Consumer complaint received 2019-02-24
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: VA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
To Whom it May Concern, On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX I received a phone call from a XXXX number and I didnt answer it. Seconds later, that exact same XXXX number called me back and I figured that it may be important and so I answered it. It was a woman saying that she worked with Bank of America and that they had detected activity on my debit card that was suspicious. She then went through a list of charges at a XXXX, a XXXX XXXX, and I believe one or two other locations she listed in California for very large amounts that had been charged on my debit card. I said they were not made by me. And she said, okay, I will work with you now to have those charges removed, if you could be patient, well get this all worked out. So I was. She confirmed all of my account information, just like would be done officially, she had everything correct my name, address, account types and numbers. Then she went through the list of items that needed to be removed and asked if I had made these purchases, and I said no. Then she told me that everything had been taken care of, the items removed, but since my account had been compromised that I would need to change my cards pin number. And so she asked that I think of a number that no one else would think of. At this point we were about 35 minutes into our call and I had a strange feeling that something wasnt right when she asked me to change my pin number, and so I said to her, how do I know you are really with Bank of America? And she said, well just look at the phone number that we called you from, you can look at it now, and then look on the back of your debit card its the same phone number. And sure enough, she was right. It was in fact Bank of Americas phone number. So I gave her a new pin number for my debit card. Minutes later, after being on the phone for 45 minutes, she just hung up the phone for no reason in the middle of conversation. At that point I knew that something was terribly wrong. ( I have attached screen shots from my cell phone of the calls phone number and duration of call ) In the middle of that 45 minute call, at XXXX, I had received an incoming call but didnt answer it as I was on the other line with this woman. That incoming call had left a message, and so I went to listen to it. The message was from the real Bank of America telling me that there was fraudulent activity on my account and to call them. So I did. I then spent the remainder of that afternoon on the phone with real Bank of America employees trying to explain in detail what had just happened to me. 

It turned out that the thief who called me had hacked into my BofA online banking account and was in my account the entire time she was on the phone with me. 
She had spoofed Bank of Americas phone number in order to call me from a familiar number. 
She transferred {$5800.00} out of my credit card account over to my debit card account. 
She transferred {$8300.00} out of my savings account into my debit card account. 
She raised my withdrawal amount. 
And then, a thief at a Bank of America ATM in XXXX, Virginia started withdrawing cash in increments of {$500.00}, totaling {$2500.00}, until Bank of America stopped the withdrawal process. 

That was all on XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately, that day, opened fraud cases on my debit card, my credit card, and my savings account. To be clear, thats three fraud cases with three different Bank of America companies that do not communicate with each other. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the fraud claim for my debit card was denied. At that point I filed a police report with XXXX County Police Department ( will provide police report number ) and reopened a second fraud claim on the debit card account. The second fraud claim for my debit card was denied on XX/XX/XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX the fraud claim for the credit card was denied, and on XX/XX/XXXX I faxed them the police report and reopened a second fraud claim on the credit card account. 
I have attached all of the letters from the bank that deny the claims. 

Bank of America Credit Card Details On XX/XX/XXXX, {$5800.00} was fraudulently transferred out of the account. On XX/XX/XXXX, BofA fraud dispute put {$5800.00} back in but told me over the phone that I should also transfer {$5800.00} myself from my debit card to my credit card account. And so I did transfer {$5800.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Then on XX/XX/XXXX BofA removed the {$5800.00} that fraud dispute had put in. 
Bank of America is now charging me the required monthly interest fees ( $ XXXX/mo. ) on the movement of this {$5800.00} back and forth which was due to fraudulent activity and not my own doing. 

Bank of America Debit Card Details On XX/XX/XXXX, {$2500.00} in cash was withdrawn from an ATM in XXXX, VA ( BKOFAMERICA ATM XX/XX/XXXX # XXXX WITHDRWL XXXX  XXXX XXXX VA ) at XXXX which is exactly XXXX miles from my home and work location in XXXX , Virginia . 
On XX/XX/XXXX, fraud dispute put {$2500.00} back into my debit card account ( technically it was {$2700.00}, but {$250.00} was my money that had been left in my savings account and was being transferred out in order to empty my savings account ). At this time I thought that the case was closed. They did not make it known to me that the money was only put back in my account while the case was under review. On XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America removed {$2500.00} from my debit card account citing that my fraud claim had been denied. 

Bank of America Savings Account Details On XX/XX/XXXX was flagged as having been targeted for fraud and shut down. 

In closing, I am a 23-year customer of Bank of America. I have a checking/debt card account, a savings account, a credit card account and a car loan account with them, all accessible through their online banking. I have been shattered by this ordeal and feel like the bank should side with their customer in this circumstance. But I have been told in so many conversations over the phone with their employees that this is all my fault and the bank carries no responsibility, and therefore will continue to deny my claims. The bottom line is {$2500.00} is nearly half of the money I have in the world, and I cant afford to lose it. I need help getting it back. 

Thank you

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