Consumer complaint received 2022-05-13
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
I'm a victim of impersonation / wire fraud in my savings / checking account through Citibank. On XX/XX/22 my phone was hacked into, so I couldn't make or receive calls during the time the wire fraud occurred. A Citibank representative contacted me and left a voicemail ( I never received the call or voicemail until a day later, since I couldn't use my phone ). I went into XXXX to see if they could figure out why my phone wasn't working, so they ended up changing my SIM card. Citibank allowed the impersonator to do a mobile wire transfer of my entire savings account. I found out that you must be present in person at a bank to wire money, so it's illegal on Citibank 's part for this to occur. I filed a police report, and an affidavit, as well as taking all of the necessary steps that were needed. I contacted Citibank multiple times through their Fraud Department, but they refused to ever give me a personal representative to work with. I've made multiple claims ( including this one ), and even had XXXX send me a letter stating that my phone was compromised and I didn't authorize any of my money to be taken out of my savings account through a wire. {$26000.00} was stolen on me through a hacker, and Citibank is treating me like the criminal. 

Fast forward to XX/XX/22, I received a letter from Citibank denying me my money. It was a basic generic letter with only a toll free number to contact. The letter stated, " You did not take adequate steps to safeguard your account. This failure compromised the security of your account information and directly contributed to allowing the transactions in question to take place. '' I have currently received five denials of my savings account with Citibank, and they're well aware that this was SIM Card Swap, but are refusing me of my hard earned {$26000.00}, which they're required to through Regulation E. 

Citibank has failed to take responsibility for their actions of allowing a mobile wire transfer from an imposter through my account, as well as dismissing me every time I tried contacting the fraud department, and not allowing me to work with a physical representative on this case. 


Best, XXXX XXXX The first thing I noticed was that my phone stopped working, which according to my emails was XXXX ( from XXXX that my equipment was changed ), so after that I didnt have access to using my phone to make or receive any calls. The hacker changed my SIM card so I couldnt make or receive these calls. Exactly 40 mins later, Citibank allowed this person to add themselves as a Payee to my account at XXXX. At XXXX I received an email from Citibank stating Let us know immediately if you, or anyone you authorized, used your Citibank Checking account ending in XXXX for the activity noted below. You may not be able to make transactions on your account until we hear back from you. I had no way of seeing these emails since I didnt have service on my phone. At XXXX was when Citibank took the hold off of my account and let the wire transfer go through. 

XXXX left the voicemail at XXXX. Six mins after the hold on the wire transfer was removed, so that was when the wire transfer went through. 

Timeline of Events : The event occurred on XX/XX/22, but didnt know about the fraud until XX/XX/22 1. At XXXX XXXX sent me an email stating that my equipment had changed ( thought it was spam ) 2. My phone stopped working, so I didnt have any service. 
3. I waited about 20 mins and I went into XXXX located at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, NY XXXX XXXX They didnt know why my phone wasnt working, so they took my Sim Card out, and put a new one in. 
XXXX. At XXXX a Payee ( XXXX XXXX ) was added to my Citibank XXXX ( but I couldnt see this email since I couldnt use my phone ). 
XXXX. At XXXX Citibank sent me an email stating, Let us know immediately if you, or anyone you authorized, used your Citibank Checking account ending in XXXX for the activity noted below. You may not be able to make transactions on your account until we hear back from you. Once again I couldnt access this because my phone still wasnt working. 
XXXX. At XXXX Citibank took the hold off of my account, according to my emails and thats when the money was wired out of my savings account, placed into my checking, and wiped out of the checking account. I still didnt have access to using my phone, so I didnt know this was going on. 
XXXX. My phone still didnt have full access to everything on my phone, so it wasnt until XX/XX/22 that I received the Voicemail from a woman at Citibank named XXXX stating that there might be fraud. It turns out that at XXXX on XX/XX/22 she had left me this voicemail. This was already 6 mins after the wire transfer went through!!!

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