Consumer complaint received 2019-04-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
I am requesting your assistance in resolving a dispute between Citibank and myself. The problem : Citibanks denial of reimbursement on fraudulent withdrawals from my account. The transaction dates and amounts : XX/XX/XXXX : {$100.00} ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ATM, XXXX XXXX ) / XX/XX/XXXX : {$120.00} ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ATM, XXXX XXXX ) / XX/XX/XXXX : {$120.00} ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ATM, XXXX XXXX ) / XX/XX/XXXX : {$120.00} ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ATM, XXXX XXXX ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : I notified Citibank of the first series of fraudulent withdrawals ( XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX ). I gave them details for their investigation, including : 1. I am the only one who has access to my debit card and PIN ; 2. the card has not been out of my possession ; 3. since Citibanks office closed in XXXX, I have been making cash withdrawals at ATM machines in the lobbies of my local XXXX XXXX  XXXX branches ( where I have an account ). 

Since XX/XX/XXXX, I have discussed the case by phone numerous times with various people in the Disputes department ( XXXX ), and with several Citibank supervisors ( XXXX ). 

People in Disputes I have spoken with include : XXXX ( XXXX ), XXXX ( XXXX ),  XXXX ( XXXX ), XXXX ( XXXX ), and others. Supervisors I have spoken with include : XXXX, XXXX ( XXXX ), XXXX, and many others XX/XX/XXXX : I received a letter from Citibank requesting information on the first series of fraudulent withdrawals ( XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX ). The letter included a form to fill out, entitled Statement of Unauthorized Use ATM & PIN-Based Transactions, with instructions to return it by fax to Citibank at XXXX. 

Note : I have included this letter : ***See : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : I returned the completed and signed form, Statement of Unauthorized Use ATM & PIN-Based Transactions, to Citibank at fax # XXXX. On the cover page, I wrote : ***IMPORTANT : Please verify receipt of this material by emailing me at XXXX. 

Note : I have included this signed form : ***See : XXXX Confirmation of Receipt of XX/XX/XXXX Fax : On the days after sending the XX/XX/XXXX fax, I asked numerous employees in Disputes to confirm the receipt of the XX/XX/XXXX fax, as it was integral to decision making on the case. No one I spoke with could confirm its receipt. All of them told me they would relay my concern to the investigators. To date, I have no confirmation the XX/XX/XXXX fax was received. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I received a letter from Citibank ( case XXXX ) stating that they are unable to honor your request for reimbursement on the four fraudulent withdrawals at issue ( see above ). 

Note : I have included this letter : ***See : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : I responded to Citibanks rejection letter of XX/XX/XXXX with my letter, sent by fax to : XXXX. This fax number was offered to me by a supervisor who identified herself as XXXX. In the letter, I contested Citibanks rejection of my request for reimbursement based on their rationale for denial being flimsy and unfounded and that it did not take into consider critical elements of the case. The last line of the letter requested confirmation of receipt of my response : NOTE : PLEASE CONFIRM RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER BY EMAIL ASAP. 

Note : I have included this letter : ***See : XXXX *** Note : My XX/XX/XXXX response to Citibank is critical to this case, as it specifically addresses all of Citibanks reasons for denying reimbursement. Please read this carefully, as I have not copied all the key points into this letter. *** XX/XX/XXXX : I phoned Disputes to verify that my XX/XX/XXXX fax had indeed been received by the correct department. Disputes told me the fax number XXXX had instructed me to send it to was for merchant disputes and not for disputes related to unauthorized PIN-based use. After several minutes of requesting the right fax number, the Disputes employee instructed me to send my response to fax number XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Following the Disputes department employees instructions, I faxed the same letter to fax number XXXX. The last line of the letter requested confirmation of receipt of my response : NOTE : PLEASE CONFIRM RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER BY EMAIL ASAP. 

Confirmation of Receipt of XX/XX/XXXX Fax : To date, I have no confirmation the XX/XX/XXXX fax was received. 

Specifics on XX/XX/XXXX Fraudulent Withdrawal of {$100.00} : 1 ) I used my replacement debit card on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX to make cash withdrawals at one of my neighborhood XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

2 ) I had received the card a few days earlier, had activated it, changed the PIN, and put the card under XXXX. ( Note : XXXX is applied online and temporarily prevents any usage of the card, until the customer releases the card from XXXX. ) 3 ) I temporarily took the card out of XXXX before leaving for the bank on the XXXX and XXXX and put XXXX back on upon returning home ( in less than 90 minutes ). 

4 ) On XX/XX/XXXX, there was a fraudulent withdrawal of {$100.00} from my account, WHILE THE CARD WAS UNDER XXXX. 

5 ) I mentioned this to several Citibank workers who assured me they would relay that information to the investigators. 

The Citibank letter of XX/XX/XXXX makes no mention of the XX/XX/XXXX withdrawal being conducted while the debit card was under XXXX XXXX. The letter is, in fact, a boilerplate letter that does not acknowledge or address key points I stressed with Disputes employees on many occasions. 

***Note : When the customer places their card under Quick-Lock, or removes it, Citibank automatically sends an email to the customer notifying them of this. 

Note : I have included a file of the five emails to this effect : ***See : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX  = Locked / XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX = Unlocked / XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX = Locked / XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX = Unlocked / XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX = Locked. 

Disturbing to me in Citibanks XX/XX/XXXX letter is their rationale for rejecting my request for reimbursement. From the letter, it appears that Citibank is accusing me of attempting to defraud the bank. In my response of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I questioned their logic, by asking them to consider if I fit the profile of someone of that nature. I am : a long-standing ( 11 years ) customer of Citibank XXXX years old an educated man with a XXXX a recipient of a prestigious XXXX XXXX, funded by the US State Department ( which brought me to XXXX ) a solid customer of the bank who has maintained a balance in my account of between {$6000.00} and {$20000.00} for the last 16 months a resident of the state of California with a completely clean criminal record, as verifiable through the readily available California Department of Justice report Another point : I have repeatedly asked numerous employees for information on the branch location of the fraudulent withdrawals, and to date have received no response. I have requested this information through supervisors and through the Disputes department. This makes me question the competency of the investigation, or their logic if they are deliberately withholding this information from the customer. 

Regarding communication : I have had no online access to my account for weeks, but still receive email customer service notifications from Citibank that can only be opened by clicking the link to my online account ( which, as I mentioned, I can not access ). For weeks, I have asked supervisors to configure my account so all notifications are sent in the form of email attachments. The response from the supervisors has been that they can not accommodate me. When I request that the supervisor read me the content of the most recent customer service notifications over the phone, in most cases they tell me they do not have access to the content. In the meantime, I am unable to read incoming notifications which may be vital to my finances and livelihood. 

***See : recent_notifications.pdf*** I thank you for your assistance with this matter. When communicating with me, please do so by email, as I am out of the country until the end of XXXX, after which I will be at my address in the US. 

ATTACHED FILES : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

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