Consumer complaint received 2022-03-31
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022, I was trying to purchase flowers for my deceased mother in law. To my surprise, the flower shop informed me they could not process the full amount, they were only able to process {$10.00}. After they notified me, I looked into my account using my Bank of America mobile banking app and learned someone had transferred all my money ( {$2300.00} ) out into a different account. I immediately contacted Bank of America and notified them of the theft. 
On XX/XX/2022 I received a letter from Bank of America stating the review of the allegation was completed and no error was determined to have occurred. At this point I felt frustrated and overwhelmed by my situation being that I obviously was the victim of Identity theft and the institutions in place that are supposed to help me were treating me like a criminal. 
After re-opening my claim twice and being denied both times, I was finally told by one of the persons from the claims department that I should file a police report and fax it to them. This was another obstacle for me because the police needed a record of the transactions showing the transfer and Bank of America would not give me transactions because they said it was not the end of the month. 
After several attempts to obtain my own transactions, I finally spoke to someone who disclosed that on XX/XX/2022, someone called in and changed the email linked to my Bank of America mobile app to XXXX. As if that was not enough, the person who changed my email was also able to change my security questions. Where is the security that supposed to be in place for victims like me if someone could call and change important information so easily? 
I was finally able to get someone at Bank of America who sent a copy of my transactions to my email and with that I was able to file a police report on XX/XX/2022 ( report # : XXXX ). 
Finally, I would be able to fax over my police report and get the money that was stolen to me returned and this nightmare would be over. Bank of America claim department assured me that this type of breach wouldnt happen again. 

On XX/XX/2022 I tried to withdraw my money from my account only to find that ALL my money had been transferred AGAIN! ( {$1400.00} ) How could this happen? I immediately called again to the claims department to report this second incident and they disclosed that someone had, ONCE AGAIN, called and changed the email address that is linked to my mobile banking app, this time to XXXX XXXX At this point I am extremely and utterly at a disbelief that this could actually happen not once, but twice! 
I was reassured by Bank of America that this could not happen again, but yet it did? Criminals were allowed to get through to change my personal information and obtain access to my account, not once, but twice. There has to be some type of accountability on Bank of Americas part for allowing this type of data breach to happen TWICE IN ONE MONTH WITHIN WEEKS OF EACH OTHER. This should have been an IDENTITY THIEF RED FLAG. 
To my knowledge, there should me some type of notes on my file indicating that there is fraud claim ongoing, so why would it be so easy for someone to call in again and change my information? With a little attention and due diligence paid to my claim, investigation should show that this is clearly a case of fraud and I am the victim. 
At this point to my knowledge my first claim ( transfer in the amount of {$2300.00} ) has been denied more than 4 times with obviously no investigation on my behalf done and I believe that my rights under REGULATION E, which allow me to dispute unauthorized electronic fund transfers to or from my account, SECTION 205.11 ; which states that if a consumer notifies an institution that an error involving an EFT has occurred, the institution must investigate and resolve the claim within specified deadlines, have been violated. I am sure that some of my other rights as a victim have been violated as well. 
I have yet to get the outcome of my second claim ( transfer in the amount of {$1400.00} ), my idea is that I will have to file a new police report to include this theft as well to prove my innocence. This shouldnt be the case, being that I am a victim and have been treated like the one who has committed a crime through this whole ordeal. I have become weary of the system that Bank of America has in place to prevent stuff like this from happening because I was able to change my email back to the original one with just my name, phone number and address.

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