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Bank of America (BofA) is reportedly refusing to cover the losses of a college student who lost her life savings to scammers.
The unnamed victim says that she received a text message that appeared as an alert from Bank of America telling her that $400 was charged to her account at a Walmart and that she had a pending wire transfer worth $9,400, reports the CBS-affiliate WFSB News.
After replying, she received a phone call from someone she believed was a Bank of America employee. The victim says she was instructed to green light a wire transfer, promising her that the funds would be returned to her account.
Matt Antonetti, the victim’s father, says he abruptly called BofA after hearing that her daughter transferred the funds, hoping that the transaction could still be stopped. But his efforts did not pay off, as his daughter’s account was wiped out to the tune of $5,050 the next day.
Antonetti says he spoke with BofA multiple times to recover his daughter’s funds.
“Yes, our daughter fell victim to a scam, but we immediately notified our bank, who we entrust with our money to do the right thing.”
But BofA denied Antonetti’s claim, saying that the bank “does not offer compensation in matters such as this.”
When WFSB News tried to intervene on behalf of the Antonettis, a BofA representative said,
“Consistent with federal law, we reimburse clients when a transaction is not authorized by the account holder. In cases like this, we attempt to recover the money from the bank that received the wire, but there is no guarantee once the client has authorized the payment. Oftentimes, the bank that received the funds informs us that the money is no longer in the account that received the wire.”
