Consumer complaint received 2022-05-16
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: PA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Check cashing service
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Last month, I was scammed out of {$5900.00} by scammers who impersonated the police, even calling me from the local police department 's phone number using a XXXXXXXX XXXX I wasn't in good mental or physical health at the time, which is why I think they were able to convince me to do what I did. I got a phone call on a Friday, XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX am. It was a number from Texas saying they found a package at customs which was addressed to me containing fake social security cards and I must be a victim of identity theft. The person on the phone started asking me for information about my driver license, and that was when I hung up on them. I received another call asking, " Why did you hang up? '' Then they called me from the XXXX XXXX Police Department 's phone number and pretended to be a police officer named XXXX. This is when I started to comply with what they told me to do. They told me to get dressed and go to the bank and withdraw the maximum amount possible because all of my accounts were about to be frozen as I will have to prove that the money is actually mine and I am not involved in drug trafficking. They told me an officer would be arriving at my house the next morning to discuss this further. They instructed me to stay on the phone the whole time and do not put them on mute. I went to the first Citizen 's Bank location and I went inside and asked to withdraw the maximum amount of cash that I could. The teller allowed me to withdraw {$2000.00} and explained usually they need more of a notice to give more cash. I returned to my car and I told this to the man on the phone who I thought was the police. 
He seemed surprised at the amount only being {$2000.00}, and instructed me to go to another branch and do the same thing again. I complied and drove to another Citizen 's bank location near by, with the person on the phone the entire time. I went inside the second branch and approached the teller and asked to withdraw the maximum amount possible from my account. I was not asked any questions about why I needed to do this. The teller at the second location would have also been able to see that I had just done this thirty minutes prior at another branch. Yet, she allowed me to withdrawal {$4000.00} dollars in cash without so much as a question. ( I have been banking with citizens since I was a teen, I have never made such a big withdrawal ). 
I return to my car and XXXX gives me an address of a " special government atm '' where I can create an account and make my own pin, and deposit the cash into the account until I am able to prove my innocence with law enforcement. I drive to the address and it was a XXXX gas station located in XXXX, PA. I go inside and I see that this " special atm '' is actually a XXXX  ATM. Alarms start to go off in my head, and I decided to only put some of the money into the machine because I was very skeptical. I created an account and made a pin, and was sent a XXXX  code that I scanned. I deposited XXXX dollars into lite coin and returned to my car. I told XXXX that I only deposited some of the cash and was planning to hold on to the other {$2000.00}. This is when he became very angry with me and started using intimidation tactics. I had two different numbers calling my phone, one was from XXXX pretending to be with the XXXX XXXX named XXXX, and the other guy was XXXX with the XXXX. I began to argue with them because I didn't understand why I was doing this. They told me I was making myself confused and maybe I am guilty, and this will all have been for nothing and they can't help me even though they are trying to help me prove my innocence. I reluctantly go back inside the gas station and deposited the rest of the money into the account, besides for one XXXX dollar bill that the machine wouldn't take. I returned to my car. 
This is when the man tried to instruct me to go to a third citizens bank location, and withdrawal even more money! I told him no, I am going home and will talk to them later. They still are calling me from these fake phone numbers impersonating the police and XXXX XXXX, trying to scare me, saying I was going to be detained. I then took it upon myself to drive to the police station, I said to them, I am here! Come arrest me. 
They tried to tell me to return to my car, saying ma'am you are making yourself confused. Eventually I talked to some officers and was able to show them they were impersonating their number. It was confirmed that I was scammed. I showed them all of the receipts and sent them everything. I then launched a complaint with XXXX to attempt to stop the transaction. I caught it pretty quickly, which makes me feel like maybe they could have done something. However, they took two days to even respond to my fraud report and told me they could not help me. I also scheduled a meeting with the branch manager at the second citizens bank location. I filed a complain also via the telephone before my meeting. The next morning, I showed up at the bank as soon as it opened and I explained what had happened. The lady I spoke too was very sympathetic and told me that Citizen 's bank takes fraud seriously, and that they will likely get my money back somehow. ( I recognize she was just trying to make me feel better, as I was quite upset. ) The branch manager called some one else and further processed my claim. She told me I would be receiving a phone call in about ten days about the claim. I never received a call, but I did receive a letter in the mail that stated that I had requested to cancel my claim, which was not true. 
I called the number on the letter and explained my confusion, and the woman on the line told me flatly they can't help me. They can not cancel a withdrawal that I made in person with my card. She was not very sympathetic and I felt like a moron.

I sent the branch manager a strongly worded email letting her know what happened. Ultimately I understand that it was my fault what happened, but Citizens Bank sure made it easy. The police officer did call me and say that he was forwarding all the information to their team of detectives, but said not to get my hopes up.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation