Consumer complaint received 2024-02-15
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (NC)

On XXXX at XXXX EST I received a text message from my bank from ( XXXX } It stated : BofA security team : Did you attempt a sign in on the mobile app from XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX in XXXX XXXX Texas. Reply YES/NO/HELP to block this attempt. 
I replied NO as i had not. 
They stated " Thank you for confirming '' The text had come from a number that my bank sent me previously with the same phone number that had sent a legit notice once before. 

At XXXX my phone rang from a numher XXXX I did not answer it. No voice mail was left. At that time i reverse looked up the number that called to see who it was. The result of the look up stated it was from Bank of America Credit Card Customer Service. So they called back and I answered the phone call. 
The man on the phone stated that he was from Bank of America fraud department and that some suspicious activity was noticed on my account and that they had denied the transaction. That someon was currently logged into my account that was not me. He asked some routine questions to verify my account, appearing to have all of my account information " on file ''. He told me the last 4 digits of my bank account number and the last 4 digits of my social security number to confirm. 
In my mind this was a legit call and that he had my account open in front of him. As he clarified the exact amount of money in my account- which at that time was {$9900.00}. 
He told me that since the person was logged into my account they were going to have to shut down my debit card and to safeguard my money, open a new account in my name. 
He then told me that since the {$3500.00} had been charged I needed to XXXX transfer {$3500.00} from my old account, to my new account ( so transfer my money from myself to myself ) I then was sent a XXXX notice in my online banking account under XXXX activity AND a text message from his supervisor an " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' here is the message : XX/XX/XXXX Completed Incoming Request XXXX XXXX XXXX - email XXXX XXXX {$3500.00} Request date : XX/XX/XXXX Pay by : XX/XX/XXXX Confirmation number : XXXX Message : XXXX Reversal Refund instantly Case # XXXX He confirmed that the case number was XXXX A few moments later i received this : XX/XX/XXXX Completed Outgoing Transfer XXXX XXXX XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$3500.00} Actions Transfer date : XX/XX/XXXX Confirmation number : XXXX Message : XXXX Reversal Refund instantly Case # XXXX He stated that the XXXX was a charge the person who was in my account had made and to get my money back I had to zelle myself my XXXX back. 

Still with all of my questioning him this looked legit. I got a text stating that I had approved the XXXX transaction and that it had gone through. 
At that point he stated that he needed to transfer me to his supervisor to confirm all of the information thus far and that they would help me " open a new account '' so that my money would be safe. He assured me that the XXXX was in my bank and was already in my new account waiting on the transfer of the rest of the funds in my account. 
The supervisor asked me to open a facetime link sent in a text. Her contact info was " XXXX This was at XXXX. She then told me that I needed to open my online banking app on my phone and that she would walk me through opening my new account. Of course, hitting " share my screen '' so that she could help.After all the steps she went through to add the XXXX user she sent a " bank of america XXXX payment code ... several of these were sent as the call progressed.The codes were XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Of course, she asked to verify the code number that was sent. The first code was from sending XXXX from myself TO myself and the last 4 were her trying to get XXXX to go through XXXX to put the rest of my money in my new account. 
She then sent a text with a link on it : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX And I was to click it. 
It was told to me that it was a verification link I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with this lady. And then she kept trying to transfer the rest of the funds to keep my account safe and it kept rejecting. she put me on a " brief hold '' to consult with her supervisor and the call dropped. 

I then IMMEDIATLY called the bank of america fraud number from the bank of america website XXXX and verified that was the phone number on the back of my card. This was at XXXX I spent 1 hour and 31 minutes on the phone with them going all over this and finding out that I had been scammed and that I had not, infact, sent XXXX from myselfto myself. And that the new account number i was assigned was XXXX was not legit. They helped me file a REGULATION E claim. 
I then started researching all this fraud and what to do to get reimbursed since this XXXX was obtained through fraud returned too me. The 2 case id 's for this are : XXXX and XXXX. And ended the call. 
Through my research, I called the bank today : ( XXXX ) to confirm the information I had learned as to what to do next to help with the banks investigation. I asked first if I needed a police report, no one had mentioned this previously on the phone. And said I would do this. I then asked if XXXX was part of bank of america, they said it was and so i confirmed that since they were, getting this XXXX returned to my account sould not be a problem since I am protected under REGULATION E correct? and he said it had to be investigated. I also confirmed wtih him that REGULATION E states : **IMPORTANT UPDATE** The EFTA distinguishes between intentionally providing access to someone, like a friend or family member, and access obtained by fraud or robbery. For example, an account holder who provides their PIN to someone falsely pretending to be a bank representative is protected by the EFTA. In one recent case, a bank argued the account holder authorized an EFT after an identity thief manipulated him into providing his bank information. The court disagreed and found the EFT was unauthorized because the account holder was defrauded.If you or someone on your behalf initiates the EFT for fraudulent purposes, and If the transfer was initiated by the financial institution or its employees. 

Experts say any situation in which access to a device was obtained through fraud would be covered under Regulation E. So if someone gets your password through a phishing scam and transfers money, Regulation E would apply. 

Experts say any situation in which access to a device was obtained through fraud would be covered under Regulation E. So if someone gets your password through a phishing scam and transfers money, Regulation E would apply. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX operating company, has now confirmed a policy change back on XX/XX/XXXX that requires XXXX XXXX bank and credit union participants to reimburse consumers for what it calls qualifying impostor scams He confirmed that this was actual information and that I needed to file a police report and bring them a copy of it. 


XXXX submission : Submission Successful Your incident report has been submitted and you will receive a confirmation e-mail shortly. Thank you for using XXXX Police to Citizen. 

Submission Number XXXX If you do not receive the confirmation email within a few minutes, please check your Spam or Junk email folder. 

Bank of America basically has told me " too bad and contact the person you sent the money to. '' Also, they contacted XXXX bank where the money was sent and XXXX said no they will not return the funds.