Consumer complaint received 2023-07-28
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX, and I am currently a college student at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX also known as XXXX. My bank account has been closed by Bank of America and this has been reported numerous consumer reporting agencies. I am pleading the case that I have been falsely accused of checking account fraud and that Bank of America had no right to close my account and inform other agencies that I committed fraud. Here is the incident that happened, I received a job offer through my college on XX/XX/XXXX and applied for the job through XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX page, The job was a charity work from home job, the Employers would give me money via check and with that I was to purchase items for their Charity organizations. The whole time I thought the job was real because I applied though my college. The scammers made me deposit 5 checks of various amounts of money, one of the checks for the amount of {$1100.00} actually deposited to my account and I go a confirmation from Bank of America of that happening, this gave me reassurance that this job couldn't be fake, so I tried to deposit the other XXXX and this is when Bank of America took serious actions. It turned out that all the checks were fake, The Scammer made me XXXX that {$1100.00} to a person and Bank of America allowed that transfer to happen and that amount did get transferred to that person, all of this just kept on giving me reassurance that this whole thing was real, I have proof of those transaction being made in my closing documents with Bank of America. Since this was not real money Bank of America charged me in debt of {$1100.00} and I did pay it off but yet they still reported me to various consumer reporting agencies. I blame bank of America for this because they should have informed me that the check that deposited to my account was fake, I never once was informed by anyone that what I was doing was wrong. I am only XXXX XXXX XXXX ; I really didn't know better. I will be honest know when I look back at this incident it all looks like a scam from the begging but please know that during the incident I had no clue that I was a part of a scam. Once Bank of America took authoritative actions, I knew the job was actually a scam. Bank Of America should have not closed my account and stated that I committed fraud, they really should reconsider their decision, they have the right to close my account but that can not state that it was because of Checking Account Fraud. They also did not have the right to report that I am in XXXX with them. I have reached out to the XXXX XXXX at XXXX and have let them know what has happened. XXXXXXXX XXXX  notified me that there have been cases in which fake jobs have been sent out to XXXX students through fake XXXX websites. Ever since this incident me and my college have been working very diligently to bring awareness to the students at XXXX after my incident. I have let my XXXX Police Department know about the situation, and they have provided me with documentation about the situation and have started to investigate the situation. The XXXXXXXX XXXX  program at XXXX are in support of my dispute and think that I have been misunderstood by my bank. I even reached out to the victim Advocacy program at XXXX, and they are even aware of the situation. All of the organizations and programs are in support for me, and they want to prove that I am innocent and that I did not by any means intentionally try to deposit altered check to commit fraud. Neither was I trying to break the bank policy. It might have looked like I was thinking of the incident, but it was falsely misunderstood by the bank. Each of My college organizations has provided a letter of support and proof that this job indeed was a scam and that I was not by any means trying to commit any fraudulent activity. They even support the fact that I was misunderstood by my bank and most importantly I was falsely accused of check fraud. Please look at each document and please reconsider the decision made by Bank of America to charge me with check Fraud and Please inform the Consumer agencies that I never committed fraud. I also attached proof of those checks being received by Bank of XXXX AND for deposit. I had no idea that this job I applied for was a scam at all, I even attached the letter that the scammer sent me directly about what origination they were and the Job description of what they expected me to do. I have no prior criminal record and no negative financial banking history. My whole entire family has Bank of America as their bank and none of them have negative banking history, I never did either until this whole incident happened. I was trying to move forward with my life by getting a job but that was not the case, now things need to get fixed because I cant live with the fact that I committed fraud when I actually wasnt trying to commit it. I have been trying very hard to get this whole situation fixed and hopefully you guys can hear me out and understand the situation. Like I said earlier, my college is backing me up with support in numerous ways and I have been working with them to make sure nothing like this ever happens to any student. I have learned a lot from this situation and hopefully you guys will understand this situation and see where I am coming from, please understand I never had the intent of committing fraud, and I was not trying to misuse my bank account by any means.

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 non-monetary relief