Consumer complaint received 2025-01-16 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/XXXX Received a text with someone impersonating a BOA representative asking us if we pre-authorized a wire transfer in the amount of {$9400.00} from our savings account and also asked if we made a XXXX purchase of {$290.00}. We texted back, No. 
Immediately get a call from a female impersonating a BOA representative and she walks us through steps to reverse the wire transfer and the XXXX purchase. 

XX/XX/XXXX Another wire transfer of {$5100.00} from our checking account is wiped out. 

XX/XX/XXXX At this point, we know the money was wired to a XXXX XXXX  account. 
We filed XXXX claims with BOA saying we were scammed and robbed. The claim numbers are XXXX for the {$9400.00} and XXXX for the {$5100.00}. Total amount : {$14000.00} plus XXXX {$30.00} wire transaction fees that still havent been reversed and credited back to our account. While making the claims with a BOA rep on the phone, someone told us they would mail the necessary forms for us to fill out and send back. 

XX/XX/XXXX We finally received the forms to fill XXXX days later!!!! This was totally unacceptable. Immediately filled them out and turned them in. BOA XXXX said the claims were under investigation and everything was sent to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX heard a word in a month from BOA. I called the BOA XXXX department and someone told me the {$5100.00} claim was moved from investigation to collection. The other claim was still under investigation with XXXX and could take up to XXXX business days. We were told since the claim had been moved to collection, this was a good sign we were getting our money back by XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX Still not a word from our bank. I called the BOA fraud department again and someone told me both claims were now in collection. The BOA rep said both claims are in the final stage before we get our money back. They said it could take up to 45 days. At this point, it had been 34 days. 

XX/XX/XXXX. I attempted to get in touch with the XXXX Fraud Department to explain our situation because at this point I dont believe our bank is doing anything. I was denied being transferred to fraud. 

XX/XX/XXXX Still nothing from BOA. I filed a complaint against BOA with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because you should be embarrassed for how this has been handled. It took yall XXXX days to get us the forms to fill out to file claims against the person that stole from us. The other reason is there was XXXX contact or updates on these claims the entire time this has been going on. BOA reps refused to let me talk to the fraud analysts that were handling these claims with XXXX. Your communication with us, the customer, has been awful to say the least. Its practically impossible to try to get in touch with someone in the fraud department, and every time its a different person that has no idea what is going on. Its practically impossible to actually speak with a BOA rep in a face to face conversation about losing all our money. In my opinion, you guys didnt really help at all. Its quite shameful. If I went through the BOA drive through to cash a check and the teller gave me {$14000.00} extra by mistake you guys would be all over me calling me and emailing me to get that money back. I guess its not the same when it isnt your money. 

XX/XX/XXXX I emailed the XXXX security team and explained the situation. I was told by a security team member that someone will definitely contact BOA. I stressed the urgency in contacting the BOA fraud department. She said she understood and someone would reach out. I emailed another security team member. She also assured me someone with XXXX would reach out to BOA about this. 

XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from a BOA rep. He tells me the claims have been closed and that is it. He told me NO REPLY WAS EVER RECEIVED FROM XXXX. How is this possible? He said XXXX never reached out about these claims. Where XXXX confused is how did the claims go from under investigation to collections and you should be getting your money back. I asked the guy on the phone if someone in the fraud department picked up the phone and called XXXX to get a reply and he said XXXX not how we do it. We just mail them the information. This is ridiculous. Why didnt someone who was supposed to be looking out for usus being your customers, and make them respond????? Oh, it isnt your money. If it was your money you wouldve made sure you got an answer from someone. 

XX/XX/XXXX Received XXXX letters from BOA saying the claims were closed. The first lines read like this : XXXX, we previously notified you that, as a courtesy, we would attempt to recover funds on your behalf. 
A courtesy??? Youre saying you did us a favor??? This is your job. We trusted you with our money. The attempts you made to recover our money is a joke. You didnt even talk to XXXX. No one in the BOA fraud department actually talked to someone with XXXX as stated by the man that called me yesterday. I would love to see the actual proof and attempts that our bank made to recover all the money that was stolen from us. You are more than welcome to email me the transcripts of whatever attempts you made. 
The letter then goes on and on about how to prevent this from happening. In the 14 years weve been BOA customers, we have never wired any money, and then all of a sudden almost {$15000.00} is wired. That isnt suspicious activity on your end??? During this time frame we stopped for gas on a normal route we frequently travel and my debit card gets declined when we stopped for gas due to suspicious activity. Make this make sense. 

Moving forward I will continue to fight this. I will not let this go because you said the claims are now closed. I will continue to call the BOA fraud department as well as the XXXX security team to get answers. Because the claims are closed, does that mean youre done trying to do us a favor? Do you have any suggestions? I mean this is your apparent area of expertise? Should we file a lawsuit, press charges, anything else? Do you have any other suggestions besides making sure your password is strong?

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation