Bank of America Causes $30,000 in Social Security to Go to Wrong Customer

Robert Weber, an eighty-eight year old World War II veteran, failed to receive $30,000 worth of his Social Security payments after Bank of America gave the same 10-digit account number to two customers. When Weber’s family began looking into his finances they quickly realized that Weber’s Bank of America account had not received a Social Security payment since 2009. Bank of America informed Weber that the bank had changed his account number in 2009 because of “suspicious activity.” A Bank of America employee verified that Weber’s checks were not going to his account, but stated that nothing could be done about it.

The Weber family then got the help of the San Bernardino district attorney’s office. After an investigation into the matter, Claudia Moralez, the woman with the same 10-digit bank account number as Weber, was arrested in March. A deputy district attorney stated Moralez was arrested because she knew the money going in to her account was not hers and she failed to notify the bank. She pled guilty to grand theft in May and must now repay the $30,000 and an additional $4,000 to compensate for the interest Weber could have earned on his money.

Bank of America did not refund Weber the $30,000 and never offered an apology. Instead, the Social Security office refunded the missing money.

See David Lazarus, Bank of America’s handling of blunder is troubling, Las Angeles Times, Jul. 12, 2011.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.