Consumer complaint received 2023-01-25
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MI
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Through my Bank of America account I was scammed to sending {$3500.00} through XXXX. 

Hours before, I received a real fraud claim call from Bank of America about a {$600.00} charge on my Credit Card in another state ( this is the XXXX call that is attached in the photo docs ). I also received a text. Someone walked me through the process and told me they were sending a new card. They were extremely helpful. This was a real BOA employee. 

XXXX hours later, I got a text asking if I sent {$3500.00} to a random person 's name. I replied XXXX. I got a call from the same exact Bank of America caller ID ( this is the XXXX XXXX  call in the attachments, that was dropped repeatedly + they called me back due to disconnection ) telling me that they were from the fraud department -- nearly identical scripts to the real fraud claim call hours early -- saying that it's a good thing I called because my account was compromised. Someone had been trying to charge money in another state, XXXX  ( which signaled, they know about my account because this just happened to me, but now I know they probably just guessed that or was part of a script ). They knew I was a customer for XXXX  years, said the call was recorded, just like usual. They even asked me if I knew about the XXXX scams because people were compromising info and I said thanks so much for letting me know. She said scammers are getting smarter now and I have to be on the lookout. She simply had me read what was in my account back to double check which one had been compromised ( $ XXXX at the time in my savings ), open my BOA app, type in my claim number ( into a recipients area ), to send myself the money back ( {$3500.00}, in XXXX transactions -- {$3400.00} and {$100.00} ). When I had the confirmation number I wasn't supposed to share with anyone she even made that clear -- do NOT read anything to us, you type it in. Never share that code. She said that exact comment. She said someone had copied my phone number so I had to resend it to the claim number in order to get it back, and to put my name and initial of my last name in the box ( as it could not be my full name, an account already existed like that ). Told me that she would help me, and to not switch banks because of this oversight because I had been with Bank of America for years. She even said that she would put a tag of some sort so any transactions in different states were blocked. Said there would be a survey at the end, the funds would be put back in there within XXXX hours. 

When I hung up I called them back immediately to double check, as I had just had now XXXX claim calls so I felt my account was really compromised and wanted to check in with someone. The number led me straight back to Bank of America, where I spoke to a real person and I said something like wait ... I am confused. Did I not talk to a real person? It was then I realized someone was not being honest and I may have talked to a fraudulent person. I also received a call from a XXXX  number, ( attached as well ) minutes after I talked to them which makes me think they could have accidentally not called with the doctored phone number. I called them back, it rang through, but they didn't answer. 

So to recap : I had my credit card TRULY compromised that same week, a call that same DAY, and had a call with the REAL fraud claim department XXXX hours prior. I was primed for thinking my account was still compromised. Later that day, I got another text which I did not know was fake, asking if I made a {$3500.00} transaction to a random person 's name. I did not. I was extremely panicked, responded NO, and Bank of America ( on caller ID, AND a phone number that MATCHED the one that called me ) " fraud claims department '' called me and talked to me for a long time " trying to get my funds back for me '' aka scamming me through XXXX. 

I never use XXXX except for my rent to my landlord -- same amount {$1500.00} per month on the XXXX. The scammer even left a convincing that they were applying credit back to my account so they're giving me a follow up call ( I attached ). I believe they were attempting to scam more money from me as well, since they mentioned they saw charges pending as well. They sent me a text the next day saying my card was on the way -- which further confused me as I did already have a new credit card on the way thanks to my XXXX XXXX  call. 

This was incredibly disheartening because Bank of America denied my claim even though the person on the call with me when I filed it said they have never quite seen XXXX this detailed before, where the scammer did not ask for any information and truly knew the ins and outs of the process. The scammer just walked me through how to recover my funds. They even said to me that it may be an ex-employee of some sort. I have been a customer with them for years, and my parents even longer, and it was saddening to receive this denied claim. I was already nervous during the week about my account being compromised, so I was absolutely primed for this call. There's no way I would have thought it was fake -- hours between the real + fake call using SAME number. Not just caller ID. Same phone number. 

I was incredibly confused with my real claim and my fraud claim, not knowing who or what was real/being honest and found it incredibly hard to trust even talking to the person when I was making a fraud claim about this XXXX scam .

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