Consumer complaint received 2016-11-08
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Money transfers
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
We made a transfer to a " Company '' thru our account at Bank of America using their online banking submission form. The Account name is a mandatory field along with the routing number field and account number field. However, since our email and transfer instructions were hacked prior to sending the money, it ended up in a fraudulent account that had nothing to do with the company name we sent it to! Since the field is mandatory, yet is n't being checked, Bank of America is complicit in the fraud and is actually deceiving their own customers in thinking the money will end up in the proper account! If the Name AND the account number had to match, a huge percentage of fraud could be stoppped. But, the bad guys know the name is never checked anymore! But the field is mandatory or kicks back an error if that field is not filled out. The transfers were to a corporate vendor that we send money to every 2 weeks. The first transfer was over XXXX, the second transfer was over XXXX. Once we realized the fraud we contacted BOA fraud department. They stated that they would issue a reversal of the funds from the other banks. BOA personnel would not give us their last names even though they were OUR bank. They also would not give us a letter or email as proof that they were issueing a reversal! We had nothing besides our own personal logs of communication to them that they were in fact issuing a reversal. We immediately contacted the FBI. We were told this was the latest scam. That theives were intercepting wire and transfer instructions that are being emailed. They then hack the email and change the account number and routing number on the instructions BUT, they leave the name it 's being sent to untouched! So it appears your sending the money to the proper person/company, but it 's going into the fraudulent account! The FBI steps in to help recover the more than XXXX that was stolen. In the meantime we get XXXX letter from BOA that there 's " nothing they can do about recovering the money ''! The FBI calls us and asks if we contacted BOA to do the reversal. We said we did and gave them the " first names '' and telephone numbers we called at BOA. The FBI verified that BOA NEVER issued the reversal The FBI contacted XXXX banks to freeze the funds and contacted BOA on our behalf to initiate the reversals. We received most of the money back but lost about XXXX. Bank of America did NOTHING to help us. Without the FBI, we would have lost it all. Bank of America also will not help us in identifying who owns the accounts that stole our money. They said we have to get a subpoena to find out who stole the money and go after them ourselves which we intend to do. We will also be filing suit against BOA for deceptive business practices as well. BOA is assisting in the fraud by making their customers feel secure that the money ends up in the Account NAME they are sending it to but making that field a mandatory field and sending you a safe pass code. It means nothing. We actually made a video which we intend to put online which shows the actual steps and required fields. Furthermore, as proof, we sent money to a fake name and it ended up in the account the next day! Here 's another kicker ... .the FBI said there 's so much of this going on they do n't have the time to go after all these people!! I could n't believe it. I used this analogy to the Agent at the FBI ... I said " if I walk into a bank with a letter to the teller to give me the money in the drawer, no Gun or anything, and I get 'X ' dollars, ( say XXXX or so ), they have helicopters, swat team, state and local police looking for me..yet if someone steals XXXX, you do n't have time? '' The FBI agent stated " sad but true ''.

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 monetary relief