Consumer complaint received 2015-12-01
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
Last month I received a Linked In message from a regional VP at the company I work for introducing me to XXXXXXXXXXXX a shopping service that provide customer feedback for their clients such as XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. After responding I was sent a letter of instruction and a cashier 's check for {$2900.00} in a USPS overnight envelope from XXXX XXXX in XXXX, NJ. I was told to keep {$400.00} and transfer {$2500.00} at a XXXX XXXX XXXX to their contact in XXXX XXXX. They were interested in various customer feedback. The cashier 's check was from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX based in XXXX XXXX, TX, according to their website a {$6.00} XXXX credit union. I do not know the intricacies of how cashier 's checks are cleared. I thought they were cash when you deposit them. Still I thought the situation was unusual. When I received the letter and check I called Citibank 's customer service line. After 20 minutes on the phone where I asked if there were any known scams I was told to take the check to a local branch for verification. It seemed to make sense. However if you go to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency website ( XXXX ) it states that you should never accept a check from someone you do n't know and that as the payee it is up to you to pursue the maker of the check. Like being mislead that a red and green traffic light have the opposite meaning. I then went to a local Citibank branch and spoke to a teller who I had seen before and asked if they could review the cashier 's check since it was from an out of state credit union. I was told that the funds that were posted and cleared. I was told that the cash from the check was available now. Later that day I went to another Citibank branch in nearby and again confirmed the cash balance and withdrew the {$2500.00} and proceeded with my assignment. Three business days later I saw that my checking account balance was reduced by {$2900.00}. I called the Citibank and was transferred to their fraud dept. and now the learning began. I was told that all cashier 's checks even those from another Citibank account are on HOLD for one business day. Any cashier 's check from a non-Citibank account can take up to four business days for verification. I called Citibank customer service to reach the manager of the local branch. It turns out that this branch does n't have a manager. They did n't have an assistant manager on the day I called, they were on vacation. I was referred to a Citibank location 15 minutes away to the supervising manager who had his day off. I spoke to the assistant manager who was on the teller line. I then was referred to the area manager who told me that they would give the teller that I dealt with additional training. I asked about the bank 's responsibility and why I was misled. I was told that it was up to me to know. I received the attached form letter from Citibank absolving them from any responsibility. If there is n't adequate supervision, there is n't adequate training and the bank can save time and money because they have the OCC rule discussed above to hide behind. It 's a fraudster 's paradise. I received another cashier 's check from the same folks yesterday. Same exact story except to a different contact in XXXX XXXX. I contacted the XXXX County XXXX precinct and have filled an identity theft case.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation