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UPDATE:
- On April 6, 2021, another class action lawsuit was lodged against Bank of America in California federal court claiming a consumer could not access her unemployment benefits through the bank. Bank of America has since responded, noting that it has added customer service agents to answer phone calls and investigate claims in a statement to reporters.
Bank of America’s handling of unemployment benefits is being challenged by a growing list of plaintiffs in at least two class action lawsuits.
A new filing out of California claims the bank isn’t protecting the unemployment benefit accounts it is in charge of and is failing to make it right for the thousands who’ve been frozen out of their money.
Christoper Mosson is the plaintiff in the latest class action lawsuit filed against Bank of America. He’s arguing negligence and breaches of contract, among other things, after his Bank of America unemployment account was hacked and drained of all its money last year.
The Oakland resident noticed unauthorized charges on his account in December and called Bank of America’s customer service to report the fraudulent charges, according to the complaint.
Bank of America froze the account, leaving Mosson unable to access the remaining funds— eventually returning the entire balance back to California’s unemployment department.
Mosson says Bank of America handouts debit cards to unemployment claimants that don’t have a chip, leaving them exposed to skimming and other methods hackers use to steal private financial data.
This breaches Bank of America’s policy which promises to provide products that are safe to use, Mosson alleges in the complaint.
Furthermore, Mosson points to Bank of America failing to uphold its liability guarantee by leaving him without any money during the ordeal.
Mosson argues he isn’t the only person having to deal with the issue. He quotes Bank of America customer service representatives in the class action lawsuit, who admit to hearing about the issue regularly.
“We’re actually no longer allowed to tell them a timeframe, because we have no clue,” the representative said referring to refunds of stolen money, the complaint contends. “Every day, I talk to 30 people with the same story. I just pray for them after my shift, honestly.”
Mosson further alleges this lack of communication in the complaint. He says many Bank of America unemployment account holders were never notified of the fraud.
Rampant fraud led Bank of America to freeze approximately 350,000 unemployment accounts beginning in October, according to this new class action lawsuit.
The issue was the topic of the state lawmakers in a hearing held Tuesday, ABC 7 News reports.
Mosson is seeking to form a class of members who’ve had or currently have a Bank of America unemployment benefits account.
Formally, the class action lawsuit accuses Bank of America of negligence and breach of contract, in addition to violating the Electric Funds Transfer Act and California’s Consumer Privacy Act.
Just last week, a separate class action lawsuit with similar claims was filed against Bank of America. The named plaintiff in that case reports $400 was stolen from her unemployment benefit account.
Another consumer who says her unemployment benefits were hacked has filed a class action lawsuit against Bank of America. In this class action, filed in California federal court in April, San Diego resident Deaniesha Lawrence claims she and others were left with “pennies” in their accounts after fraudsters made off their unemployment benefits.
This most recently filed class action lawsuit claims that Bank of America used “antiquated” technology for unemployment benefit recipients. It also notes that, even though the bank has removed the freeze it put on accounts with reports of fraud, it has not taken any action to reimburse the stolen funds. Lawernce claims that the bank “made it nearly impossible for those in need of benefits to receive their much-needed aid.”
In response to this latest class action lawsuit, a Bank of America spokesperson told Law360:
“We have added thousands of agents to answer phone calls and investigate claims for the areas of the program we are responsible for and, as a result, our average wait time for callers has dropped dramatically. While the vast majority of unemployment fraud is committed by those filing false applications, when fraudulent transactions occur on benefit cards we review those claims and restore money to legitimate recipients.”
Do you hold an account with Bank of America? Have you ever had issues with your Bank of America unemployment accounts getting hacked? Let us know in the comments below.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit are P. Terry Anderlini, Joseph M. Goethals, and Jackson D. Morgus of Anderlini & McSweeney LLP.
