Consumer complaint received 2018-03-06
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: GA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
It has been over three months since I have this issue here is : My original complain This incident was happen when I was trying to wiring money from my checking account from XXXX XXXX XXXX to the closing attorney office amount of {$8000.00} for closing on a property on XX/XX/XXXX. After, I was done wiring the money and I call attorney office who prepared the document for closing on my property in about five minutes later and they said they did not see money pending on their account and I was waiting another 5 minutes and call the closing attorney office again and they still did not see the fund came through at that time a lady from the attorney who was prepared for closing on this property for me told me to go right back in the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX to cancel the wiring process and they were able to stop that wiring transition at that time we found out that the money went to the account of some one name XXXX XXXX XXXX who have account in Citibank bank ID:XXXX at address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXX XXXX NV XXXX us and this was not the account we expected our money going into and I called to report the fraud on that wiring to the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX at XXXX and they were able to stopped transaction and had the case # XXXX on this incident, and I ask a lady who perform the wiring for that when can I get my money back in my account and she told me it should take 24-48 hours and more than 48 hours went back to the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX to let  them know I still did not have the refund from that wiring and XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX told me that Citibank needed Hold harmless letter from me and I did as they instructed me to do to the hold harmless letter to : Citibank ( incident report department ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX TX XXXX and also fax that letter to XXXX XXXX ( ref : XXXX ) as they instructed, more than three weeks later and I have been going back and forth between XXXX XXXX XXXX and Citibank and I have been calling XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX ( Citibank ) and I got no help and they told me now money is holding at Citibank and they can not even talk me direct on this matter and this is my money and they can not talk to me about this when I try to check on status of my money I am very frustrated at this point and needed help desperately. Thank XXXX XXXX XXXX response Our records indicate that on XX/XX/XXXX, a transfer of {$8000.00} from the account ending in XXXX, was credited to the account ending in XXXX. On the same date, a wire transfer for {$8000.00} was completed from the account ending in XXXX for the benefit of XXXX XXXX XXXX. As a result, a {$45.00} Wire Transfer fee was assessed to the account. On the same date, in an attempt to assist you, a recall request was sent to Citibank. On XX/XX/XXXX, a second recall attempt was made to Citibank. We received a response from Citibank requesting a Hold Harmless Agreement to be completed. Wire transfers are considered guaranteed funds. Once a wire has been sent and the initiator attempts to recall it, the approval of the recipient is required to have the wired funds returned. Without this approval, a recall can not be completed. XXXX XXXX XXXX acted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the enclosed Deposit Agreement and Disclosures publication, which forms part of the contract between our customers and the bank. We disclose that customers may not amend or cancel a payment order after we receive it. If you ask us to do this, we may make a reasonable effort to act on your request. However, we are not liable to you if, for any reason, a payment order is not amended or canceled. Please refer to the section titled Amending or Canceling Payment Orders for further information. XXXX XXXX, We appreciate your taking the time to share the details of your experience. We regret any inconvenience you may have encountered as a result of this matter and apologize for any service provided that did not meet your expectations. We have confirmed that we received instructions to transfer funds to the recipients you indicated on the Funds Transfer Request Authorization form. Based on our review, we have found no indication of bank error in the handling of your account. As such, we respectfully decline your request for the funds to be remitted back to your account. You will need to work with Citibank directly to resolve this matter. We regret learning that you may have been a victim of fraud. We have taken a number of steps to help protect our customers from bank fraud, but we are not able to identify all conditions that would cause fraud. Although no one expects to be victimized, it is important for consumers to be aware of the circumstances under which they conduct banking transactions with unknown individuals. We will fully cooperate with any law enforcement agency if we are contacted about a fraud investigation. 

Citibanks Response It is understood that you previously sent a wire transfer in the amount of {$8000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX. We applied the wire transfer to an account in the name of XXXX XXXX XXXX as indicated in the wire instructions. We are holding the funds pending the receipt of an indemnity letter ( also referred to as a Hold Harmless letter ) from XXXX XXXX XXXX. From your correspondence and the response that we received from XXXX XXXX XXXX, it appears that they are claiming that we need this letter from you. However, we need the indemnity letter from XXXX XXXX  XXXX. Please contact XXXX XXXX XXXX and request that they send the requested document to the following address : Citibank Incident Reporting Unit XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX Or, you can fax the letter to : XXXX. Please quote our reference XXXX on all future correspondence regarding this matter. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to respond to your concerns. Should you have any additional questions or wish to provide further information regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me at XXXX, Monday - Friday, between XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CT. 
I have my lawyer reach out to Citibank and Citibank still refuse to refund my money. I think instead of them holding my money they should be investigating in this matter and arrested the people who created this fraud from their banking system, so they can protect themselves and their customer in the future, now I personally think that the Citibank them self want to keep my money, XXXX please look into the Citibank in this matter. Thanks

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