Consumer complaint received 2023-07-12
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NJ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Account opened as a result of fraud

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my Bank of America ( " BOA '' ) online banking services and noticed an account that I did not open. Specifically, it was an " Adv Safebalance Banking '' account ending in XXXX. I immediately called BOA 's fraud department to let them know I did not open the account ending in XXXX. 

While waiting on hold for BOA fraud, a few things immediately raised concerns for me : ( 1 ) This account ending in XXXX had transactions dating back to XX/XX/XXXX ; however, this was not associated with my online banking services until XX/XX/XXXX. ( I log into my BOA app every day, so I can confirm this account was not associated until XX/XX/XXXX. ) ( 2 ) The transactions for the account ending in XXXX dated back to XX/XX/XXXX and were extremely suspicious. It appears that whoever opened this account was receiving large XXXX transfers and then pulling out money in intervals of {$500.00} at an ATM in XXXX. First, I am not self-employed, so I have never received XXXX transfers with " other income '' as the subject line, yet alone multiple in the same day. Second, I have been their customer for 15 years so they know I am not self-employed. Third, I live in New Jersey and am pretty sure I was doing transaction in New Jersey on this date. I do not understand why they would allow someone to do ATM transactions in a different state. 

Once the fraud department took me off hold on XX/XX/XXXX, I learned that this person allegedly used my SSN and DOB to open this account online on XX/XX/XXXX. However, I was never notified that someone was trying to open an account in my name with a different email address and phone number than the ones associated with my account. Again, I've been a customer of BOA for nearly 15 years. I have only had one phone number associated with my account ever, and I only had 2 email addresses ( one from my time at XXXX and then transitioned to my personal gmail account ). If someone had my SSN and DOB, I should have been alerted when such fraudster was trying to open an account in my name with a different email address and phone number.

I told the BOA fraud department I did not open this account, and I wanted them to close this account as soon as their investigation is done. I had to close all of my other accounts with BOA and open new accounts because of this fraud, which caused a lot of work on my end because my main checking account is with BOA. 

As soon as I wrapped up with the BOA representative on XX/XX/XXXX, I placed a fraud alert on my credit report and placed a freeze across the three credit bureaus. I also made an account with the FTC at identitytheft.gov, my reference number is XXXX. I also contacted XXXX also filed a police report with the XXXX XXXX Police Department, file number is XXXX. I also contacted XXXX. As such, on my end, I placed all the appropriate reports for this identity theft. 

What's concerning to me is BOA 's handling of this identity theft. For starters, it is now XX/XX/XXXX and NO ONE from BOA 's fraud department has provided me an update on the status of my identity theft claim. I understand that BOA needs an affidavit to move forward with their investigation ; however, they should not make it difficult for the victims of identity theft to receive such affidavit. Even though this fraudster could open this account fully online, I was told I had to either fax or mail this affidavit in, which does not seem fair for the victims of identity theft. Further, I requested their uniform affidavit for identity theft via email, but after many phone calls and emails, I never got it via email. I finally got it via regular mail on XX/XX/XXXX and immediately sent my affidavit ( with nearly XXXX pages of supporting documents ) via Priority Mail Express ( tracking number XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ). 

They received such affidavit on Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX. I have called on XX/XX/XXXX, and twice on the XXXX - provided the tracking number and requested that someone contact me to let me know if they need anything else to close the account. I also sent a notice to furnisher using the template from XXXX, dated XX/XX/XXXX. Still, as of XX/XX/XXXX, NO ONE has contacted me or provided a status update.

I have lodged over 9 complaints against BOA throughout this process- have called so many times to get updates and still as of XX/XX/XXXX no updates. It's not acceptable. I'm a victim of identity theft. I believe they either have a vast amount of broken controls internally, lack of training across departments, and/or bad actors on the inside because something is not right here. I need answers. I've had enough.

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 non-monetary relief