Consumer complaint received 2023-04-18
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: HI
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:
Summary - XX/XX/2023, a fraudulent charge of {$500.00} from XXXX was made on my Citibank XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/2023, a fraudulent attempt was made by XXXX for {$4700.00}. My password was changed by someone other than me, and my account address was changed to a state I have never lived in - Texas. Citibank notified me of the attempt on XX/XX/2023, and I confirmed that no, I did not attempt those charges. 3 months of endless dead-end phone calls to Citibank, and they have promised to but have not resolved the issue and have been impossible to get speak to - I have been passed around to 4 different departments who all say it's not their job. Credits were issued in the amounts of {$500.00} and {$290.00}. But Citibank is still billing me for over {$4400.00} of the fraudulent attempted charge. 

Details : On XX/XX/2023, received a text message from Citibank stating " Did you attempt {$4700.00} at XXXX XXXX on XXXX? Yes=1, No=2, or sign on to the Citi Mobile App. I responded " 2 '' - No I did not attempt this charge. I then spoke to someone at Citibank via phone and confirmed to them that No, I did not attempt this charge, it was fraud. During that call and checking my account online, I discovered and reported to them the following an additional fraudulent charge on XX/XX/2023 from XXXX for {$500.00}. Additionally, the password and address on my account were changed without my knowledge or permission. I informed Citibank that the fraudulent Texas address on my account is not my address, I did not make that change, and I have never lived in Texas. The agent assured me they would issue credits for the fraudulent charges, investigate thoroughly and correct my address. They did not. 

On XX/XX/2023, I received a voicemail from Citibank phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX that was difficult to understand due to static and muffle, language barrier, and a heavy accent. It sounded like they said they were calling from Citibank and if I did not call them back within 24 hours, they would close my account. I immediately called Citibank back at that number ( XXXX ) XXXX on the same day XX/XX/2023 and received a recording stating that " Inbound calls can not be received at this number. click ( disconnect ) ''. So I immediately called Citibank Customer Service at ( XXXX ) XXXX on the same day XX/XX/2023 and explained the call I received. Citibank Customer Service stated the call was from the Fraud department and there was no additional informaiton they needed from me. They said they would make note in my account that I returned their call, and promised that my account would not be affected. During this call, I discovered that the fraudulent Texas address was still on my account. Customer Service, again, said they would correct it to my correct address. 

On XX/XX/2023, I logged into my Citibank account website and noticed a small message that a electronic letter was sent to me at the Citibank messaging system ( not to my email address ). The letter dated XX/XX/2023 was addressed from Citibank Customer Service '' but had no Citibank contact information such phone/email/address. The letter stated " Due to a billing delay, the charge ( s ) for {$4400.00} from XXXX WA made on XX/XX/2023 will appear on your account for the first time.If you have any questions, please contact us. Sincerely, Customer Service Team '' In response to the letter above, on XX/XX/2023 I called Citibank Customer Service at ( XXXX ) XXXX, and notified them of the letter, and requested to dispute this fraudulent charge. Citibank Customer Service denied writing the letter, stated they could not dispute the fraudulent charge or issue a credit, and said I would have to talk to the Fraud Department. They transferred the call to XXXXraud Department.

Citibank Fraud Department also denied writing the letter, salso tated they could not dispute the fraudulent charge, or issue a credit, and said I would have to talk to the Citibank Security Department at ( XXXX ) XXXX. They told me to call that number during their business hours M-F XXXX XXXX. 

On Monday XX/XX/2023, I checked my credit report and discovered it has decreased from the XXXX 's to the XXXX 's due to recent increase in charges ( the fraudulent {$4400.00} that Citibank has charged to my card ). Additionally, the bill statement is scheduled to be deducted from my checking account soon. 

On Monday XX/XX/2023, I called the Citibank Security Department at ( XXXX ) XXXX. The initial agent XXXX, said that I would have to talk to Customer Service to have a credit issued and XXXX attempted to transfer me. I interrupted her, explained again that Customer Service said they couldn't do anything on Saturday. XXXX was very unprofessional, argumentative, and not helpful. Eventually, I asked her to escalate the call to a supervisor. 
The call was escalated to XXXX in the Security Department. XXXX stated that her department could not dipute a claim nor could issue a credit. XXXX said the fraud investigation is the responsibility of the Recoveries Department, and that department does not accept phone calls or email or communication from customers. She said could only send a message to the Recoveries Department to notify them that I called. She also said that Recoveries Department will take at least 2 weeks just to read her message. I reminded XXXX that Citibank had already charged me {$4400.00} fraudulent charge, which would come out of my bank account soon for autopayment. If it will take XXXX a couple weeks just to read her message, and they can not speak to me, then the charge will be deducted from my bank account before then. 
XXXX told me to call Customer Service and ask them to stop autopayment on my account. I reminded XXXX, that would mean I wouldn't pay my bill and that would affect my credit again, which is not an acceptable solution to this huge problem. 
I asked XXXX to escalate the call. She refused. XXXX transferred me to Customer Service and a man said " Our technical systems are down. Call back in over an hour ''. Then he hung up. 
I attempted to call Customer Service again, but received the same rude message about the technical systems down, and the man hung up. 
I reached out to Citi chat instant messaging system on their website to requestt an email address at Citibank to report these problems to. They said I needed to provide with a Case ID. I told them that Citibank never gave me a Case ID, and that the letter from Citi on XX/XX/XXXX did not have a Case ID. Eventually, he provided me with an email. I received an automated response from Citibank XXXX, requesting me to click on a link to a XXXX website and provide my bank account and PIN. I declined, as my account is not in XXXX, it is in the United States. 

Per the advise of " XXXX '' with Citibank Securities, I have stopped autopayment on my account, as this is the only way to keep Citibank from deducting from my checking account the {$4400.00} in fraudulent charges. 

Per my Citibank account online information, they investigated the following XXXX charges. XX/XX/XXXX, {$500.00} from XXXX - merchant credit issued ( why the merchant? ). XX/XX/XXXX {$290.00} XXXX - security credit issued ( this is not the correct amount -- the attempt was {$4700.00} ) Citibank has provided no explanation or results of their investigation. 

Citibank has negatively impacted my credit report, and is essentially stealing {$4400.00} on my account. I have been a Citibank customer over 20 years, have always paid my account on time, and have always had excellent credit. Looking through the other reports on CFPB, this Citi scammer/hacker problem is common, and even more common is Citibank 's lack of addressing the issue professionally.

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