Consumer complaint received 2018-12-01
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I was selling a pair of shoes through an app and a buyer named XXXX XXXX messaged me and wanted to buy. I said ok I will sell to her as long as communication is good between me, her and her assistant. The shoes I charged for only {$45.00} and she said shell give me an extra {$30.00} for holding the item until she gets backs from her sisters wedding thats out of state. I said ok. She said she could only pay by check even though I provided her with my nervousness about that. I told her about other options such as XXXX. And she said no only check. After many emails she responded saying her financer made a mistake on the check she was sending me. The check was written for {$1200.00} even though I only was supposed to get {$75.00} in total. But I thought that mistakes happen and her financer should be fired for the careless mistake. She said the check would arrive the next day which it didnt. It came after a week of waiting and me sending emails with no response. Excited I opened the mailer and deposited the check on Monday XX/XX/2018. The next morning I woke up to a text message from the woman telling me to deposit the check and send the remaining funds to her husbands account through XXXX which was {$1100.00}. Not wanting to upset a customer I did what she asked. Everything seemed fine with my bank account until Wednesday XX/XX/2018 when I get an alert from my bank, Bank of America that my account is below {$25.00}. Shocked I looked at my account and it said I had -XXXX in the  checking account. I immediately called my bank and they said that the check was on hold because they suspect fraud or that the funds couldnt be allocated to them. I message the woman and she just said ok. I asked her and her husband multiple times to stop the payment on the check and respond to my messages but no response. After multiple calls with my bank the bad check was returned and everything seemed to go back to normal before the check entered my account. Then on Friday XX/XX/XXXX I get another alert about my account being below {$25.00}. I looked and see my checking account was -XXXX and my savings was XXXX. Confused because I had XXXX in my savings and XXXX in my checking account. I called my bank again and they said that because I initiated the zelle transaction that the funds are being taken from my account. The bank said that there was nothing they can do and thats why I kept getting transferred and put on hold on Friday for 2 hours. All the bank said was that I can file a police report. The people who scammed me are not answering my calls, texts, or emails. I believe this was a scam through XXXX because the check had a different name, XXXX XXXX, the mailer the check was in came from XXXX in XXXX, MT, the checks bank in Kansas, but the phone number I was containing the woman with was an Ohio number. I even called XXXX to ask if there was anyone named XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX and they said no on Wednesday XX/XX/2018. Then I called XXXX and asked for the tracking number of the mailer using the reference number on the mailer. After that call on Wednesday XX/XX/2018 I checked and saw it came from Kansas. XXXX even gave me the exact location of where the mailer came from XXXX XXXX XXXX. I tried to find a contact number or staff list but nothing. I then tried contacting the scammers again and no response. Once I confirmed the XXXX transaction with them they stopped communication. Now my checking account is still at - {$1100.00} and my savings got back to me but now I have to use my savings and pay it off which will not cover everything. After this Ill be left with nothing, no money to my name.

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