The Bank of America Unemployment Account Hack Class Action Lawsuit is Mosson, et al. v. Bank Of America, N.A., Case No. 3:21-cv-00743 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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204 thoughts onBank of America Faces Another Unemployment Benefits Hack Lawsuit
I’ve been waiting for over two months for ANY sort of answer from BofA and still have nothing. The first week of March I had $5,000 withdrawn from my EDD BofA account, and only on the fifth day after five consecutive $1,000 withdrawals did my card finally get frozen, which I realized when I went to spend $20 at my local Target. My card got declined and I tried again with the same outcome, only to check my account and see it almost completely drained. I called BofA right away and they told me claims was closed for the day and to call again in the morning, so I did. I got passed around multiple people for almost 3 hours and then finally finished my call to file the claim. A few days later I get a letter in the mail saying my claim had been closed because they thought it was fraudulent– closing date being ONE day after I had initially filed. I went through all the necessary steps to unfreeze my accounts, verified my Identity with the state edd and everything, and still have nothing. I called to reopen my claim, which I was told had been done, only to have zero updates on everything. So I called again a few days ago to see what was going on, and the gentleman on the phone tells me my claim hadn’t been reopened yet and it was in the “reconsideration to reopen” process. The fact that BofA isn’t really doing anything about this, on top of the fact that it literally says they monitor and protect against this sort of stuff on more than one of their contracts/documents, is ridiculous. People like me are relying on this money to get things taken care of, and for a bank being “of the people” it certainly doesn’t feel that way.
I would love to know how I can participate in this Class Action suit.
I too had money taken out of my BOFA EDD account. It was also done at a Wells Fargo atm while i was at work. Suspended the card right away on app then called BofA to report fraud and was made to feel like I did something wrong. Cancelled card and sent me a new one… however I just received a letter dated the day after i called to report fraud closing claim and blocking access to my funds remaining in my account. I have since received a deposit from EDD but have no way to access with BOFA having a block on my account. Bad enough EDD is more than 8 payments behind on my claim, when i do get a payment, someone fraudulently takes it and no help is given by BOfA. This is ridiculous…I need my money in a bad way and BOFA nor EDD seems to care at all. Please help.
i found out last week that the funds i have in my b of a edd account are gone. I filed a claim right away and today i received a letter dated a day after i filed my claim that says the claim has been closed and that i need to call them again to request that the claim be opened again. All in all $3006.50 were taken and now after reading all of the stories from other victims i don’t know what to do or if i would even be able to recover the money that was taken
$1,000 was taken this morning at 8:57AM today 5.31.21 Whats the crazy thing I use to get text alerts and NO LONGER do I tried to update and no way to update. I called filed a claim and was told it may take up to 90 days :(
Happened to me at 830am went to pull out money it was 0 called Bank of America at 9am I ask what happened where my funds they said I had an transaction at 830am in west Covina I live 50 miles away how can I be at 2 place at the same time I think bank of america stole the funds so I filed a claim
On Dec 17, 2020. I received a email from Bank of America alerting me that my edd benefits was withdrawn ( 2,539.58) from my account and was transfered to another account. I called Bank of America fraud hotline to file a claim immediately that same day. I told Bank of America that transaction was unauthorized by me and that I was never aware of any of this transaction. The Operator and I were looking at my Bank of America about my statement and I saw that there was unauthorized purchases that were still pending. Bank of America never did anything but gave me a replacement card with a different debit card number with no funds. on Dec 18, 2020. I saw my statement and those purchases that were pending were approved by Bank of America. I never heard anything from the bank.
They mailed two cards out a month apart in Nov. And Dec. To somebody claiming to be me. My name is Cindy bryant
In February someone been used my card they made purchased things from food max. I reported it to boa. They told me that they were going to send me a new card. I never recieved it, I checked my boa bank account, and someone again used my second card. So I have to claims pending 1 for $ 908.13 and another one for $1098.58. this is since February. They are just giving me the run around. I keep being told that it should be there any daY just bee PATIENT THAT IT SHOULD BE THERE ANY DAY THAT’S BEEN SINCE FEBRUARY NOTHING YET.
Yes I too have been a victim of fraud.
Three months in a row funds where transfered with out my approval with
bogus email account made in my name. This some how enabled them to make
money transfers. As soon as my monies we be deposited they had it setup to automatically transfer.
Please include me in this lawsuit! I’m out $800 from my EDD account because someone from Long Beach withdrew money out from an ATM! B of A flagged it, but never informed me when they closed my acct. I called immediately and was told to make a claim. Took 1.5 hrs to create & file the claim. Now I just received a letter stating they closed my claim & was not crediting me back the money! I was on phone again trying to have them reopen my claim.
add me to plz i cant even get a replacement card from them cause my strip wont swipe due to damage so im stuck with useing online trasnactions and haveing to repay friends just to get cash back