Consumer complaint received 2021-05-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX my identity was stolen and was used to withdraw funds from all of my bank accounts, which included XXXX  XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Citibank and XXXX. This started XX/XX/XXXX with my XXXX account. On XX/XX/XXXX I was admitted to XXXX  XXXX XXXX hospital for a medical emergency and was there for three days. When I was discharged ( XXXX ) I was unaware of this fraud. On XX/XX/XXXX I had an appointment at XXXX XXXX XXXX to follow up on my medical problem. After leaving the clinic I went to the nearby Citibank to withdraw funds for my upcoming XXXX electricity project. At the teller window I asked the person to give me the balance of my checking and savings accounts. The balance was a few cents in each account. I was shocked and immediacy said to the teller " there must be some mistake, this can't be my account ''. My account had {$16000.00} in checking and XXXX in savings. a total of {$31000.00} The teller assured me that this XXXX my account. I was feeling faint and like I was going crazy. I went over to the desk were the bank officers sit and had a talk with the branch manager and told her my story. 
As she checked things, she determined that I was a victim of identity theft and that criminals stole all of my money. I was with her for more then an hour as she investigated the details. I went home devastated. Immediately I started checking my other bank accounts and sure enough they had been attacked too. I quickly changed the sign-in and passwords of all my accounts. Subsequently XXXX refused to honor my claim and I filed with your consumer finance protection bureau, claim number XXXX. After a battle that lasted many months they returned my money in about twelve days! Thank you CFPB It is XX/XX/XXXX and all of my banking accounts have been resolved except for Citibank, They have been stringing me along now for close to nine months with a remaining balance of {$1400.00} that they say I owe them. Numerous times the bank manager, has interceded to them on my behalf, and numerous times I was led to believe the money was going to be returned. To this date it has not. So without going into minute detail ( see attached Transaction Activity ) The perpetrators did wire transfers below {$10000.00} in most of the transactions. It was a total of {$31000.00} that was stolen. Citi bank did come around and did give me back {$29000.00} with {$1400.00} subtracted, they refused to recognize the {$1400.00} that was transferred to XXXX. Citibank claims that I fraudulently did this myself, and Citi produced documentation from XXXX saying I transferred these funds to them ( see exibit A ). About 4 or 5 times I appealed to Citi about this, they knew I was the victim of identity fraud and that's why they did refund most of my money {$29000.00}. But for some strange reason that I can not understand they refuse to see that this too was part of the scam. 
On XX/XX/XXXX knowing that all my funds were present in my savings and checking accounts in the amount of {$31000.00}, I withdrew all of my money, the {$1400.00} was in this amount On XX/XX/XXXX Citibank provisionally credited my checking account {$1400.00} On XX/XX/XXXX They told me the {$1400.00} was not honored and that It will be will be deducted from my account, but since I emptied my account on XX/XX/XXXX all they grabbed was {$7.00} XX/XX/XXXX Citibank tells me that my account is overdrawn in the amount of {$1300.00} they asked me to make a deposit as soon as possible to cover this negative balance. 
XX/XX/XXXX in response to my second appeal to them they referred to bogus documentation ( see exibit B ) supplied to them from XXXX proving that I indeed transferred these funds to XXXX, prior to this Identity theft I never even heard of Robinhood! I have no account with Robinhood! Citibank advised me that I was entitled by law to receive copies of the information that was used in this investigation, and although I requested it, it was never given to me to this day. 
XXXX  XXXX XXXX I appealed to them again. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX They wrote me back saying ... Regarding case number XXXX " we contacted the originator in an attempt to recover the funds on your behalf. The documentation from the originating bank XXXX XXXX XXXX confirmed your authorization, which we have enclosed for your records. Therefore, we are unable to honor your request for reimbursement '' " Please contact the merchant XXXX XXXX for reimbursement '' Citibank sent me the same bogus documentation that they sent in the previous denial. 

Summation : I did receive this {$1400.00} when I withdrew all of MY funds on XX/XX/XXXX The issue is that the bank is demanding that I give back my money to them. Holding me to this can ultimately effect my credit score in a very negative way. Plus Citibank could do other legal things regarding this disputed claim. Citibank lost my money, they are unjustly coming back at me, telling me I should contact XXXX, something that is impossible anyway. They have no telephone number. Citibank knows I have been a victim of identity theft. I want them to correct this travesty. I have included supporting documentation.

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 monetary relief