Consumer complaint received 2021-11-02
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CO
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:
Let me explain to you what happened to me on XX/XX/2021 : While on my computer, I received on my screen an urgent message ( with an accompanying phone number ) saying that my XXXX was compromised and in need of immediate attention. When I called that number, someone answered who proceeded to " help me fix the problem. '' This set into motion an elaborate process that through its various steps convinced me that the individuals I was dealing with were legitimate... I did ask them questions that they were able to answer believably. Ultimately, an individual who represented themselves as a Citi employee - who called from the number shown on the back of my Citi credit card- indicated that two significant purchases had been made on my credit card in XXXX, and that they could help me to stop what was going on, and walked me through what I needed to do in order to run a test. That person asked me to go to XXXX XXXX  and purchase five XXXX gift cards @ {$500.00} apiece, saying that the help would come through XXXX and that the money would be refunded in 3 days. I purchased the cards and gave the person the numbers on the cards, thereby allowing the scammer to use my money. So, the total amount of their scam totaled {$2500.00}. Feeling increasingly suspicious about this step of the process, I contacted my son in MA who confirmed that I'd been deceived. We immediately notified Citi Cards, canceled this credit card number, and requested a new credit card. THE WOMAN I TALKED TO AT CITI ( WITH MY SON ON THE LINE WITH THE CITI REPRESENTATIVE... AND THE CALL RECORDED BY CITI ), XXXX, IMMEDIATELY AND UNQUESTIONABLY ASSURED ME THAT I WOULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE CHARGES. This call was at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. We know that they have the recording of this conversation with an authorized representative of Citi, as the representative we subsequently spoke with after receiving the first decline letter - XXXX XXXX- indicated that this conversation had been logged but that he couldn't ( wouldn't? ) play that recording for all of us to listen to. 

I could easily have been untruthful and say that my card had been lost or stolen, but I was completely honest, and trusted that the process would work and that the fraudulent charge - which I gained no benefit from - would be removed from my record. I'm not in a financial position to be able to pay for this, and I don't want to have to spend even more time than I already have trying to resolve this. I have no choice but to defend my position to the fullest extent, but it's causing me extreme stress and loss of sleep and as a result is impacting my health. I'm happy to answer any additional questions you might have if you would like to contact me.

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