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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
Bank of America closed my moms account , someone had deposited $25,000 of unemployment benefits into her account. It was obviously not her as she didn’t even file a claim. They took her money she had in her account , stopped her life insurance and will not speak to her about it. No letter , nothing as to why they did that . What are her options ?
Had my account drained of all but nine cents right after leaving a branch office to verify my identity. Seems like an inside job since the timing coincided with the conclusion of my interaction with the bank manager
Please include me in this lawsuit, just yesterday someone withdrawal $1,000 from my account, I just filed a claim and was told it will take 90 Days. What I dont understand how can someone withdrawal money from my account when I have the card with me. The lady from the claim department told me that probably someone from Las Vegas hacked my account just because I told her I went there. but yet the transaction was made in Los Angeles, CA ATM??
Same here! My uncle and me both have had 1000 taken from the edd boa account.
Funny that I don’t have funds and I can’t log in to my online account. I’m sick and tiered of calling Bank of America to report unauthorized use of my account. I have give up hope that something will be done its 5,708 now I can’t get in to my account this is so frustrating _
Hello. In November 2020, I had my BofA EDD prepaid debit card account hacked by people overseas. All the transactions happened within a 4 week period and I was never notified by BofA. I’ve never even made a transaction online. All of the transactions were done through Facebook. I had, in 4 weeks, a little over 13 thousand dollars drained out of my account. It started on November 12th. I saw this on November 24th. Called BofA to report fraud and start a fraud case. The CSR girl I talked to said she was @arting a case and I would be getting stuff in the mail in 3 days. Had 10 days to send back yada yada. Never got anything. Called back the fraud department and talked to a wonderful guy who helped me. The girl never started a case for me. My account has been frozen since and since she never started a case, the hackers were able to take even more money out. Until I was drained. I hadn’t heard or wasnt able to get ahold of anyone(continuous hangups after waiting on hold for 4 plus hours). So I gave up. It was too much for me. I lost my car because of this and I’m still about to lose my home. My husband is disabled and I’m his caretaker and we are very low income as is so this just sent me on and emotional downhill spiral. I recently, without notice again, checked my BofA app and on May 21st, my money is back and I’m unlocked. But because of this, EDD has froze my account and I havent been paid by them for 9 weeks. It’s been hell to say the least. Bad enough u have to worry about exposure and not infecting my disabled husband, now I’ve got this!! I would like to be part of this class action lawsuit as there is so much more that happened with BofA and because of their actions. Please, get ahold of me about this. Oh… and I am out of Sacramento, Ca.
Hi I’m in Las Vegas Nevada and the same is going on here. In November 2020 someone hacked my unemployment account and stole my money and Bank of America froze my account as well and it took until March 2021 for them to unfreeze my card and they returned the money back to unemployment and I still have not been paid. I called unemployment and was told it will take another 6-8 weeks for them to cut me a check and this was since December 22, 2020 leaving me without funds putting me in depression and putting me in distress not knowing how I’m going fiction. I’m 60 years old and having to live with my kids because I loss my husband. This is ridiculous I’ve already been victimized by the predator that took my money, now I’m waiting on one (B of A) to unemployment. What am I to do? Please help me!
Yes, ME TO, funny how a,ATM transaction allowed for an odd numeric amount to BE withdrawn ($963.00)
Must be a new B of A POLICY.
This whole things is complete BS.
I want to punch the decision maker in the face!
I had this happen and would like to be part of any class action lawsuit not sure how to join any advise is appropriated
Yup definitely happened to me! 1500$ worth and Bank of America has treated me bad with attitudes on the phone. They closed my case within 2 days. Then they reopened and I sent in police report and a picture ID. They denied my claim again because my copy of the ID wasn’t clear enough. I sent it colored copies. I sent in 5 different shades of my ID and then they tell me they don’t offer provisional credit on “reopened claims” they only do that for the initial claim. But they closed the claim before they ever received the ID picture. They won’t allow emails or anything in color! My hold times are normally 2 hours or more. And the people that I do get to talk to tell me they are sorry. One of the people forgot to mute her phone while I was talking and she was in a drive through at jack n the box. I stayed quite while she ordered them I hear her tell someone “hold on I’m finna tell her I’ll submit a complaint and to have a nice day”. I’m over this
Yes this happened to me. Went to use card to buy food for my family and declined. Got online to check on it and someone out of La Mirada at an ATM did an inquiry and then withdrew $980 of money I desperately needed to buy food. Shameful! Went through claims, said take 45 days! OMG and keep following up said they closed my case as stands. Had to call back, said you are a bank look at your atm cameras and you will see that it was not me making the fraudulent withdrawals. They said they’d open the case only to wait another 45 days. California EDD and Newsome need to step in a force BOA to pay us!