Consumer complaint received 2021-11-15
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Below is the transcript of the demand for payment letter sent to Bank of America on XXXX. I received a phone call notifying me they were reconsidering my claim in their " scam department '' and requested I submit a " scam victim acknowledgment form ''. I submitted this form on XXXX and have not heard back. I understand my email was hacked. My claim is that the information I was provided by the scam actor did not align with a business name, address or account number. As a consumer, Bank of America markets their fraud and scam capabilities to present a sense of safety and security to their clients. I expect a simple algorithm would catch and deny transactions with invalid and misaligned identifying information to protect my financial security. I am not responsible for their banking relationship with XXXX XXXX. My relationship is with Bank of America. I have a record of the email trail showing the scam communication as well as identifying information leading to the scam perpetrator. 

-- -- -- - BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION THE CORPORATION XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, DE XXXX XXXX RE ; Demand Letter for payment. Claim XX/XX/XXXX-XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX, I was working with XXXX Pools who was bidding on some services at my residence. Upon reaching an agreement, I sent ( 2 ) wire transfers as a deposit. On XX/XX/XXXX I was informed by XXXX they had not received my wire transfer. I quickly learned a fraudulent actor had intercepted our communication and provided false banking information and directed the funds to their personal bank at XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I opened a fraud case at Bank of America and also went to XXXX XXXX in person to investigate. I learned the account indeed had my transfer money and they informed me the account had already been frozen and they would return the money to Bank of America upon requested. From that day, I called Bank of America daily and spent hours attempting to contact my claim representative so that I could provide relevant information* my own investigation had uncovered regarding the fraud that had been committed. 
*Perpetrator account holder name, address, phone number and account information that could be used to pursue and prosecute the offender. 
Despite numerous requests, to this day-no representative agent at Bank of America has ever called me to provide that information. I was told daily that as soon as XXXX returned the money I would be refunded. This negligence at Bank of America caused time to elapse and XXXX unfroze the account allowing the perpetrator to close the account and withdraw the funds. At that time XXXX denied the claim and Bank of America subsequently denied mine. 
Although my denial was in a form letter without any explanation, I invested numerous hours and phone calls finally for a representative to tell me that she assumed the claim was denied because I typed the bank name and address into the wire transfer and further because XXXX did not refund the money to Bank of America. 
This is blatant fraud. The name, account number and address do not match any real bank account holder at XXXX XXXX. I trusted the security algorithm at Bank of America to seek discrepancies of pertinent information prior to verifying any transaction. Liability is an issue between Bank of America and XXXX XXXX to reconcile and Bank of America is obligated to protect me against being a victim of fraud. It is unfortunate that Bank of America will not stand behind a fraudulent transaction when their trusting customers are victims. I have been a customer for decades with multiple accounts, loans and credit cards. 
As a settlement of all claims related to this matter, please send me a check in the amount of {$5900.00} on or before XX/XX/XXXX. This amount covers the ( 2 ) wire transfers and the ( 2 ) {$3.00} transaction fees. If this payment is not received, I am prepared to move forward with a civil suit with legal counsel to include additional compensation for damages and my inconvenience and discomfort brought on by the unfair treatment and emotional duress caused by Bank of America. Additionally, I will file a consumer protection complaint with the Federal Reserve for misleading fraud policy and unfair treatment.

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