Consumer complaint received 2021-01-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
CitiBank Fraud Case ID # 1 : XXXX CitiBank Fraud Case ID # 2 : XXXX CitiBank Ref # : XXXX XXXX CitiBank Fraud Transactions : XX/XX/2020 XXXX Debit {$500.00} to XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XX/XX/2020 XXXX Debit {$1900.00} to XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XX/XX/2020 XXXX Debit {$2400.00} to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX These past few months have been very difficult times as Ive been a victim of Identity Theft. I have filled a report with the Federal Trade Commission, also with the local police department XXXX attached ). I have put a fraud alert and freeze with all three credit bureaus. Starting XX/XX/XXXX, the following events started arising/were discovered : -My personal XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX accounts were attempted to be logged in from foreign locations, but were blocked due to extra layers of security. I quickly reset my passwords to these accounts among every other of my email and financial accounts. 

-CitiBank checking account was hacked/breached into and three money transfers were made via XXXX  ( transactions listed above ) for a total of {$4800.00} to the following email addresses : XXXX, XXXX. Ive never transferred money to these recipients with CitiBank or any other banks, nor do I recognize them. 

-XXXX XXXX XXXX checking account was hacked into also for two money transfers via XXXX were attempted for approximately {$1700.00} ( with the reason " for rental '' ) to the same email address ( XXXX ), but thankfully were rejected by XXXX  strong security algorithm due to suspicious activity XXXX attached ). XXXX  fraud department worked with me to change my username and password in order to regain security back in my account. 

-XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX checking account was hacked into also with the attempt to transfer via XXXX for the amount of {$700.00} and was also rejected due to suspicious activity. This fraud transfer was sent out to the same email address as the other banks ( XXXX ). 

-A new checking account with XXXX  ( powered by XXXX  ) was created using my identity/SSN and I received a debit card in the mail for this account with card number XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. After further investigation, their fraud department agreed that this account was fraudulently created and will be closing this account. 

XXXX account was hacked/breached into and {$44.00} was stolen. XXXX returned the money immediately upon my dispute. 

I am extremely hurt and disappointed with the customer service I have received. Never have I ever been so misguided, untrusted and poorly treated by a large financial institution such as CitiBank. In XX/XX/2020 my fianc and I opened a joint account with CitiBank in hopes of saving money together to purchase a home. At the end of XXXX, we noticed fraudulent activity happening on various banking accounts. All the other banks rejected the charges ( proof attached ) except for CitiBank. Through investigating further, we discovered that were experiencing an extreme case of identity theft. My social security number was used to open new bank accounts and there were attempts to take funds out of current bank accounts. Immediately we filed a police report, put a freeze on credit bureaus, and contacted all of the banks. A total of {$4800.00} was stolen from our CitiBank checking account using XXXX. The email addresses used for the XXXX transfers were the same as the ones that were used in other bank accounts. Initially, we were not worried because, in our experience, banks are very good at detecting fraud and getting customers their money back. We opened multiple cases with Citi Banks fraud department to dispute the charges and provide proof of fraud, which were all rejected. We spoke to multiple customer service representatives that gave us absolutely no guidance. We were hung up on multiple times and told that our case could no longer be discussed with us. We found out later that our account had been blocked and we no longer had access to our remaining funds. This greatly impacted our livelihood as we were no longer able to pay our bills or get groceries to survive, with the funds we had allocated for them. We were given the run around and told to jump through so many hoops in order to submit documents of proof and all to later be told that there was no sign of fraudulent activity on CitiBanks end. We requested to obtain copies of the information used in the investigation as you are entitled by law mentioned in one letter, but yet to receive such a thing from CitiBank. We even had the assistance of a banker at a local branch to assist in this matter and per her research was told to fax all supporting documents to ( XXXX ) XXXX, which was answered with a rejection letter and reasons such as no supporting documents received. Weve attempted to contact customer service to ask about our money to which we received no helpful information once again. We appealed the case and were rejected again with the allegations of us authorizing the transactions. Never were we asked for more information or proof. We have a police report and proof of other banks ' fraud detection. Our last attempt to speak to a supervisor resulted in them harshly telling us that the bank could no longer help us. We emotionally asked the supervisor* what she would do if she were us to which she responded, You can go to small claims court, which ended with her denying to continue the conversation and disconnected the phone call. 

*Supervisor referenced : XXXX  ( she intentionally didnt provide her last name ), ID # 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 explanation