Consumer complaint received 2023-12-26
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (AK)

RE : Claims XXXX, resubmitted as XXXX Claim ID : XXXX Claim amount : {$1500.00} Initiation date : XX/XX/2023 Merchant name : XXXX Transaction Date : XX/XX/2023 Transaction Ref. # : XXXX Bank of America Fraud Investigators, I am writing to try to resolve a fraud claim on my account that BOA has twice denied. 
I traveled to XXXX California the week of XXXX XXXX, 2023. I rented a car from a company called XXXX XXXX  XXXX at the XXXX XXXX airport for one week. I returned home to XXXX  on XX/XX/2023. On XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my XXXX  XXXX XXXX credit card statement and noticed a fraudulent charge for {$1500.00} from a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I never authorized this transaction nor did any business with this merchant. I was never in XXXX XXXX during by travels. I immediately reported the fraudulent transaction to Bank of America, put a hold on the payment, and BOA canceled my card. 

I made several purchases with my credit card on XX/XX/XXXX that posted to my account on XXXX XXXX. I did not lose my card. The fraud could have occurred at any of these vendors, or by other means, but there was one instance that stood out in my mind as the most likely source of the fraud ( described below ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, on my way to return the car to the rental car agency at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, I stopped at a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for fuel. It was a full service station and the attendant filled the vehicle then came to the driver window for payment. The attendant told me the amount ( approximately {$60.00} USD for a full tank of gas ) and then took my credit card to run in her hand-held VISA machine. After a minute, she told me that VISA wasnt working, that the transaction was denied, handed my card back to me, and asked if I had a different type of card like a Master Card or American Express that she could try. I told her no and paid for the gas with cash. My hunch is that this is when the fraud occurred. 

I reported the fraudulent transaction to Bank of America the next day, immediately upon learning of it, and gave the information for the gas station to the BOA associate. If you XXXX this gas station, there is a long list of similar scams reported on a number of websites including XXXX XXXX  and XXXX. Additionally, XXXX is supposedly a car rental company, but they do not have any sort of website, address, or other business information available on the internet. This should have raised some red flags in BOAs investigation. 

Shockingly, on XX/XX/2023, I received a letter that BOA had denied my fraud claim, paid the false merchant, and is holding me responsible for the charge because, supposedly, my card was run through a machine, somehow making it a legitimate charge. This is altogether wrong. 

I called BOA again on XX/XX/2023, to dispute this decision and was informed that none of the details I had provided in my first report had been submitted with my claim. I gave XXXX, the second associate, the same information that I provided the first time I submitted a claim. He assured me that this was a very common type of fraud and that it would be resolved once the details were properly added to my case. He told me that because the merchant was in XXXX XXXX and that I was never in XXXX XXXX, it would further support my claim of fraud. 

On XX/XX/2023, I received another notification, this time through the BOA online banking website, informing me that my claim had again been denied again for the same reason, because I had given the gas station attendant my card. On XX/XX/2023, I called BOA to appeal the decision, elevate my complaint, and file a claim for a third time. On XX/XX/2023, I called BOA again to ask for copies of the information provided by the merchant to validate their charge. 

I have some questions that I would like BOA to answer : Why didnt a {$1500.00} charge from XXXX XXXX trigger a fraud alert? 
What steps did Bank of America take to investigate whether the merchant was legitimate? 
What burden-of-proof was required of XXXX before BOA paid them {$1500.00}? I understand there is no phone number available. There is also no website available for this supposed car rental company. What services did they claim to have provided? ( If helpful, I can provide documents for the car I had actually rented from XXXX XXXX  XXXX. ) Did BOA check to see if there have been other fraud claims against this merchant? 
Why is the amount of the claim on the claim status letters double the amount of the fraudulent charge ( {$3100.00} )? 

Following the logic used by BOA to deny my claim, if I hand my credit card to anyone, such as a gas station attendant, waiter, or rental car agent, I am implicitly authorizing them to charge any amount to that card. This is absurd. Had BOA done even the smallest amount of investigation, they would have confirmed that XXXX is a scam and would not have sent payment. If XXXX was a legitimate merchant, they would have contacted BOA to provide proof of the transaction or to file a claim of their own. But instead, BOA has rewarded the scam artist and penalized a loyal customer of nearly 30 years. This is not only extremely disappointing, but also puts me in a position of financial hardship. Additionally, it encourages this type of scam by rewarding the scammers. 

I would like BOA to take responsibility for their mishandling of this claim and to refund the {$1500.00} that they charged me.