Consumer complaint received 2021-05-31
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
My credit card information was stolen on, or about, XX/XX/2021, and was used to fraudulently purchase {$340.00} worth of food. After two phone calls and a letter, Bank of America has refused to reimburse me for my fraud clam with the explanation that, Based on your account history, this charge is consistent with previous charges with this merchant. While these charges were made at restaurants, and my initial claim contained some errors which were corrected, all of these purchases were all made online, and at restaurants more than 20 miles from my house. One of the purchases was even made via XXXX so, in theory, Bank of America has the address of the person/people who stole my credit card information. Frankly, I want my {$340.00} back. 

On XX/XX/2021, Bank of America Security notified me via text message that my credit card account was suspiciously used to purchase food at XXXX Online, and XXXX XXXX. I responded to the text that the charges were fraudulent and called Bank of America to report the incident. I accessed my online account and identified several recent charges as fraudulent with the Bank of America representative. Case # XXXX was opened and {$300.00} was credited to my account. After the phone call, I reviewed my online account and flagged other fraudulent charges to my account. 

On XX/XX/2021, I contacted the XXXX XXXX Police Department to report that my credit card information was stolen and fraudulently used. I believe my credit card information was stolen by an employee at the XXXX XXXX XXXX restaurant in XXXX XXXX, MD, as it was the last place I used my card before the fraudulent charges were made. It was also the only time that my card had been out of my sight in the previous month. Because XXXX XXXX was one of the places my credit card information was fraudulently used, I hoped that the police would be able to get the delivery address and identify the perpetrator. 

On XX/XX/2021, I was notified that my fraud claim was declined because, Based on your account history, this charge is consistent with previous charges with this merchant which resulted in {$300.00} charged back to my account. Upon further review of my online account, I discovered errors in the original claim : Three legitimate charges were erroneously included in the dispute, and two fraudulent charges were missing from the dispute. On XX/XX/XXXX, I wrote a letter to Bank of America appealing their decision and detailed the error, along with an updated list of fraudulent charges totaling {$340.00} as follows : Transaction Date Merchant Reference Number Amount Online XX/XX/2021 XXXX XXXXXXXX {$49.00} Y XX/XX/202XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX {$37.00} XXXX XX/XX/20XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX {$19.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX {$16.00} Y XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX {$17.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX {$52.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$35.00} Y XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX {$32.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$49.00} XXXX On or about XX/XX/2021, absent any response from Bank of America to my letter, I once again called the Bank of America Fraud Department to discuss my case. I explained the errors, to the representative and she removed the three legitimate charges from my claim and added two new fraudulent charges to my claim. I have just received my latest credit card statement and on XX/XX/XXXX, without notification, Bank of America denied reimbursement for the two additional fraudulent charges. 

{$340.00} of fraudulent charges has been made to my credit card account, yet Bank of America continues to deny my claim because, Based on your account history, this charge is consistent with previous charges with this merchant. The only thing consistent with the charges is that the person who stole my credit card information also likes to eat at Chick-fil-a. These charges were made more than 20 miles from my house, all online, and one from XXXX XXXX which, presumably, has the address of the perpetrator. Admittedly, three legitimate charges were accidentally included in my original claim ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX ), yet all three of these purchases were made in person, and removed from my claim once I discovered the error. Still, after explaining the situation, and correcting the error, Bank of America refuses to credit my account {$340.00} for the fraudulent charges made to it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief