Consumer complaint received 2023-08-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA
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:
On XX/XX/XXXX, it was brought to my attention that there were several charges, or amounts on charges, that I didn't authorize. I immediately locked the card with the app option online and contacted Citi bank to let them know what was going on. At that time, I filed a dispute and advised them that I did have the card but I was in XXXX at the time and being a XXXX I had been taken advantage of, and exceedingly high amounts were charged on several scenarios, these amounts were not authorized by me. Also, there was a substantial charge of over {$1200.00} that I could not validate in any way. They advised me that they would investigate the situation and contact me if further information was needed. They made no attempt to contact me, but claimed they had, and closed the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX, although It's quite impossible to tell when anything was done, as their dispute center doesn't provide very accurate information, and there no alerts as to when the information is posted to the account. 

Because they claimed to need more information, I called their security center, as instructed in the dispute center, to reopen the claim. At that time, I had to go through the whole explanation again, and validate which charges were fraudulent. Several days later, I checked in the online dispute center, but no new information had been posted. I again contacted the fraud department, and was advised that they could see and active investigation, and that not to worry, it was being worked on. It's now XX/XX/XXXX and I contacted them again, this time I escalated the call to a supervisor who eventually tried to explain that my situation was consider a scam and that it was not covered. Citi Bank is trying to change the very definition of fraud to suit them. I've had a scam occur one other time and my bank covered the charges, but apparently Citi bank does what best suits them and does not, as their moto says, " Have your back. '' Throughout this entire time, Citi bank has never contacted me, they have never been forth coming with any information and now to have someone tell me that, even though you explained the scenario, that it's not covered. I've had scams and fraudulent scenarios occur with my bank, and they didn't try to change the very definition of the word. Also, during this time, Citi Bank increased my credit line without me requesting it. I brought this to the attention of the supervisor, who claimed he could not see this and that is not their practice. Well, when they about max out your credit line allowing fraudulent charge to remain, then giving you more room to rack up more charges must be their way of helping a customer out. Takeway : Citi Bank has the back of the scammer 's and fraudsters over that of their customers.

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