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UPDATE:
- Bank of America has been ordered by a federal judge to provide preliminary relief to Class Members whose accounts were frozen after fraudulent charges were made.
Jennifer Yick relies on unemployment insurance to survive the COVID-19 economic downturn. Unfortunately, Yick, a former real estate agent and property manager from San Francisco, had her last $400 stolen from her account because of unauthorized transactions.
Yick claims Bank of America, the financial institution in charge of administering the unemployment benefits where she lives, doesn’t do enough to properly protect fund recipients like her from potential fraud.
Yick filed a class action suit Friday against Bank of America in San Francisco federal court accusing the bank of being unwilling or unable to stop criminals from breaching its systems and stealing millions of dollars of Employment Development Department (EDD) benefits. Yick aims to represent a class of unemployment benefit recipients who have also found themselves in similar situations as victims of fraud.
Yick’s story may sound familiar to many Americans. Every day there is a new story of an EDD recipient who has gone to use their Bank of America EDD debit card, only to discover that the money in their account was suddenly gone, according to the complaint.
“It’s kind of like a nightmare. . . . Every day I’m wondering what’s more important. Do I get on the phone with the bank and try again so I have a place to sleep tomorrow, or do I just accept that I’m going to be on the street and focus on my job search? Because you can’t do both,” said one EDD cardholder and fraud victim, according to the complaint.
Bank of America has a “zero liability” policy stated in its own EDD cardholder agreement, to deal with potential fraud. However, Bank of America has failed to offer any assistance to the numerous defrauded EDD cardholders, instead opting to deal with the situation in a range of harmful ways including not answering the customer service phone lines for EDD debit cardholders, opening claims and closing them before a full review could be completed, crediting funds and debiting without any notice to the cardholder, not abiding by the legal requirements to provide provisional credit to EDD cardholders, and freezing EDD cardholder’s accounts unaffected by fraud.
The suit alleges that Bank of America violated California’s consumer privacy and unfair competition laws and the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act, and also accuses the bank of negligent performance of contract, negligent failure to warn, breach of contract, breach of implied contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of contract concerning third-party beneficiaries.
Customer service representatives at Bank of America have voiced their frustrations at being unable to offer real support to affected customers.
“We’re actually no longer allowed to tell them [defrauded EDD cardholders] a timeframe, because we have no clue . . . . Every day, I talk to 30 people with the same story. I just pray for them after my shift, honestly.”
A Bank of America spokesperson told Law360, “As California’s unemployment program faces billions of dollars in fraud, Bank of America is working every day with the state to prevent criminals from getting money and ensuring legitimate recipients receive their benefits.”
On May 19, U.S. District Court Judge Vincent Chhabria hit Bank of America with an injunction in the class action lawsuit. The order requires Bank of America to provide some urgently needed relief to Class Members who were frozen out of their accounts after the bank failed to protect them from fraud.
In the order, the judge cited a “strong likelihood of success” concerning the plaintiffs’ claims and extended certification of the Class to all benefits cardholders who contacted Bank of America to report fraud.
“The harm being suffered by class members is irreparable,” stated the order, which also noted that Class Members are in dire need of assistance after their unemployment benefits were stolen and then locked in frozen Bank of America accounts.
“Continued denial of these benefits will seriously hinder the ability of many class members to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads,” wrote Judge Chhabria in his order.
Details of the relief that will be provided to Class Members under the order will be hashed out in the following week, according to court documents.
Over the years Bank of America has faced a range of class action lawsuits. In Oct. 2020, a class action lawsuit was filed against the bank for ATM bank fees that consumers weren’t informed about.
Have you been a victim of fraud, or had unemployment benefits stolen from your account? Share your experiences in the comment section below.
