Consumer complaint received 2024-07-02
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem accessing account
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CA)

On XX/XX/year> I was a victim of a scam/fraud. I had applied for a personal assistant job through an email my university had sent me. I got the job and this man started sending me online checks of {$950.00} telling me to deposit these checks into my bank account. I had deposited 2 checks of {$950.00} to my bank account. The bank approved of one of the checks and the other check was on hold. I saw that I had {$950.00} in my account, so I started doing the tasks that he told me to do which was buy an apple card of {$500.00} and {$400.00} dollars to be able to send these gifts cards to foster care comes for children in need. On XX/XX/XXXX, I proceed to go to my local XXXX and purchase these gift cards of {$500.00} and {$400.00}. I send these cards back to my boss so he could send them out to the foster homes and he told me to keep {$50.00} for my troubles. The next day on XX/XX/XXXX, I try to purchase a drink at the vending machine and it says my card was declined. I found it weird since i knew i had money in my account, so I open my mobile banking account and I see that Im - {$920.00}. I start calling my bank which was Bank of America to ask what the issue was and why i owed {$920.00}. The lady who has helped me proceeds to tell me that the checks were fake and didnt have funds to them so they took the money back, and since I had use that money to buy those gifts cards I would have to pay {$920.00}. I told the lady that I was victim of a scam but all she said was sorry I cant help you. My mother and I have been calling the bank none stop trying to figure out what to do because we didnt have that kind of money on us to pay off this debt. The bank just kept saying sorry we cant help you, you used that money now you have to pay off what you owe. The bank said they would give us 90 days to pay off this money and they reassured us that nothing would happen to my account and to my record unless the 90 days went by and I still hadnt paid. I start working a lot at my restaurant job, picking up all the shifts I could to pay off this debt as fast as I possibly could so my record could remain clean and my account doesnt close. On XX/XX/year>, I got to the bank and paid off the {$920.00} I owed to the bank and now my account was above {$0.00} again. When I come back home I open my mail box and see two letter from the bank. The first letter that was sent on XX/XX/XXXX was reminding me I had 30 days now to pay off the {$920.00}. The second letter was sent on XX/XX/XXXX, saying my bank account had been closed and that they have reported me to XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I called the bank again that same day and asked why they would do this when at first they said I had 90 days to pay off that money, I paid it off in XXXXwo weeks now theyre saying they closed my account and reported me to these companies saying it could affect my ability to open an account at other financial institutions for up to XXXX years. The lady who responded said that I was a risky costumer and the bank had to report me to let other banks know that I was a risk to make business with, even though I had paid off all my debt and was a victim of fraud. The bank did not help us at all, so we filed a police report on all of this and we are still waiting for the process of that.