Consumer complaint received 2019-02-11
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: MA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
Account summary : XXXX XXXX XXXX acct # XXXX XXXX  Joint account of XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ( relations are Aunt, brother and sister ) Opened jointly on XX/XX/XXXX Account was jointly owned by all 3 parties as joint tenants with all 3 parties having full access. 
Account was closed on XX/XX/XXXX. 


Fraud Details : Beginning on XX/XX/XXXX thru XX/XX/XXXX ; 40 checks issued by XXXX XXXX listed as payable to XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX AND XXXX XXXX were fraudulently deposited into a Citizens Bank joint checking account of both XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX./ 6 checks issues by XXXX XXXX listed as payable to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX AND XXXX XXXX were fraudulently deposited into a Citizens Bank checking account of XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX was not listed on either Citizens checking account where checks were deposited. 

Since checks were issued payable to all three parties joined by the word AND, according to the UCC Code chapter 106, Article 3, Section 3-110 the checks must be negotiated and signed by all parties whom the checks were issued to. 

In this case, since the checks were payable to 3 people with the word AND, each check must contain the authentic signature of all 3 parties to be cashed or deposited legally in a Massachusetts bank account that is owned by all 3 parties the check was payable to. 

Unfortunately this is not the case as XXXX XXXX 's signature was forged or omitted from all 46 checks and deposited to a joint checking account that XXXX XXXX was not an owner of at various Citizens Banks in XXXX suburbs of XXXX, XXXX and XXXX : 38 checks deposited with forgeries of XXXX XXXX 's signature on back of the checks/ 8 checks deposited without XXXX XXXX signature/ Total dollar amount of fraudulent processed checks : {$82000.00} This fraud was discovered by XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. Upon the XXXX of XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX, while researching her accounts as her Estates personal representative, XXXX XXXX requested copies of the checks from XXXX XXXX and Citizens bank and discovered the multiple forgeries of his name. 

In spring XXXX, XXXX XXXX filed criminal complaints against XXXX XXXX for fraud with both police departments of XXXX, Ma and XXXX, Ma. Hence both police departments filed probable cause hearings against XXXX. In the summer of XXXX both criminal complaints were dismissed as civil matters by the court magistrates. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX was notified by XXXX XXXX of the discovered fraud. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, Citizens bank was notified of the discovered fraud by XXXX XXXX. 

Complaint summary : My complaint is that in order for these multi party checks to be deposited at Citizens bank, per Citizen Bank policy, all 3 check owners were required to have a joint account at Citizens. Since XXXX XXXX was not an owner of an account at Citizens bank, again per Citizens bank policy, none of these 48 checks should of been accepted for deposit, fraudulently signed or not. 

Per Citizens Bank policy, the only two options available to process these checks were to either have XXXX XXXX endorse the checks in person at a branch and CASH the checks OR to deposit the checks by adding XXXX XXXX as an account owner to the joint checking account of XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. Unfortunately, neither of these options were taken and the checks were deposited fraudulently by XXXX XXXX. 
Additionally ... 

Citizens bank was negligent in not verifying the authenticity of XXXX XXXX signature on the back of the deposited 46 checks. 
Citizens bank didn't follow their own internal rules which are to not accept a third party signature on a check deposit when the third party is not an account owner of the account where the funds are being deposited to. 
I know Citizens bank failed to follow their own rules because I have a printed copy of them. : Thus, because of Citizens Bank negligence, I demand they reimburse my losses of {$41000.00} which is half of the total amount Citizen Bank allowed to be fraudulently taken.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation