Consumer complaint received 2017-06-14
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: VA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
In   XXXX   of this year (2017) I was the subject of a fraudulent scheme - perpetuated through  XXXX .  I needed a short term apartment rental in   XXXX   XXXX  , CA (for work) and I found one through   XXXX  .  I communicated with the supposed agent and signed a lease.  I transferred $ XXXX  from my Bank of America account to another BoA account provided by the fraudulent agent.

An hour after the transfer, when I had not heard back from the Real Estate Agent, I contacted Bank of America and asked them to stop the wire transfer.  Two things happened while on that call:

1. They confirmed that the wire transfer had NOT yet concluded but refused to stop it fro going through.

2. The BoA agent - His name was  XXXX  I think (in their fraud team) told me "Sir I am sorry - but it looks like you have been the subject of a fraud.  When I asked him how he could be sure, he said "We've had other bank customers complain in the past that they transferred money into this same account and did not receive the service for which they were paying".  

In other words; Bank of America knew or at least had knowledge of previous fraudulent activity on the account but still did not warn me (a 20 year customer with BoA) in advance of the transfer.  The bank simply allowed me to throw my good money into what they knew was a suspect account.

I contacted the bank on several occasions about this.  I even asked to file an Enterprise Complaint , but they basically told me that the error was mine and they closed my inquiry / compliant with "Customer Error".

I acknowledge that I initiated the wire transfer.  But my bank of 20 years did nothing to warn me that I was transferring money into a suspect account.  And then, when I opened an inquiry - they placated me on the phone with a bunch of "I am so Sorry" statements and promptly closed the complaint and assigned the fault to me.


Here are some additional details:

Total amount $  XXXX   Recipient Name:    XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  
Recipient Account #:    XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  
Date of Transfer:   X/XX/  2017 N ame of Fraudulent Realtor:    XXXX   XXXX   Telephone:  ( XXXX )  XXXX 


Here is a summary of the compliant I filed with the FBI:

Description of Incident Provide a description of the incident and how you were victimized. Provide information not captured elsewhere in this complaint form.

My plans required travel to   XXXX   XXXX  , CA for work. I was looking for a long term rental unit. I found this link through   XXXX   XXXX   I communicated with the person who had the listing. He called himself   XXXX   XXXX    (  XXXX   XXXX   . I have a record of all communication. I provided dates and agreed to the price. I transferred $ XXXX  from my Bank of America account to an account he provided. One hour after the transfer, when I had not heard from him, I became suspicious and called my bank to report a claim. I was told by the bank that the recipient's account had been subject of previous similar complaints. Now I knew this was a fraud. I contacted the person who had listed the property and asked to cancel the reservation. He wrote back and said, OK .. but I need your Drivers License to start the cancellation process. At this point I was not going to provide any additional information and did NOT give him my license information. He assured me there was no fraud and asked me to stop being concerned. Of course when I arrived in   XXXX   XXXX   I could not contact him. I went to the property and the office knew of no such arrangement. Please note: There are two names here:   XXXX   XXXX   - Is the person I communicated with. he referred to himself as an independent agent. He gave me a phone number ( XXXX )  XXXX  The other person -   XXXX   XXXX     XXXX . I don't not speak with this person. His name is on the account where I transferred the money.

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