Consumer complaint received 2022-05-21
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: AR
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I have been victimized by the XXXX bank transfer scam. 

They called XXXX times - I did not pick up the first XXXX, seeing it was a XXXX number and thinking it was a robot call about my car warranty. When they called back a third time, I did pick up. This is what happened : On Tuesday of this week, XX/XX/2022, I rec 'd a call from someone representing themselves as being with Bank of America, telling me that there is suspected fraudulent activity on my account and asking if I was transferring $ XXXX to a XXXX bank account in XXXX, TX. He said they have frozen my accounts and funds until the information is confirmed. I was suspicious but, as he instructed me to, I verified the phone number he was calling me from as the one on the back of my small business debit card. 

I then spent XXXX hour and XXXX minutes on the phone with him as he, very patiently, walked me through the process I needed to go through to " unfreeze '' my accounts and stop the transfer to " XXXX XXXX, XXXX '' in XXXX, TX. 

During my time on the phone with this person who told me his name was XXXX XXXX with the BofA XXXX XXXX in XXXX, AZ, I received XXXX emails and XXXX texts from B of A, and XXXX Bank, with codes, confirmations and instructions as to the transfers I was making. Why wouldn't I believe this was all legitimate - as the emails did, indeed, come from BofA? All this was being done to 'unlock ' my account, is what I was being told by the person on the phone. 

Evidently, from what I was putting together after my conversation with the fraud departments BofA and XXXX on Wednesday. - while he was on the phone with me, his partner was on the phone with BofA feeding them my information. They ( scammer # XXXX ) spoke to XXXX different BofA reps- XXXX for my personal account and XXXX for my business account. The time they ( the real BofA reps ) were on the phone with scammer # XXXX was approx. an hour. The names of the BofA reps are XXXX and XXXX. 

My question is, why did they allow a $ XXXX transfer to go through, as well as the {$3500.00}, if the daily limit is {$3500.00}? Why didn't someone pick up on the fact that, it's very clear, I do not transfer large sums of money and I don't transfer money outside my bank? Aren't banking employees suppose to be aware of current scams and look for 'red flags '? 

I was physically sick all night and kept checking my accounts to see if the funds were back - wanting to believe it was all legitimate but feeling in my XXXX that I had been taken. Of course the funds were not there. I called BofA the next morning, on Wednesday - and that is when it was confirmed that I had become the victim that I never dreamed I could possibly become. 

In total I have lost {$18000.00} and, as of my last conversation with the fraud department, XXXX is telling me that since I made the transfer it is a Scam, not XXXX, so the bank is not liable. They have filed XXXX claims and said I will hear back within 10 - 45 days. I am not hopefuly of a positive outcome. 

This scammer seemed to focus on my business account as the phone number he was supposedly calling from was the BofA small business service line. 

To add insult to injury, as the call ended, after he told me my funds would be back in my account within XXXX hours, he said he or someone from BofA would call me the next day at XXXX. Would you believe, he did call me the next day at XXXX. When I asked him who he was and where he was and that BofA had no record of talking with him, he hung up. 

I knew nothing of a XXXX scam and would like to make other aware. The money is immediately transferred and this scam, at least the one I was involved with, is very detailed and well thought out.

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