Consumer complaint received 2023-08-22
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I am apart of a group of women who collect XXXX cups from all over the world. We pooled our money to purchase cups from XXXX  sellers for preorders. On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid 50 % deposits ( {$1500.00} ) to XXXX XXXX XXXX via XXXX ( XXXX ) because this is a presale meaning that I must pay the items 6 months in advance before the item is release. She ensures me that all the cups that are preordered will be secured if we paid the total amounts that we placed the orders. She sent me the invoice for {$3000.00} but I paid {$1500.00} ( including {$4.00} XXXX fee ) so I only had to pay {$1500.00} by XX/XX/XXXX. Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX sent me the tracking for XXXX cups, but only to find out that the tracking ( tracking # XXXX via XXXX ) was never updated because every week I have been tracking the package since she gave me and as you can see that tracking is false. It keeps saying Shipment Information Received, meaning that the package never left XXXX nor XXXX house. She told me that Im going to get an email from XXXX about the package and I never gotten any of those in my email nor text messages. And because of this, I have asked XXXX to cancel the orders and refund me my money except she never responded, however I have been hearing from her sister-in-law and her closest contact, she said that she refused to send refunds to anyone who annoys her so like me. Im getting XXXX  by XXXX. Before going through my bank, I have called XXXX to help me filed a chargeback for this transaction and they said that because it is out of 180 days, they cant do anything and was told I must file it with my bank. Even before XXXX, I have tried reaching out personally to XXXX by calling and texting whether thats through XXXX XXXX or XXXX, and she stopped responding to my messages in XXXX. Yes, to banks, this amount ( {$1500.00} ) is a small amount but as for me and my clients, this is a huge amount, and it is our hard-earned money that we used to pay to secure the cups. Since I have had no communication since XXXX, my family and I hired a private investigator to go to her address that I have on file, and the private investigator told us that the house looks beaten down like no one has lived there for over a year. I am not the only person that XXXX XXXX is scamming. There are so many people that is willing to help me to get the written statements from them to help me with my case that I will be attaching here as part of my case for you guys to listen and for my voice to be heard. On top of that, I also found out that XXXX XXXX has run away to her parents house in XXXX, XXXX and stopped communications altogether. We also filed a police report and the police sent XXXX letter to respond, and she hasnt responded to that police letters. You can see that I have taken many steps before reaching to my bank to assist me, trying to refund the money ( {$1500.00} ) that XXXX refused to send a refund. I hope you guys understand and reconsider my case again, but this time favor my side especially when you see the documentations that Im attaching you and you guys will realize that I am not the only person that she personally scam. Theres a group of us. You can see here that she promised many of her clients that she was going to refund on XX/XX/XXXX which was very well within XXXX 180 days scope to get the money back, but never did and this was the last conversation that we ever heard from XXXX XXXX. Thats the only reason why I didnt file a claim because she made an agreement with me to post and when I followed up with her, she disappeared. During that time, I went through a lot of things ( i.e. XXXX and XXXX  ) because Ive been a victim of harassment and racially profiled because Im XXXX from my previous employer and until this day, Im still trying to find a legal aid service / lawyer that can take my case on because they XXXX  my final paycheck on my last day of the resignation. I am attaching you guys the invoices, testimonies of how many people she scammed, plus the police investigation that we filed locally ( XXXX )

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