Consumer complaint received 2024-09-21 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card — Card opened without my consent or knowledge
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
Subject : Complaint of total user fraud, credit card ( XXXX XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX  XXXX bank accounts. 
Dear XXXX Bank of America, I am writing to you as a bank account holder to report again a fraud that has significantly affected my account. I have been illegally deprived of my funds ( more than XXXX USD ), and have received no assistance by your Bank. In fact, I have received a communication that my claim has been rejected, which is evidence that a rigorous study of the case has not been made. 
I hereby request the review and exhaustive study, as soon as possible, of the electronic fraud in my account and credit card, which I have reported in person at your offices ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Fl. XXXX, United States ) on XX/XX/XXXX. On this occasion, I was informed that my contact details and information had been changed ( identity theft ) without my consent. This seems unusual and unacceptable to me, and this situation has serious consequences for me. I have been blocked out of my account since XXXX, with no online to the bank, no possibility of authenticating myself by telephone, let alone changing any of my profile and bank details. Therefore, it has been impossible to carry out any transaction or management in the bank this year. Bank of America claimed that it was a security requirement for me to be verified in person at a BofA branch with my current documentation ( passport and driver 's license ) in order to regain access to my accounts again via the web or by telephone. I have done so on XX/XX/XXXX. 
I hereby reiterate once again the events that have occurred : On XX/XX/XXXX my wife ( Co-owner of my accounts ) detected unauthorized movements between my accounts and payments to a credit card. I have immediately tried to contact Bank of America by telephone, to notify that as of XX/XX/XXXX all transactions on my accounts have NOT been authorized by myself or my wife ( joint account ). The transactions include XXXX transfers, transfers between my accounts, debit and credit card payments and payments and credits to the credit card ( CRD XXXX ) in excess of {$17000.00}. I must emphasize that the credit card ( CRD XXXX ) has never been requested, received, or activated by me in any way. I wish to clarify that at no time have I authorized these transactions nor have I provided my card or account information to any third party to carry out these transactions. 
On several occasions since XXXX, Bank of America operators have told me that my access to BofA by telephone or via the web was restricted ( because I could not receive the verification code via email because my email XXXX, the email associated with my account since its opening in XXXX, was full and collapsed ) and that I had to go in person to update my details and verify my identity in order to be able to access my account again via these channels. The same operators confirmed on several occasions that as I was blocked, I could NOT make any type of operations concerning my account and much less with credit cards which, moreover, had expired months ago. 
I have been living in XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX, which is why I have not been able to travel to the USA and update my details and documentation at their offices until XX/XX/XXXX, where I had the unpleasant surprise of finding out that all my contact details ( email, telephone and address ) on your platforms had been fraudulently altered. I find this unacceptable, as I had been required to physically present myself at XXXX of the bank 's offices in order to be able to do anything with my account, which obviously includes changing such sensitive data. 
Below, I indicate the unauthorized transactions that have been made from my accounts and to and from a card that, I repeat, I have never received, let alone activated or authorized for use : XXXX. All transactions made with the card ( XXXX XXXX ) as I have not requested its issuance to the bank, I have never received it and I have never activated it for its possible use. 

XXXX. Bank account transactions : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX : all transactions and operations in the period XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX are fraudulent and unauthorized. 
Advantage XXXX XXXX : All transactions and operations in the period XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX are fraudulent and unauthorized. 

IN SUMMARY : XXXX My access to online banking and telephone access had been blocked since XXXX, with no access to my accounts either online or by telephone. I was informed that the only way to unblock it was to go in person to a bank branch and update my data. This was because you were unable to authenticate me on several occasions, resulting in the temporary blocking of my accounts due to security measures. You also confirmed on XXXX ( telephone conversation must be recorded ) that I had NO active credit card. 

XXXX My credit card expired several months ago, so it is impossible to have made any payment with it. And I have not applied for a replacement or for a new card by any means. 

XXXX All my contact details ( email, telephone, and address ) associated with my account were fraudulently changed without my consent and without being notified by any means. 

XXXX The bank accounts XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX are joint ( shared ) with my wife and we are customers of Bank of America XXXX XXXX, basically the account is where our savings remain and we make very few movements per year as you can see. Through my wife 's XXXX account we observed that since XX/XX/XXXX movements were made between our accounts including XXXX and payments to a fraudulent and unauthorized credit card in my name. 

XXXX We have been living in XXXX for approximately XXXX years and I have not left the XXXX XXXX during that time, which is very easy to verify. I have not applied for, received, activated or used any BofA credit or debit card from XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX. 
XXXX In view of the fraud situation that occurred with my account, I had to take days off work and incur an expense of over {$5000.00} in order to travel to the USA and update my details and documentation, and authenticate myself in person, activate my account again and make a formal complaint to XXXX of your offices and to BofA 's e-fraud department. 
XXXX I have submitted a formal complaint to your offices for the fraud in my account and unauthorized credit card. They proceeded to immediately and permanently block my XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX accounts and canceled my credit card. As a result of this claim, I was awarded a large part of the amount stolen, but a few days ago I was notified that the claim did not proceed and I have been charged a debt corresponding to that amount to my new credit card. 
XXXX I have proceeded on XX/XX/XXXX via telephone to file again the complaint and claim before the BofA and to request the reopening of the investigation. If in any of the payments fraudulently made, there is some kind of associated documentation, it will obviously be a forgery or will not have a valid signature from me and it will be quite easy to prove that it is not authentic. 
In view of this situation, I request the following : XXXX. That an immediate investigation be reopened to review the above transactions on both the credit card ( CRD XXXX ) and my XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX bank accounts. 
XXXX. That I be reimbursed in full for the fraudulent charges and that any charges or fees incurred by BofA for the fraudulent charges on my new credit card be reversed. 
XXXX. Confirm receipt of this complaint and provide me with information on the next steps in the investigation process. 

I am enclosing a copy of my official identification documents and if any additional documents, help or information is needed to resolve this case satisfactorily, I am at your complete disposal. 
I am also enclosing receipts for notices filed with the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for identity theft and fraud in my bank accounts. 
I appreciate your prompt response and solution to this situation, as it has caused great concern and stress due to the misuse of my financial data and a great economic impact on my finances. 
I look forward to your prompt reply. 
Yours sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

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 monetary relief