Consumer complaint received 2021-10-05
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (MD)

I am a victim of a bank fraud. The bank involved is Bank of America. There are more than XXXX transactions that are fraud, meaning I did not authorize any XXXX of them. 
It all started ( i.e., fraud transactions ) on the XXXX, when the perpetrators started transferring money from my small business checking account ( ending with XXXX ) to my personal checking account ( joint account, ending with XXXX, with my wife XXXX XXXX XXXX. The amounts involved where {$20000.00} and {$30000.00}. The {$30000.00}, however, got returned coz I didnt have enough balance on my account ending with XXXX to cover it. They also got access to my XXXX direct deposit account ( ending with XXXX ) and transferred {$5000.00} into the account ending with XXXX. All these happened on the same day on the XXXX. On the same day, the perpetrators XXXX transferred {$3000.00} to somebody called XXXX XXXX ( this name is mentioned on the XXXX transaction ) from my Business Checking account, ending with XXXX. I do not know anyone by that name and did not authorize this XXXX transfer. 
I logged into my account on XXXX and realized that something was not right. But I did not raise any alarm and transferred back {$20000.00} and {$5000.00} back into the accounts where they belonged. 
I called the branch office at XXXX and took an appointment with them for XXXX. Till now, I had not lost any money. 
On XXXX, I kept the scheduled appointment and met the representative XXXX at the XXXX branch. I informed her about these unauthorized transfers in my bank accounts. She said they can not do anything at the branch level and called the XXXX department of the bank and alerted them about these transactions. At the branch, we changed the username and the password of my online banking. I was assured that the account is on watch ( I dont know the process of how it works in the back-office in the bank ) and by changing the username and the password, it was safe. She also gave me the Bank XXXX XXXX XXXX and Claim departments phone number and told me to contact them for any suspicious activities. 
But when my wife logged back on the XXXX, just to check for any further anomalies on the account, we were shocked to see that the perpetrators first transferred {$19000.00} into our XXXX account ( ending with XXXX ) and then did XXXX XXXX XXXX transfers. Both the bill payments were in the XXXX XXXX mode. Both the XXXX XXXX amounts were {$10000.00} each. The Bill Payments were made out to XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. We absolutely have no idea who these people are, and we never authorized these XXXX payments. I immediately called the XXXX department of the bank and informed them about it. I told them, we didnt authorize any Bill Payments. They assured us over the phone that since we didnt authorize any of the payments and it is In-Process mode, they will put a stop on both the payments. But just to be sure and following up on these XXXX irregularities, we took an appointment at the bank for XXXX am next day. ( i.e., Saturday of XXXX ). We met the same representative again at the branch and she assured us that we did the right thing by informing the banks fraud department and we dont need to worry about it, and they will take care of it. We felt good and convinced that the bank will take care of this fraud. But on Monday, we logged back into the account to make sure that both the transactions were declined. But NO, to our shock both the XXXX payments were posted on our account for {$10000.00} each. That means, in spite of informing the bank XXXX XXXX department ) about this fraud, they still went ahead and issued XXXX checks, XXXX payable to XXXX XXXX and the other to XXXX XXXX. We immediately informed the XXXX police about it, and they wrote a draft report in the evening. The report # XXXX. 
We logged back into our account again and realized that our misery didnt end there. There were total of XXXX more Unauthorized transactions posted in our various accounts, mostly in and out of our accounts. The summary of these fraudulent transactions is below : XXXX. XXXX cash advance transfers from my small business credit card ( ending with XXXX ) into our joint checking account ( ending with XXXX ) for a total amount of {$4000.00}. 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX transfers to XXXX XXXX for a total amount of {$600.00} from our joint account ( ending with XXXX ). 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX transfers to XXXX XXXX for a total amount of {$500.00} from my personal checking account ( ending with XXXX ). 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX transfer to XXXX XXXX for a total amount of {$200.00} from our custodian account ( that we have with our daughter, the account ending with XXXX. 
That means in XXXX day i.e., on XXXX alone, with XXXX payments and XXXX Transfers from all these accounts, the perpetrators were able to siphon off a total of {$21000.00} from our Bank of America accounts. The fraud department of the bank was informed about it, and they couldnt do anything about it. Even they expressed surprise over the phone as to how could these illegal activities take place. 
In the span of XXXX days, we lost {$24000.00} to the perpetrators. And all these happened even after apprising the fraud department of the bank of these illegal actives. 
At this time, we very well realized that the bank is not capable of stopping any such criminal activities. They were just sitting and watching the money being transferred out of accounts illegally. So, we decided to take most of our money out of the bank and requested the bank to hide my personal credit card information from seen in the online banking mode. They told us to keep the accounts open because once the fraud claim is filed and resolved, they will transfer the funds back into our accounts. But is close the accounts, they will not be able to. This was very weird because the perpetrators already had our account information, and they were still transferring between accounts and taking money out of our accounts even when the accounts were on freeze. 
This ordeal didnt end here. Even after putting a freeze into my accounts and hiding all my credit cards from the online banking access, the perpetrators on XXXX, were successful in XXXX Paying {$1000.00} from my small business checking account ( ending with XXXX ) into my personal credit card ( ending with XXXX ). How could this even happen? My small business account ( ending with XXXX ) is already in negative, with red flag on it and already on freeze? With all these in place on my account, XXXX BANK, bank of America, wrote a check of {$1000.00} to my credit card account via XXXX XXXX? This is so unreal? This clearly shows the bank was sleeping all this time. They were not at all serious about these mis-happenings and illegal activities on my/our accounts, otherwise why would they write a check from the red-flagged checking account, not to mention from an account which is on freeze with negative balance on it to the customers personal credit card for an amount of {$1000.00}? 
After going through all this nightmare, we were expecting our bank with around 12 years of banking relationship, show some empathy and responsiveness, slapped my wife with a letter that said, they are denying our claims. On top of that they had an audacity to tell me on the phone that they are declining the fraudulent claim of {$600.00} done via XXXX. 
I dont trust my bank anymore. It was the only bank I had for years, and I trusted them most with my savings. Its all gone now. This is a criminal breach of trust committed by the bank with whom I had trusted my hard-earned money. The bank by its lackadaisical attitude has not only failed to discharge its duty and obligation during the period when the fraud was being repeatedly committed under its nose but also post-commission of the fraud by denying their liability under the law as the custodian/ safekeeper of my hard-earned money. I am stunned, shaken up and shocked beyond my wits by the banks unfair, uncaring, indifferent, uninterested approach during and post commission of the fraud which was committed during the supervision and within the knowledge of the bank. The bank is covering up its own deficiency in service and failure to stop the perpetrators from committing the fraud ( which is a bank robbery ) under their nose by denying any responsibility for the massive fraud carried out within their knowledge. The Banks shocking approach of blaming me for the fraud committed on me is shocking, unprofessional, and unethical beyond words. It is a shame that a bank of its stature should resort to such tactics in an attempt to escape from its liability towards me who had been its loyal customer for XXXX years. The fact that this huge fraud / daylight robbery took place with a supposedly big and powerful bank watching like a helpless witness, has shaken my trust in any financial institution. 
We are a simple, hardworking, and law-abiding middle-class family with XXXX kids. Trying to save up whatever we could for our childrens college funds etc. With this nightmarish experience and apathy shown by the Bank XXXX, we are humbly requesting your intervention to resolve the matter and give us justice which, till now, has been denied to us. 
I have also attached a few document proofs ( including unauthorized Bill Payments and XXXX transfers from my accounts ) to confirm my claims.