Consumer complaint received 2019-10-02
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: SC
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2019, I was the victim of clear-cut BEC/EAC fraud that robbed me of my life savings, {$41000.00}, that was supposed to go to my real estate lawyer, but the bad guy hacked the email server of either my real estate lawyer or the title company. The next morning, I immediately followed all of the proper protocol in reporting the fraud as soon as I learned that I had been victimized : I contacted Bank of America ( my bank ) to initiate a money transfer recall, XXXX XXXX  ( the bad guy 's bank ), my local police, and the XXXX, Utah police, where the bad guy 's bank account is. I also filed reports with the FBI 's IC3, the Federal Trade Commission, and XXXX XXXX ( XXXX is my mortgage company ). Over the past three months, I have spent many, many, many, many hours and time off work contacting both banks, both police departments, and multiple government agencies, beyond the ones mentioned above. After many long, long phone calls, I finally reached XXXX XXXX, a supervisor in Bank of America 's front office, who worked hard to keep my case forefront in the back office, which was trying to work with XXXX XXXX to recover my money. A XXXX XXXX employee had told me in XXXX that all of my money was in the bad guy 's account and that the account was frozen, so I was hopeful that I would receive all of my money back. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX, an officer in the back office, called me to tell me to go to my local Bank of America branch office to sign an indemnity letter from Bank of America for XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX emailed me to say that she would continue as my liaison but that her manager and her manager 's manager had escalated my case and were working hard to recover all of my money. She also told me that XXXX XXXX had " given a figure today for just under {$2200.00}. '' I replied to XXXX XXXX that I felt like I was being defrauded a second time, this time by XXXX XXXX. She replied, " I was very dismayed too so I asked my managers manager to take it over and she has a team that has a little more power of escalation so they are going to take it on. '' I continued to feel hopeful that I would receover all of my money because upper level back office managers were working with XXXX XXXX, rather than lower level employees, who had not had any success in recovering any of my money previously. I've been checking my savings account daily, hoping to see all of my money returned, but I was ill XXXX XXXX, so I didn't check my savings account again those days. On XX/XX/XXXX, I saw that {$21000.00} had been deposited into my savings account. I emailed XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX to call me, but she did not call or reply to my emails. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Bank of America, which stated, " We have received a response from XXXX XXXX. They have returned a partial amount of the transfer, and the above referenced account was credited for {$21000.00} on XX/XX/2019. We consider this matter resolved. '' I'm very grateful for all of the time and energy that Bank of America has put into my case, but no one at Bank of America has contacted me to explain why I did not receive the remaining {$20000.00} or to give me an option to continue pursuing my case through higher level management at Bank of America prior to them accepting a partial recovery on my behalf. I don't understand how they could legally make that decision without conferring with me first, and I don't understand why they have stopped communicating with me. I have been a Bank of America customer all of my adult life and have never had any complaints about our business relationship, but how can Bank of America ( and XXXX XXXX ) arbitrarily decide that it's OK for me to lose {$20000.00}? I never knew about BEC/EAC fraud until I became a victim, but from what I've learned in my research, my case is typical of those of other victims. The XXXX has already put in place new banking protocols and fraud victim relief laws, and the US Senate is now trying to address this rampant, multibillion-dollar fraud industry through the Federal Reserve Board.  Banks need to make the process of recovering money easier and more transparent for the thousands of BEC/EAC fraud victims. I am continuing to file complaints/reports against XXXX XXXX through multiple government agencies, my state senator, and other avenues. If my case is not resolved, I also plan a large-scale media outreach and legal action against all parties involved, which would entail a settlement of much more than the {$20000.00} that I am owed. I can not stress enough how much of a financial, emotional, physical, personal, and work strain is incurred by BEC/EAC victims like me. Besides the {$20000.00}, I have racked up thousands of dollars in costs in dealing with my situation, and my planned future has been stolen from me. I need Bank of America to communicate with me and to continue working with XXXX XXXX to recover the remaining balance of {$20000.00}.

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