Complaint Review: Bank Of America

On July 24th, 2008, my Online Banking Service with Bank of America alerted me that several aspects of my Online Profile had been amended, including my contact phone number, mailing address. I contacted B of A Customer Support and reported this event. The alert emails were forwarded to the B of A Abuse Center. I was assured no security breach had occured. As a precaution, I changed my account details and password.

By August 2nd, $21,500 had been fraudulently removed from my checking account and my new account id and password no longer worked. I reported this to the Identity Theft Victim Support Line and was issued a case number. I agreed that my Checking and Credit Card accounts be frozen for the duration of the investigation.

I was then directed to the Online Banking Fraud section and an investigation was innitiated. I was resident in Belize, Central America and seeking permanent residence at the time. This placed constraints on my movements, since the process of applying for residency requires renewing one's tourist visa on a monthly basis until permission is granted.

However, I did FEDEX photocopies of the pages in my passport which proved my continued residency in Belize since June 20th, 2007. By January, 2009, the Online Banking Fraud investigation had confirmed the fraudulent activity. At that point, I should have been able to recover the stolen funds and the balance of my frozen monies.

However, I was informed that, 'somehow' the frozen accounts had been unfrozen and the remainder of my money removed. An additional, unauthorized account had been set up and $15,500 paid to Paypal. I was directed to the ACH Fraud division. An affidavit was mailed to me. The affidavit required I confirm that the payments were unauthorized.

The account the affidavit refered to was at no time under my control; nor had I set it up. I explained this to B of A and was told they accepted the account was fraudulently set up, but that I needed to sign the affidavit in order to recover the funds. An investigation by the ACH Fraud personal has now asserted that the transactions were authorized and B of A is not responsible.

At no time has B of A attempted to investigate my complaint in a cohesive manner. The Victim Support Center claims it has no authority to intercede on my behalf with the various business divisions. Rather, I have been pushed into dealing with department after department, while, all the time, B of A takes no steps to protect the monies I have managed to recover.

The facility with which the perpetrator of the fraudulent attack on my checking account has been able to open new accounts and un-freeze the frozen account suggests to me that this is an 'inside job', though, of course, I cannot prove this - nor accuse B of A of it.

Trisha
Belize City, Texas
Belize