Consumer complaint received 2018-05-02
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: AZ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX I was contacted by a person on XXXX claiming to be a binary options trader in XXXX, soliciting me for business to be my account manager. I agreed after some research and investigation and funded an account with the broker the individual assigned me to. The brokers web site is XXXX, and I went to the web site, created an account, and used XXXX to fund the account in the amount of {$500.00}. I checked my account periodically and watched the balance grow. The balance grew to approximately {$3500.00} and it stopped growing. I contacted my account manager via email and inquired as to why the balance had stopped growing. During this time my account manager became very uncommunicative and it was very difficult to get any answer out of the individual. I finally started receiving emails again after approximately 2 months stating that the account manager was ill and that individual was trying to find out what happened with their accounts. Another period of time had passed and after persistent emailing I finally got the individual to respond. My account manager informed me that there was a problem with XXXX and that they moved my money to a different broker at XXXX. I was instructed to go to XXXX and sign up for an account and that I had to fund the account again with another {$500.00}. I funded the account this time I had to use XXXX as this broker doesnt allow XXXX as an option for funding. 
One day in late XXXX I happened to log into my old account at XXXX and noticed there was still a balance in that account, so I reached out to them on XX/XX/XXXX. I got a response back on XX/XX/XXXX that my funds have been ready for withdraw for some time now and that they wanted my contact information to put an interim account manager in contact with me to guide me through the withdrawal process. I gave them my information and was told I would be working with XXXX XXXX. I communicated with XXXX XXXX through the XXXX XXXX messenger app, and we began working out the details of the withdrawal. 
One of the first things that XXXX XXXX informed me was that I needed to pay my brokers fees before I could withdraw my funds. The fees were 15 % of my profits, so 15 % of {$3000.00} because my total account balance was {$3500.00} minus my investment of {$500.00}. So I told him OK so I need to send you {$450.00}? A day later he responded not its {$4600.00}. I was blown away and quickly asked why are the broker fees more than the profits that I made? He responded that at the last minute through strong signals my account went from {$3500.00} to {$31.00}, XXXX. I checked my account again and it was exactly that. I told him that it would take me some time to gather up that much money and asked him what my options for sending that money are. He informed me that I could use XXXX XXXX, Bitcoin, or XXXX. 
A week or so later I informed XXXX XXXX that I had the money and was ready to pay my brokers fees, he asked me which method I wanted to use to pay those fees. I told him I would use XXXX and asked hime for the email of their accountant that I would be sending the money to. He told me the accountants email was XXXX. So I logged on to XXXX and set up a payment to XXXX. I messaged XXXX XXXX when it was done and asked when will I have my money. He messaged me back and informed me that the broker wants to give it to me in Bitcoin that evening and that I would need to go to XXXX and set up a wallet for them to put the Bitcoin in to. I informed him that I already had a XXXX wallet and he informed me that it had to be a new wallet and that I couldnt use an existing wallet. I set up a new XXXX   wallet and informed him it was done. A few minutes elapsed and he messaged me that the broker needed the wallet ID and the password. I gave him the information and waited to see the Bitcoin deposited in the wallet. After a few minutes the balance in the wallet began rising. 
As soon as the balance stopped rising I got an email from XXXX informing me that now that the Bitcoin is in there I must purchase a private key so I could unlock the funds and transfer them to another wallet that I control. I asked XXXX XXXX how much a private key was and after a few minutes he returned with an answer of XXXX Bitcoin, which at the time was valued at a little over {$10000.00}. I informed XXXX XXXX and the broker that I didnt have that kind of money and that it would take me quite some time to save that much money. I told them I would be in touch when I knew I would have the money to purchase the Bitcoin. The next day I received an email from the broker that they would be willing to us XXXX method to allow me to purchase the private key for {$7500.00}. I also received a message for XXXX XXXX stating that he would be willing to loan me {$1500.00} of the {$7500.00} to help me pay for the private key. I decided to spread the {$6000.00} evenly over 2 credit cards to purchase the private key along with the help from XXXX XXXX. I asked XXXX XXXX if I could send the money via XXXX and he said yes. I logged on to XXXX and set up the payments to XXXX and informed XXXX XXXX that I had made the payments and inquired as to what would happen next. I was informed it would take 3 hours for them to generate the private key. 
