Consumer complaint received 2020-03-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: VA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Cashing a check

Complaint:
I have a checking account with Bank of America ( for almost two decades ), and I was the recent victim of a sophisticated check fraud scheme. Bank of America 's Check Fraud department denied my claim after a three month investigation. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, someone pretending to be me successfully cashed a fraudulent check for {$2100.00} at the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX using my back account. Because the check was fake, Bank of America deducted {$2100.00} from my checking account. 

Separately, on XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that someone had hijacked my cel phone account, transferred service to his/her phone, and used it to download the mobile banking app. I notified Bank of America Digital Services that evening, but they did not mention any successful, unauthorized/fraudulent activity ( or that the perpetrator had obtained a one-time authorization, which I didn't find out until XX/XX/XXXX ). Per their recommendation, I did notify XXXX of my concern that someone had tried to hack my account. 

I became aware of the successful fraud and missing {$2100.00} from my account on XX/XX/XXXX during a routine phone call to check my balances and promptly filed a check fraud claim with Bank of America. I also received a written notice with check images dated XX/XX/XXXX. I also filed a police report with the XXXX Police Department and provided the case number to Bank of America. 

The fraud claim process is extremely frustrating and not customer-friendly. From XX/XX/XXXX ( start of claim ) through XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America never contacted me for a statement or requested any information/clarification on any details. The investigation was conducted in a vacuum without any feedback with myself as the customer. I even contacted the Bank of America Check Fraud Department on multiple occasions for status, and was told that the investigation was proceeding and no further information required. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the Check Fraud Department ( and after being on hold for over an hour and a half ), I was informed that my claim was denied. Bank of America stated that since the check had a signature very similar to mine and the perpetrator used a one-time authorization code, they refused to honor my claim. The Check Fraud Department could not provide any information on how the perpetrator obtained a one-time authorization code. In hindsight, I suspect it was connected to my compromised cel phone account on XX/XX/XXXX. It is unclear whether the Check Fraud Department cross-checked any records with the Digital Services team to ascertain whether the one-time authorization was illegitimate. I also asked whether they checked the cameras at the XXXX XXXX XXXX branch and if they captured video of the perpetrator that could help with the investigation. Bank of America refused to discuss this and said they would not release any camera shots of the perpetrator without legal action on my part. 

Frustratingly, Bank of America 's notes from my initial fraud claim were also inaccurate and mistakenly mentioned that I provided account information to another individual ( which likely led to their conclusion that I did not take " ordinary care '' to safeguard my account ). This is a definite weakness in their process as it completely relies on the customer representative to accurately transcribe everything described by the customer during the initial call. Despite this, I was advised by a supervisor " XXXX '' that there was not sufficient evidence to overturn the original determination. Even though this was a very distressing moment for me, I did not feel the representatives showed any empathy for my plight. 

I believe the Bank of America Check Fraud Department did not do everything in its power to confirm whether I was the victim of check fraud. The fact that there was no feedback loop with me during the three-month process shows that this is definitely not a customer-focused process. The only refund I received from Bank of America was the initial {$12.00} return items fee.

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