Consumer complaint received 2020-09-11
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: AZ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020, I logged into my Bank of America account to transfer money from my daughters ' B of A account to one of my checking accounts. When choosing which account from the drop down, it showed an available balance of {$42.00}. I stopped immediately and went back to my accounts to see that this account I am referring to showed a pending wire transfer from XX/XX/2020 in the amount of {$1900.00} to a " XXXX XXXX ''. I called Bank of America right away and was directed to the fraud department. I was transferred multiple times between departments while they were trying to figure out which type of fraud this was. They finally determined it was " wire fraud '' and opened up my claim. I asked them how this even happened without me being notified or verified through my 2 step authentication process ( text to my cell phone and or email to my email account ) and they confirmed that the phone number they sent the code to was not mine, it was a number with a Florida area code. I have had the same number on my account for 15 years and I asked them how they allowed this large amount of transfer to occur without my permission. At this point, they were not sure. They granted me a temporary credit while the investigation was pending. They froze that account and assisted me with opening a new checking account that same phone call. I was on the phone with them for over 3 1/2 hours that day XX/XX/2020. 
On XX/XX/2020 Bank of America sent me an email message stating they can not able to approve my claim and were reversing the temporary credit and closing the claim. The reason for this was that they found the transaction in question was completed using a devise consistent with previous valid account activity. I attempted to contact the fraud department and they were already closed for the day. I woke up the next morning and called them at XXXX and the first representative was unable to provide me with any useful information, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was on hold for over an hour while they were waiting for a supervisor to become available. Once there was one, the representative transferred me, the phone rang 6 times and then it hung up. No one called me back, even though they verified my contact number to receive a call back in case we were disconnected. I called back again and began the process all over explaining the situation. I was transferred twice between check fraud and wire fraud and was told I needed to provide " proof '' that I was hacked. I asked what proof and how do I get it, the representative said they were unable to tell me since they are not familiar with online transactions. I again asked to speak to a supervisor, which I was on hold for 20 minutes before being transferred. I spoke to a XXXX who said I needed to provide proof that I was hacked, and he verified it was done through a computer and not my cell phone. I asked what type of proof they need ; he was not sure either. I hung up and called my work to ask for our contracted technical support company to see if they knew what I would need to provide. They asked me to get the IP address from the bank. I called the bank back again and asked for the IP address. The first representative said I would have to obtain a subpoena from my county to request Bank of America to give that information. I said that is ridiculous, you can't give me the information you say was used. I was transferred to another supervisor. This supervisor said the representative was incorrect and she provided me with the IP address. I then called my work technical support back and gave them this info. They tried a search but still were not sure how to provide the proof or what exact proof Bank of America was going to need. I was told that my company was going to have to pay to dig into the work VPN and server to search for anything that the bank may need. My boss was not willing to agree to this large amount of money without exact details of what Bank of America needed to provide the proof. I called Bank of America back to try and get this detailed information on XX/XX/2020 and the first attempt, after entering my social verification number, was put on hold, then it rang and an automated message came on saying, " due to extenuating circumstances, we are unable to take your call right now, please try again later '' then it hung up the call. I called back again 10 minutes later, after being on hold for 9 minutes, the exact same recording cane n, and hung up again. At this time, my IT contact advised me to file this claim with you, CFPB. This is where I am today. Wire fraud was committed, and Bank of America will not honor my claim or investigate the name of the person who made it, the phone number the authorization code was sent to or anything else. Please help me!!

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