Consumer complaint received 2023-06-28
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Check cashing service
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
In XXXX of this year, I posted an advertisement on a XXXX online forum, offering my room for rent during the summer vacation. On XX/XX/XXXX, an individual named XXXX XXXX sent me an email and expressed her interest in renting my room. She proposed sending me a check as a deposit in advance. 
However, my landlord later informed me that he preferred not to rent the room to individuals other than XXXX nationals. So, I had to tell XXXX that I could no longer rent the room to her. But she told me that she had already mailed the check in my name and requested me to withdraw the check and transfer the funds to her via XXXX. I agreed her requirement without thinking too much. 
And after that, I received XXXX checks from her. The first one I received on XX/XX/XXXX was with the amount of {$3300.00} which was far more than the deposit of the room. I withdrew that check, but that check was placed on hold in my account very soon. Because it had never been added to available account, I didnt transfer it to XXXX XXXX XXXX And she told me that there was some problem with the check, and she would send me another check later. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another check. This time the check amounted to {$3700.00}, which I promptly deposited into my BOA XXXX Bank of America ) account upon its arrival. 
Here is the key issue. In the morning of XX/XX/XXXX, shortly after withdrawing the funds, the BOA mobile app displayed the check amount as available in my account, without any indication of it being " processing '' or " pending. '' Confident that the money had been successfully deposited, I proceeded to transfer {$3500.00} to XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
But later that same afternoon, the BOA app showed that the funds from that check were on hold. It was at this moment that I realized I had fallen victim to a fraudulent scheme and that was a fake check. Without delay, I contacted the customer service departments of Bank of America and XXXX, requesting the suspension of any transactions related to XXXX and reporting the incident to the authorities. Initially, BOA issued a temporary credit of {$3300.00} ( which is the amount of the first check ) and assured me that they would conduct an investigation before deciding on further compensation. 
After a few months of investigation, I received the results of their investigation on XX/XX/XXXX, which claimed that they were not at fault and subsequently reversed my temporary credit of {$3300.00}. I have attached the letters containing BOA 's investigation results for your reference. I firmly believe that their investigation failed to address the crucial point that Bank of America informed me that the check amount had entered my available account balance before verifying the authenticity of the check. It was only after receiving this confirmation that I proceeded with the transfer, trusting that the funds were legitimately available.

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