Consumer complaint received 2023-04-20
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (NY)

Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I was at coffee shop in XXXX XXXX XXXX woking on my laptop. XXXX children came in, about XXXX  years old, they were selling candy, they said they were raising money for their school team. I told them I didn't have cash but they said they would take a donation via XXXX. I told them I could donate via XXXX. I asked for their phone number in order to send them money since I did not know them, one of the kids said he could enter the phone number in. I handed him the phone so he could enter the phone number. When they handed me the phone back it was at the blank main XXXX screen showing {$0.00} for me to enter an amount I want to send. I sent them {$5.00}. At this point there was no sign that any other transaction had been made or anything else done but a phone number entered. I was only aware of the transaction I made. 

I did not realize that they had sent themselves a XXXX transaction right before of {$1800.00} in the few minutes they had my phone. This was my entire paycheck. I had been paid that exact day. I only found out what had happened when I went to the grocery store later this evening and at checkout was told I had insufficient funds. Which seemed impossible since I just got paid. When I checked my account it showed overdrawn and I saw the {$1800.00} transaction. I immediately called the bank. My bank is Bank of America. The transactions taken from my account at XXXX. The bank was made aware of what happened within hours of it happening. I don't understand why this couldn't have been stopped or reversed at this time. They pend all other transactions for days sometimes and they can't do this for fraud I reported within hours? 

I realized that the cafe likely had security tapes so I went back, the manager confirmed and told me the tapes showed everything. I filed a police report so they could release the tapes. I have not been shown these tapes as I was told only the police could get them and the police could share them with the bank. I called Bank of America again and explained I had filed a police report, gave them the police report number, the police department phone number, the detectives phone number. I also sent this information to them via fax - one of the people I spoke to on the phone at the bank told me that supplementary information only appears until a fax is sent. I was not informed of this until about my 4th or 5th time calling the bank, meaning they had information I had shared on the phone that apparently wasn't even going to be considered and I wouldn't have learned about the fax if I wasn't persistent. I checked on my claim every day asking what more I could do. I wasn't even advised to file a police report until I called a couple of times, over a few days. Multiple people I spoke to at the bank said I could get temporary credit while they investigated. This never happened. I was also told by people I spoke to at the bank that because I did not send this transaction this is fraud. The people I spoke to was the fraud team, I was given the direct number that department. 

The bank denied my claim XX/XX/XXXX, because they said this transaction was done on my phone. I was told of the denial and that reason over the phone on the XXXX and only after received a letter over email dated XX/XX/XXXX. I don't understand how this is not considered fraud by Bank of America. According to the XXXX website they even say, " If someone gained access to your account, and stole money or sent it without your permission, this could be defined as fraud. Immediately report suspectedunauthorized activityto your financial institution. Because you did NOT authorize a payment, you are typically able to get your money back after reporting the incident. However the only people I can speak to about this is Bank of America directly not XXXX. 

The denial letter states one of the reasons for denial is : the transaction in question was completed using device that is consistent with previous valid account activity. I informed the bank from the moment I called them that this was done on my phone. They should have been aware of this from the moment my claim started. 

The second reason for their denial is : " that the transaction in question was validated using an authentication code sent to a valid phone number belonging to a signer on the account. I never received any authentication code or authenticated anything. This maybe was done by the people I did not know who had my phone for a few minutes but I never did this or saw or have any record of it. 

What is frustrating is that I have video proof of the incident and a police report and it appears the bank never looked at this or even took this seriously. This is an urgent situation for me. The money that was stolen was one of my paychecks and I'm only paid twice a month. One of those two pay checks is essentially all of my rent. I can not pay rent and my bills if this is not returned to me. There is proof of what happened and this has been brushed off by the bank. They have since told me they re-opened the case but I need them to take this seriously look at the videos, speak to the police and reimburse me my money. I have been with Bank of America for over a decade. 

There needs to be protection for this. There should be no reason that a major bank can not reverse or cancel a fraudulent transaction reported within hours of it happening. I need my money reimbursed.