The Unemployment Insurance Recipients Class Action Lawsuit is Yick v. Bank of America, N.A., case number 3:21-cv-00376, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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202 thoughts onBank of America Sued for Failing to Protect Unemployment Insurance Recipients
I reported fraudulent activity to BOA from my edd acct and they froze my acct then said i was committing fraud so Maryland unemployment froze my funds for 1 yr and 2 mos. I became homeless and lost my auto. I’ve never been refunded the stolen money and no one here is doing anything about it.
Bank of America allowed my California EDD benefits to be wiped out and stolen via unauthorized transfers of funds by someone in Corpus Christi, TX on three separate occasions in August 2021, September 2021, and October 2021. I filed claims to both the EDD and BofA’s fraud departments but still have yet to hear from them concerning resolve. I am requesting assistance regarding this matter please.
I would like to know how do I go about becoming a part of this class action against BoA? Or, is there one for Kentucky? The same issues just different state!
I had my entire pay for a 2 week period taken. I immediately reported it to Bank of America. Explaining the money was withdrawn in orange county. I haven’t been to Orange County. They froze my account for 5 weeks. I also received a letter saying that they determined it wasn’t fraud. But they contained to keep my account frozen for 3 more weeks after the letter. I had to contact EDD to send me paper checks for any future payments. But they couldn’t help me with anything that Bank of America had already received.
Hi I’m a single mother of a 10 year old who has autism. And $15000 was stolen from boa via edc. When I called just 1month after my account being opened for charges that were not recognized or made by me. In 9-28-2020 I called to inquire about the grad charges and in turn my card was canceled so boa could investigate what had happened 90 day investigation process. Well not till dec 12, 2020 when I called to check progress did they frez my account unknowing I was under the understanding that when my card was canceled my account was frozen. Well I’m April-1-2021 when my account was unfrozen and I was actually allowed to speak with someone I learned that all my money but $1,500. Had been stolen!! On October 1-2020-4-1-2021 . So I have filed every fraud report with authorities provided every document boa prepaid card services claims prople have asked for and they still refuse to reimburse me. Using pictures of me using the atm in June of 2021 2 months after my account was reopened, as proof I took out money from my account! The proof being insufficient and had been told they had received fraudulent calls pretending to be me with false information also having sent out a total of 5 cards in my name to an address I didn’t receive mail or have on file. During the time my account was suposed to be frozen. Due to all this I still fight with no change of them not reimburseing my money. And for witch I paid taxes on! my son and I have lost our home and vehicular umongst other things. Please help us!!!
Hello my name is Sabrina Whittle my account has been frozen since the beginning of 2020 and now I am still fighting with md unemployment for over 37 WEEKS of payment they still haven’t given me it caused me to become homeless while my mother was dying of brain cancer please help me
I also had about $15,000 stolen from my Edd account. I have been fighting this for over 7 months now. Bank of America states they are not liable even though their system was easily accessible and hundreds of others like me go money stolen from their accounts. How do I join a class action law suit?
Bank america stoled 22,456 from my edd
Yeah I’m still fighting they owe me $6,000 from two refunds that got stuck in their whole deposit because my account was frozen due to the EDD fraud freeze while I was supposed to be getting punished for canceling two Western Union transfers for my account because I couldn’t pick him up for having no ID and therefore I never got the refunds back on them cuz my account was frozen and so they got $2,9999 two different transfers and never refunded them to me because my account was frozen during that time because of the EDD free priest so really I didn’t get like half my EDD money because the bank kept it in is still keeping it and basically every time I call they laugh in my face and told me f*** you and I’ve gone through senators I’ve went through attorneys I’m even part of the yicks or this class action lawsuit and I still haven’t got my money
It’s been 2 years and it seems that no matter what I do or prove to them , they find something else to deny me or make excuses for why they can’t help me! It’s frustrating and I just want my money that was skimmed out of there ATM machine
Yes I was a victim of fraud on myBOA unemployment account. Over a year later I amstill fighting to get my money back. $2000 + they will not give back to me. Please have a lawyer get in touch with me.