Consumer complaint received 2020-01-06
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
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:
XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX, My wallet was lost/stolen, while I was visiting XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. There were 3 cards in that wallet and no ID cards : 2 Visa cards from XXXX XXXX XXXX, and 1 MasterCard from Barclays US. There were unauthorized charges on all 3 of the cards. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the attached letter from Barclays. 

The charges in dispute are the following : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$1500.00} XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$5700.00} Barclays is refusing to accept my fraud claim due to the following reasons, stated in their response : This decision was made in part ; due to your confirmation that the credit card was in your possession within minutes of the fraud occurring as a parking charge was validated by you. Our investigation confirmed a pattern expensive purchases being made at high end retailers and then being claimed as fraud. 

It can be easily verified that the parking charge that is being referred to was made using XXXX XXXX, i.e., it was an online transaction. This, in no shape or form, confirms that the card was in my possession, within minutes of the occurrence of the fraud, as they have stated. Furthermore, the investigator seems to have not paid any attention to the fact that a police report was filed : XXXX Police Report XXXX XXXX/Officer XXXX/Badge # XXXX Under penalty of perjury, this confirms that these charges have NOT been made by me and filing the report and the investigation by the police surely confirms it. 

With the statement Our investigation confirmed a pattern expensive purchases being made at high-end retailers and then being claimed as fraud, are you accusing me of fraud? Are you aware of the implications that could have for you in court if and when I sue, when this is proven to be bogus? False accusations could have serious repercussions. With any fraud/transaction dispute claim, especially, when the claim has been approved by the bank, it is my understanding that a full and through investigation has been done, confirming that the charges were indeed fraudulent. Each claim has to also be looked at independently from any other previous claim. Looking at the history of my transactions, it can easily be verified that I have never made any purchases that I have deemed as authorized at a XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX. Claims as such, should all have been easily addressed with my filing of a police report for this claim. 

I have no complaints regarding the closure of my account. It is Barclays right to close this account due to business justifications. However, there was $ 200+ in rewards value that has been taken away due to this closure, that could have been applied as statement credit to the fraudulent account balance that you are refusing to reimburse me for. 

I seriously advise the Barclays Bank to respect the law and reimburse me for the unauthorized transactions made with my card. The reporting of the fraud was prompt, a police report has been filed, and I had never done business with any of these merchants. The parking ticket transaction was made using XXXX XXXX, and not in the form of card-present transaction with CHIP. 

If Barclays Bank still refuses to reimburse me for these charges, with the explanation/new information that I am providing in this Letter, I would make it my goal to talk to as many journalists/reporters that are willing to write about my story regarding the banks wrong-doing, creating a PR XXXX for Barclays, as well as suing the bank in court for the fraudulent charges, plus my attorney fees, plus defamation and wrongly accusing me of fraud. 
I really do hope that we could solve this matter amicably. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, -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 explanation