Consumer complaint received 2023-06-07
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MN
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Money was taken from your account on the wrong day or for the wrong amount

Complaint:
I got SCAMMED for {$3500.00}. I am just a XXXX XXXXt, and my parents are living abroad. I have upcoming rent to pay, and I have to pay back my credit card. Please help me because all the pressure is on myself that I have no one to help. 

Picture 1 : I received a text message from XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX on Friday XX/XX/XXXX afternoon at XXXX p.m. from BOA asking whether the {$500.00} transaction was made by me. I responded NO to the text. Then theres an automatic text message telling me a representative will be contacting me. 
Picture 2 : The number shown in Picture 2 : XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX called immediately after the second text message. During this call, a male told me he is from Bank of America and will help me send a new card to my address. Then he asked me to open the BOA app, use XXXX to create new recipient and transfer money. I was unsure whether he is calling from Bank of America, so I asked where he is from. He told me if I feel unsafe, he can call with the official Bank of America customer service number. 
Picture 3 : You can see from the picture that the call at XXXX XXXX  was from XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX is the official BOA phone number as listed on the bank website. So, I trusted him. The second call happening at XXXX XXXX to the same number was when I realized this could be a SCAM, so I called back to BOA with the same number. AND BOA did answer the phone. If that is the case, how am I able to distinguish BOA from SCAM? 
Picture 4 XXXX This is the full transaction details happened. The SCAMMER asked me to create new recipient named after myself, XXXX XXXX. And he asked me to make five transactions, amounted {$3500.00} in total. 
Picture 5 : The account that I was asked to transfer money to is ( XXXX ) XXXX. This person can also be found on XXXX, so it is a real person that is SCAMMING the money. The first transaction is {$700.00}. Meanwhile, this man is well aware of the process of the XXXX transaction. He told me to click YES to the text sent from BOA and kept telling me that this transaction is transferred to my own account. So, I followed his instruction. 
Picture 6 : This is the screenshot for the second transaction, amounted {$900.00}. 
Picture 7 : This is the screenshot for the third transaction, amounted {$800.00}. 
Picture 8 : This is the screenshot for the fourth transaction, amounted {$600.00}. 
Picture 9 : This is the screenshot for the fourth transaction, amounted {$500.00}. After all transactions, I asked him when I will be receiving my own money. He instructed me that BOA would contact me within 1-2 hours. 
Picture 10 : This is the screenshot for the text messages telling me that the money was accepted. It was at that time I realized that these could all be a SCAM. But because the message was sent under BOAs name and he did dial to me with the official BOA customer service number, I totally believed what he was XXXX about. 

The biggest problem is he was able to send text messages sounding like BOA and call to me with the exact OFFICIAL BOA customer service number. I tried to be conscious, but still, with all those steps, I get SCAMMED. 

I am just a XXXX and {$3500.00} is all the money that I have right now. I have upcoming rent ( ~ {$1500.00} ) to pay, and I have to pay back my credit card. I am also responsible for sending money to my brother and take care of him. I have great burden and I can not tell my family about this matter. 

BOA is the first bank that I have firmly chosen. I had a great time using it and the people has been really helpful and responsive. I really do hope this issue can be resolved and I can get my money back. However, if this problem is not resolved, I might have to close all my accounts in BOA and choose other banks to work with because I can not afford further loss. 

Thank you for assisting me in this issue and I really hope my problem gets fixed.

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