Consumer complaint received 2024-06-09
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CA)

On XX/XX/2024 I received a phone call from the number XXXX. This was the XXXX of XXXX call that day from a person named XXXX claiming he was from Bank of America 's Fraud Department. He informed me that there was potential fraud on our business account and would like to confirm that with me. He asked if I issued a wire for {$5100.00} to a XXXX XXXX. I didn't recognize that name personally and confirmed we do not have any clients under that name. So I told him I did not authorize that. He said, " I assumed so, glad we can take care of this for you. '' I was getting ready for work and he wanted to go over more potential fraudulent charges, but I did not have the time. So I told him we could finish another time. This was @ XXXX that afternoon. He called back @ XXXX reintroduced himself and said if we could go over the remainder of the potential fraud charges. He cycled me through different prompts, sending me text messages of a 6 digit code asking me to confirm the code. Similar to when I log into my own bank. He then asked me to log into my bank through a bank of america portal. The text message was from a phone number : XXXX with a message : FREE MSG Fraud Dept BofA " Please click on the secure link below to complete the verification with a link to : XXXX XXXX XXXX When I clicked it I was sent to a website with the Bank of America logo XXXX When I tried to auto fill my username and password it would not work. So I eventually found my password, logged in. We proceeded to go through more transactions in the bank account, determining which were authorized and which were not. While we did this, he said, '' It's not good that you have not received any text message notifications of these large charges. '' This made sense because we normally get texts from our bank to approve suspicious activity and we did not for this {$5000.00} charge. He proceeded to say we would do a mock test to make sure we would receive alerts in the future. He asked if other people had access to the log in and who would receive the texts. Then told me to have each member say yes when getting the mock tests of the fake charges. The texts came through for larger amounts. The first was @ XXXXXXXX XXXX for {$15000.00} The next was for {$12000.00} and the next was for {$5100.00} He assured me and my business partners that it was to insure that any large transaction we would be notified for before its authorized and went through. My wife checked our business bank account and noticed in both studios our accounts were completely drained, we had no money anymore. The agent on the phone assured me this was normal and during a process like this it was a glitch in the system and that by Monday all funds would be restored. We have since made claims for each of the 7 wires and been denied. We have since appealed all denials from the claim and those have been denied. Upon speaking to the fraud department yesterday we were given the name and address to both recipients of the wires. This is highly unsettling for numerous reasons. One because both addresses are less than 8 minutes from our home, so it feels like we were targeted and it isn't a random act of cyber scam. Two because we have never sent or received a wire transfer in the XXXX years of doing business, so this clearly was wrongdoing. Three, We have never had any previous interaction and have no business with said recipients, and yet Bank of America has done nothing to resolve this. The address to XXXX XXXX is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX He was the recipient of the Wire transfer in the amount of {$12000.00}, {$13000.00}, {$33000.00}, & {$41000.00} The address to XXXX XXXX is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX She was the recipient of {$5100.00}, {$12.00}, XXXX, & {$15.00}, XXXX Please assist us so we do not have to close our business. If you can not help us with the people who stole our money, please hold Bank of America accountable so they may re-emburse our account and continue to stay in business