATE THAT WE COMPLETED THE TRANSFER ( S ) ACCORDING TO THE INSTRUCTIONS YOU PROVIDED US, THEREFORE NO ERROR OCCURRED.BASED ON THIS YOUR ACCOUNT WONT BE CREDITED I was shocked and in disbelief. Never in years of banking with other financial institutions had I ever submitted any dispute or regard to any transaction. I was tricked, convinced and yes I approved those transactions under lies and misconceptions. Never did I think I was going to undergo this sort of XXXX  and mayhem. I thought about just letting it go and not dispute anything with the BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER but then I thought to myself WHY SHOULD I FEEL BLAME I AM THE VICTIM AND I AM IN DOUBLE DEBT AND STILL OWE MY FRIENDS COMPANY MONEY.I STILL HAVE NO ENGINE FOR MY TRUCK and to make matters worse the BANK OF AMERICA DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER is washing their hands and telling me its my fault.

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