I waited for several hours and messaged XXXX XXXX as to the progress of my private key and he said it should definitely be ready by morning. The next morning I had an email from the broker that my private key was ready and that I could now transfer the Bitcoin to any wallet I wanted. I logged into my XXXX wallet and proceeded to transfer the Bitcoin do a different wallet that I set up previously on a different wallet website. I went through the steps of transferring the Bitcoin and then it said that the private key wasnt valid. I emailed the broker and XXXX XXXX and informed them that the private key was not valid and asked what was going on. After some time had passed I got a response from XXXX XXXX that the broker wanted my wallet ID and password again so they could go into my wallet and find out what went wrong. A few minutes later they came back and said that XXXX XXXX was supposed to have had me pay for my private key with Bitcoin through the XXXX wallet and not through XXXX because that act of paying through XXXX would activate my wallet. They then informed me that I would have to deposit XXXX Bitcoin into my wallet to activate the wallet. 
I borrowed the money from family and a week later I had the Bitcoin I needed to activate my account. I contacted XXXX XXXX as well as the broker and informed them I had the Bitcoin and asked them for explicit directions on how to transfer the Bitcoin into my wallet to activate the wallet. I was told by the broker that XXXX XXXX was capable of helping me with that. I was messaged by XXXX XXXX and was told all I need to do is transfer 1 Bitcoin into my wallet and that would trigger the activation. I transferred the Bitcoin into my XXXX wallet, informed the broker as well as XXXX XXXX that it was done and awaited the news that the second private key would be generated so I could transfer my Bitcoin into another wallet. 
Several hours had passed and I hadnt heard anything so I messaged XXXX XXXX. He informed me that the XXXX  Bitcoin that I transferred to my wallet was not enough that it was {$2.00} short of a full Bitcoin because of a transfer fee that no one told me about. So I asked what can I do about it, can I just put in a couple dollars to make it a whole Bitcoin? I was told that the only way to activate is if I put in another Bitcoin. I informed them that I didnt have the money to purchase another Bitcoin as I had to borrow the money from family to purchase the first Bitcoin. They told me to let them know when I had the money to buy another Bitcoin so they could generate another private key. I said OK as I had paid this much money and now owed money to credit cards and family. 
A couple days later XXXX XXXX messaged me and told me that there was another easier and faster option to withdraw my Bitcoin and that the broker was working on it right now. He informed me that it wouldnt cost me another Bitcoin but it would cost me some money. I said OK, let me know what you need me to do. After a few hours the broker messaged me and instructed me to go onto XXXX and create another wallet. I created another wallet and waited for instructions. XXXX XXXX contacted me and told me that the broker needed my wallet ID and password, I gave it to him and waited for further instructions. Then they said that I was going to have to transfer {$4200.00} worth of Bitcoin into the wallet, I asked the broker if because of the mistake with the Bitcoin transfer I could send the money to the via XXXX so they could control the manner in which the Bitcoin was transferred, and the agreed so I sent {$3000.00} from one credit card to XXXX and {$1200.00} on another card to XXXX. 
The broker emailed me and said that someone from XXXX would contact me once the key was created and it was time to take possession of my Bitcoin. A few hours later I got an email from XXXX stating that I would need to pay them a fee of 13.2 % of the balance of {$93000.00} as that is how much Bitcoin I would be transferring. That is {$12000.00} he wanted me to send him in Bitcoin in order for me to get my money. I informed him that there was no way I could get my hands on {$12000.00}, he informed me that I couldnt have the money until I paid that much. I contacted XXXX XXXX and the broker and informed them of what I learned from the XXXX representative and they informed me that was the only way I could get my money. That was back on XX/XX/XXXX. I attempted to plead to them that if they returned the money that I had paid them, which was {$22000.00} that I would sign over the profits of {$93000.00} that they were claiming I made. They got irate and demanded that I pay the {$12000.00} or Id be sorry. As of the time of this writing I havent heard anything else from them. A couple days after the last correspondence with them I contacted XXXX.XXXX and asked them if they had anyone in support the uses the email address XXXX and got a response from a XXXX and she confirmed my fears that the email address was not part of their support team and that the email address was a scam. I have all the emails saved, screenshots of all the XXXX conversations, recordings of a few telephone conversations with XXXX XXXX, and the receipts from XXXX and XXXX for the purchase of all Bitcoin. 
Citi card  refuses to issue a credit for money I got scammed out of by these individuals. They mishandled the case form the beginning by their own admission and now they are taking the side of known scammers.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation