Bank of America Refuses To Reimburse Customer After $38,000 Disappears From Account: Report

A Bank of America customer says the lender repeatedly denied reimbursement after thousands of dollars disappeared from his account in the middle of the night. In September of last year, $38,000 was stolen from an account that Justin Chan jointly held with his sister, reports the ABC-affiliated news station KGTV. The theft happened after a SIM-swapping attack, where a hacker managed to convince Xfinity Mobile to port Chan’s cellphone number to a new device. With access to two-factor verification codes, Chan says the hacker changed his login credentials and initiated three outgoing wire transfers. “All these instances occurred within a three-hour period starting at around 2:00am, 3:00am. It was very fast.” Chan reported the fraudulent incident to Bank of America, but says the lender refused to reimburse. “ Our investigation found the transaction in question was confirmed valid by you via (SMS/MMS) text message response or speaking directly with Fraud Detection Employee.” Bank of America later reopened an investigation in November but still denied Chan a refund. Chan also presented a letter to Bank of America from Xfinity Mobile saying that his phone number was “likely accessed by a third party as a result of fraudulent activity” but the lender did not respond. “ I didn’t think I would get the money back. It was a very tough situation to begin with. Bank of America was being difficult.” KGTV says things took a positive turn after the news team continued to press Bank of America on the matter. The lender reimbursed $20,000 and the trading platform Robinhood, where the remaining $18,000 had been sent, refunded the remaining funds. Generated Image: Midjourney