Consumer complaint received 2022-06-06
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX - I received a call from a man who claimed to be the Chief Investigative Officer from XXXX XXXX State Education Department ( I am a XXXX XXXX and when I XXXX the name, it was a real person ). He called to inform me that he was in charge of investigating potential license violations and he had a large amount of data collected on me ( license numbers, practice addresses, etc ), so I believed the call was authentic. He said my provider stamp was found on a large sum of narcotics ( along with opened bank accounts in my name ) and indicated that the FBI was involved as well. I was the prime suspect, which meant that my XXXX  license would be temporarily suspended until further notice. He faxed me a seemingly legitimate document from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  on it about my temporary suspension, signed by the Executive Secretary. He connected us with the FBI agent on the case ( whose name was also a real FBI agent 's name ). The FBI faxed a form ( from DOJ ), they made me read each line of the fax ( with many citations, etc ) and explained each item. He said that in order to prove my cooperation with the investigation that the Federal law requires the suppliant to submit a refundable federal bond fee of {$12000.00}, which will be refunded in XXXX business days, to reinstate my XXXX license. I did not have that amount in my Bank of America account, so I was cleared to get a lesser federal bond fee of {$11000.00}. He said that as the banks can be also be involved in these events, that the money account couldnt say Federal Bond Fee ( or something similar to that ) as I am not authorized to disclose the investigation to a third party and it could tip off the true culprit. I completed the wire, but felt incredibly sick after getting home. I called the local FBI office- they informed me to call my bank right away to place a stop on the wire and to call my board of XXXX to make sure my license was in good standing. 

I called Bank of America within 4 hours of sending the wire ( when I called, the money hadn't even been deducted from my account yet ). I was passed back and forth between numerous departments - the first time I spoke with someone, the funds were still present in my account. The person tried to place a stop on the funds so they wouldn't leave the account, but he said he was having technical difficulties and I was transferred- where I was kept on hold for over an hour- during which time the funds left my account. The person I spoke with ( XXXX, I believe, from XXXX XXXX said it was great that I realized this in the time period that I did, because most people wait a few days, and that this specific type of wire transfer would take 3 days until reaching the recipient 's account. He said he couldn't guarantee it, but that the likelihood of me getting the funds back was very very high. He said to expect a document within 24-48 hours from BoA to complete information regarding the scam, but assured me that the stop request on the funds was already placed and that the money could not be accessed by the recipient. The following evening ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I called again because I had not received anything and XXXX had informed me that the system was under maintenance and not to worry. I was told to wait another few days. On XX/XX/XXXX I called again because I had still not received anything, XXXX ( TX ) told me system was still down but not to worry, that I would almost certainly get the funds back and that the recall request was already in place. The document I was waiting on should come in another few days. On XX/XX/XXXX I called ( still had not received any documentation ) and spoke with XXXX separate people and received conflicting information- XXXX, the second person, asked for a supplemental email and said to wait up to 15 days ( this was the first time I heard this amount of time ). The second person finally was able to get the scam victim acknowledgment form to me, which I returned right away. On XXXX I spoke with XXXX who said this could take a few weeks up to 30 days. As this was again a conflicting information, I tried to email management within Bank of America. A man XXXX XXXX ( who is/claims to be XXXX XXXX XXXX assistant ) called me back after receiving the email and told me it could take up to 60 days and was also very unhelpful. I, and my mother whose name is also on the account ), have tried calling since then and have not received any useful information. I called today, waited on hold for over an hour, and XXXX from AZ said the case is still open but will close after XXXX bank days ( no weekends or holidays ). They said there's nothing they can do if the bank never responds to the recall request. 

Of note as well, I called the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX the next day to make sure my license was in fact in good status, and the operator knew exactly what scam I was talking about before I told him ANY details. I have discovered that other medical professional friends of mine in other states have received numerous notices about this specific scam to prevent this from happening to their members. I feel like this needs to be very explicitly told to members on a routine basis.

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