Consumer complaint received 2018-05-20
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I have been a customer of Bank of America for nearly thirty years. A supposedly secure Bank of America XXXXnline money transfer to another Bank of America account led to me to loose {$2400.00} in a fraud scam. 

My son recently moved to XXXX, XXXX and he needed my help in paying for an apartment. He found one and I signed a lease agreement. To move in, a deposit and two months rent needed to be transferred to another Bank of America account in the owners name. I requested to go directly to the bank to insure that the account was real and their was no fraudulent activity or suspicious circumstances surrounding the account. I was told by a Bank of America representative that this transfer could only be done online and the branch could not help me investigate the legitimacy of this transaction. I even argued with the representative that it wasnt a safe was to make a transaction like this online. Against my better judgment, I conducted the transfer online through the Bank of America website ( confirmation # XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX. The transfer went through and later ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I found out that my son was scammed when the individual did not go to the apartment to let my son move in. I texted the criminal questioning him why he had not arrived at the apartment to let my son in. The criminal sent me a photo of the money he withdrew from your bank and wrote Lol cash in hand acc closed. The picture depicted the same amount of money I transferred. 

I went to my local Bank of America branch ( XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX  XXXX ) immediately ( within 15 minutes of discovery ) and spoke with XXXX XXXX ( Financial Center Manager- ( XXXX ) XXXX ), to report the incident. XXXX XXXX said there was nothing I could do. She told me the account I sent the money to was valid, and the transaction was between the two of us. She said the account was still active, so the criminal isnt worried about Bank of America stopping the theft. She advised me I was responsible for the loss, but she would send an alert on the account to be investigated. In the meantime, this criminally used account would remain open so the fraud could continue. The criminal still has advertisements for this apartment to be rented on XXXX and XXXX, and undoubtedly, will steal from other people. The bank employee said the criminal could continue to perform the same fraud on others even after I reported the fraud. I did warn XXXX and XXXX about the situation and was sent an e-mail the ads were removed. 

I find it hard to believe even after a customer warns a bank of fraud, the bank assists the fraud by allowing fraudulent transactions to be deposited in their bank accounts. To add further insult, the bank refuses to reimburse the customer. 

By performing addition internet searches of the suspects cell phone number through a search engine on my cell phone, I found that the suspect has been doing this scam for a year, likely with the help of Bank of Americas online money transfer system. I originally used my desktop computer to search for any reported fraud associated with the apartment rental, but did not find any.

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