Consumer complaint received 2015-05-20
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (NY)

To Whom It May Concern : I would appreciate if you can shed some light on an unfortunate situation that happened to myself and family. On XXXX XXXX, 2015, I came upon a home based job opportunity through my email. The person presented themselves as a " XXXX XXXX '' a supervisor from XXXX surveys. He explained that the company was hiring in my area for a XXXX XXXX opportunity. All I needed to do was to fill out an application with my address and phone number. I figured it to be a great opportunity for me to make some extra cash. I am a mother to XXXX XXXX children and knew this would be convenient for me to stay at home and work. 
I sent the application and XXXX days later, I received an email from " XXXX XXXX '' stating that I was hired and to confirm the email and then he would send me a priority mail packet of my instructions for the XXXX survey assignments plus a cashier 's check that I would need to cash which included my payment for the work done. The packet came within XXXX days, and part of the instructions was to deposit or cash the check at my bank " Bank of America. '' I decided to cash the check at the bank teller so as not to risk the company looking into my bank account information. I cashed the check at the teller with no problem whatsoever which gave me confidence that the check was actually a good check. The check was for XXXX. I needed to wire XXXX to XXXX XXXX and observe the customer service there and also XXXX through XXXX XXXX and do the same as well. XXXX was for my pocket and XXXX went toward purchasing a printer at XXXX which was the first survey I needed to complete. 
Long story short, I became a victim of a scam as you may have caught on by now. I realized my mistake when researching on the internet and hearing the stories of others who have been victimized. Soon enough the check came as fraudulent. My husband called me the morning he tried to retrieve his check from work since he gets direct deposit and found that he could not withdraw the money. We live on a check by check basis. The last thing I ever wanted to do was to put my children in harm 's way by cashing a fake check. The devastating blow came when Bank of America ( whom we have been loyal customers to for many years now ) swiped his entire check plus XXXX we had in that account. When I immediately found out that the check was fraudulent I called the bank to let them know immediately everything that had happened. They connected me to the fraud department and I explained the situation to them. They expressed that although I am a victim of an online scam unfortunately, this was a non -fraud claim since my name was written on the check and I had cashed the check through my account and that unfortunately I was liable to pay the entire XXXX. They mentioned that they would work out a payment plan but that they could not give my husband back his direct deposit payment from his job of XXXX. I explained to them, " So you 're telling me that even though we have been faithful customers to you for many years, you are going to garnish his pay anyway? '' I made a big fuss and the analyzer " XXXX '' at the fraud department said that he would speak with someone else at another department and would get back to me. XXXX called back and said that the funds would be available in our other account. Which they did. My concern is that we are now liable for this money ... we simply can not afford it and I honestly believe that the bank ( which is pretty financially healthy ) would have been able to pardon this mistake made on my part. Additionally, the treatment we received in them so abruptly garnishing my husband 's check was very unnecessary. Is there any way you can help? I believe banks are capable of holding on to checks until they clear and especially when our account was nowhere near XXXX.