BOA Phishing victim

[spinn]

My mother has an account with BOA Online. The fact that she has no idea how to use a computer does not stop her from checking her balance 22 times a day.

The other day someone set up an online payment to an HSBC credit card for $1000, which BOA immediately paid.

BOA is making her jump through all kinds of hoops including driving to the nearest BOA branch, which is 20 miles away to fill out a fraud affidavit, which they do not have at that location, so she will have to go back. They also want her to file a police report, but none of the local agencies here at the beach have any idea what to do and are not much help.

They claim they will return the money after 10 days if she does this.

BOA's fraud department is the worst. They did not even have her change her password, which someone obviously has, so she kept it the same for two days until i realized what had happened.

Are her bases covered assuming she fies a police report and submits their fraud affidavit? Their handling of this has been atrociuous.

[Enigma]

According to BoA's policies:

Quote:

If you think your statement or receipt is wrong or if you need more information about an electronic transfer (e.g., ATM transactions, direct deposits or withdrawals, point-of-sale transactions) on the statement or receipt, telephone or write us at the address and number listed on the front of this statement as soon as you can. We must hear from you no later than 60 days after we sent you the FIRST statement on which the error or problem appeared. Tell us your name and account number. Describe the error or the transfer you are unsure about, and explain as clearly as you can why you believe there is an error or why you need more information. Tell us the dollar amount of the suspected error. For consumer accounts used primarily for personal, family or household purposes, we will investigate your complaint and will correct any error promptly. If we take more than 10 business days (10 calender days if you are a Massachusetts customer) (20 business days if you are a new customer, for electronic transfers occurring during the first 30 days after the first deposit is made to your account) to do this, we will recredit your account for the amount you think is in error, so that you will have use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation. For other accounts, we investigate, and if we find we have made an error, we credit your account at the conclusion of our investigation.

A fraud affidavit, by law is not required. However, it will speed things up.

On the front of her account statement is an address. Send a letter CMRRR detailing the information requested above. This MUST be done in order to preserve her rights under the law.

She needs to go to her local branch, speak to the manager. Have them close her account and reopen another one to prevent any further fraudulent activity.

That being said, if they give her a hard time, tell her that she will get he legal counsel involved, she will notify the Office of Comptroller of Currency and her congress critters.

Next have her computer scrubbed for viri and trojan horses.

[spinn]

Thanks Enigma...unfortunately my mother is ignoring me and doing whatever BOA says.

Maybe it will work, maybe not, but to date they have her running all over the city and have not done anything yet.

I am out of it.....my mother would rather have it happen again, and I think it will since she has no idea how to use a computer, than listen to me.

[centex]

The current breed of management at BofA retained too much of the MBNA side of things...tending to fraud issues was never an MBNA high point or strong suit. To this day, despite police reports submitted multiple times, I *STILL* have to contend with a stain on the internal records at BofA from an incident that took place roughly nine years ago...

[jlynn]

Wow. I had an issue just today with a debit card. Wachovia/Wells Fargo has already issued me a credit.

[spinn]

I was involved in a class action lawsuit against BOA where they admitted to manipulating checks in such a way as to cause as many as possible to bounce, if you bounced one.

I told her to close her BOA account at that time and she did not. They told her she would get a refund in about two weeks from the date she fills out their paperwork, which they have yet to provide.

[Enigma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinn I was involved in a class action lawsuit against BOA where they admitted to manipulating checks in such a way as to cause as many as possible to bounce, if you bounced one. I told her to close her BOA account at that time and she did not. They told her she would get a refund in about two weeks from the date she fills out their paperwork, which they have yet to provide.

Spinn, make it VERY CLEAR to mom that if she REFUSES to follow the procedures I outlined she is screwed as far as getting her money bank.

[spinn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enigma Spinn, make it VERY CLEAR to mom that if she REFUSES to follow the procedures I outlined she is screwed as far as getting her money bank.

She has called them and their advice has been essentially "drive 30 miles to the branch and fill out a fraud affidavit in person" and when she gets there, they do not have one so they tell her to come back tomorrow.

I guess like some people, I simply can not talk to her about money. I can not even get her to spend 30 minutes a week learning how to use a computer, which she should be able to do since she checks her brokerage 10 times a day as well as her BOA account. She is a sitting duck for phishing and email scammers.

I really cant be involved any more, it has caused too many arguments. Strange that she trusts the BOA rep who did not even suggest she change her password, much less scrub her computer, but thats life.

[centex]

You can leads horses to a trough, but you cannot force them to drink...

(although I guess you *could* waterboard them a little bit to quench the parched feeling)