Consumer complaint received 2024-03-11
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CA)

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX  around XXXX XXXX, I received a text from XXXX saying that my BofA had some suspicious activity and that I would receive a call from BofA to verify the recent activity. It said that there was an attempted charge of {$180.00} at a XXXX in XXXX, Texas and they asked me if I had authorized the transaction just as in other texts I had received from the bank. A call came " from BofA '' about 10 minutes later. The number they were calling from was the BofA number on the back of my debit card so I believed I was talking to BofA. " XXXX '' told me that someone had tried to get {$3500.00} through my XXXX account and she was going to help me get it back. She walked me through the steps in XXXX and I inadvertently sent a XXXX XXXX {$3500.00} believing he was the one who took it in the first place. The phone number the gal added to my XXXX account for this XXXX XXXX was XXXX. The gal " from BofA '' talked very fast and assured me we were going to get all my money back that had been scammed. XXXX said we had to work through facetime to make sure everything was accurate as she went through my accounts. While on the XXXX call the woman used 2 different XXXX  accounts : XXXX and XXXX. I am normally on the alert for this type of thing but I must have been very tired or she was just very good. There were two other people in our mobile home park who were hit by this same vishing scam in the same week our park manager said. 
After she did the XXXX XXXX, we went to XXXX XXXX and she set it up to connect to my bank. Thank heavens the bank declined the 2 transactions she tried to do through XXXX XXXX... one for {$2500.00} and one for {$2000.00}. Then she tried to get into one of my credit cards, but I think she got spooked by something I said and she was gone. I called the number on the back of my debit card and found out that someone had been " spoofing '' the bank 's customer service number making it appear that someone from BofA was calling. The lady from BofA apologized for what had happened and she gave me the number for the BofA XXXX department ( XXXX ) so that I could call and file a claim. I called them and explained everything and they opened up claim XXXX. My son also told me to file a police report which I did. XXXX XXXX returned my call within about an hour after I called him at XXXX. He took down all the information and told me there would be an investigation. Meanwhile, he said I should call the bank back and give them the police report number ( XXXX in XXXX XXXX XXXX ) When I called the bank back, they told me that I had to get a copy of the report and fax it to them so that they could add it to their claim. I emailed XXXX XXXX and requested a copy of the report but never heard back from him. I called the police station to find out how to get a copy and they told me that it could take up to 90 days for the investigation to take place and the report be completed. Today, XXXX XXXX, the officer went to check on the report and said that there had been nothing done on it as yet but to call back everyday to see what was going on with it. Meanwhile, I got a letter in the mail today from Bank of America telling me that they were unable to approve the claim I put in to them because I had initiated the transaction. I called the bank about it and told XXXX in Texas that the whole transaction had been done under false pretenses. She said that there was nothing they could do because they send out emails warning people about scams so they can't be held liable. When I first called BofA to tell them what happened, the lady I spoke with, I think her name was XXXX, said the scammers are always coming up with new ways to trick people and she hadn't heard of this one. She said they must have spoofed the banks number. If she wasn't aware of it how many other people are going to be tricked in this fashion? 

Thank you for your time and attention in this matter. We are devastated by this. My husband and I are XXXX yrs. XXXX and we are on social security. My husband recently received a small inheritance. The money that was taken was pretty much the last of it. My husband needs to have some extensive dental work done and we really need that money to pay for it. Isn't XXXX insured to cover scams? If there is anything you can do, we would surely appreciate it! Also, if you could catch these guys that would be so amazing!!! Thank you again.