Consumer complaint received 2023-12-01
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX I received a letter sent by a XXXX lawyer named XXXX XXXX stating that through US Embassy in XXXX, he located me as next of kin of his client XXXX XXXX XXXX who died from XXXX in XXXX without a Will but left a dormant account with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX He offered to make me the beneficiary on XXXX XXXX 's account through legal procedure before the balance was being surrendered to the government abandoned property department on XXXXXXXX XXXX, in exchange for his share plus donating 10 % to charity in memory of XXXX XXXX XXXX He also sent me the Death Certificate and Life Insurance certificate matching the balance. 
Prior to death, my grandfather mentioned he had a brother go to the US before losing the contact, plus the decedent shared the same surname and nationality as well as the age would correspond to my first cousin, supported by XXXX-issued Letter of Administrations, Sworn Affidavit of Claim and Certificate of Appointment Estate Beneficiary without a Will with Case # XXXX presented by the lawyer, so I believed. 
Before transferring the estate, XXXX XXXX XXXX Operations Manager XXXX XXXX, Branch Supervisor XXXX XXXX and the lawyer asked me to pay USD {$15000.00} to their escrow company " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' in Florida with a Citibank account " for both parties ' security '', and promised me the escrow fund would be returned to me after the estate-transfer was completed because " XXXX law and court mandate that estate be kept with integrity, whereby the escrow fund can't be deducted from. '' I was given the escrow company 's account details as below : Bank Name : Citibank Add. : XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX, NY XXXX Account Number : XXXX Wire Routing Number : XXXX ACH only : XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX Beneficiary Name : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX Phone # : XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX Before wiring, I called the above number, specifically asking the manager if they were an escrow company working with the XXXX bank, and he confirmed " the escrow fund will be returned to you after the estate transfer is completed. There's nothing to worry about. '' So I presented my bank XXXX XXXX with the above wire transfer details specifically naming the " Purpose for Wire is Escrow '', hence {$15000.00} was debited from my account on XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. Two days after, I didn't hear back from any of the XXXX and Florida parties. So I called Citibank Customer Service to report this wire fraud. A representative answered, unable to reveal an account holder 's identity for privacy, but repeatedly verified that the account holder who received the wire belonged to an individual, not an escrow or business account at all. The escrow business company " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' doesn't exist at all. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX also verified the lawyer and his law firm were fake, and the XXXX XXXX was fake, too. It's all fraud. 
I immediately notified my bank XXXXXXXX XXXX  of this wire fraud on XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and filed a Police Report Case # XXXX with my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Department which was shared with XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX from XXXXXXXX XXXX Security Team told me they would contact Citibank to try to retrieve my fund. Since then, I had repeatedly called XXXXXXXX XXXX for the status of their investigation, always being told " still going on ''. 
Way past the law-requited timeline for a financial institution to update a customer of its investigation status, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX again , and questioned why the scammers still contacted me 10 days after I reported this wire fraud with the same Citibank account details and with the same fraudulent business name? Account Supervisor XXXX said they had contacted Citibank for this wire fraud first day when I reported, but never heard back. So Citibank not only allowed a fraudster to open an account with it, but also processed my wire through to him despite that the account name, category of ownership and purpose of wire " as escrow '' didn't match at all, plus keeping the fraudster 's account open to abet his further fraud and scams even after being notified by his victim and another bank, and totally ignoring the victim defrauded by its account holder. 
Just like XXXX, the world 's largest cryptocurrency exchange recently prosecuted by Justice Department, Citibank 's gross negligence, failure on control measures and compliance law allow illicit activities by freely-roaming bad actors to harm law-abiding people. It should be investigated and held accountable!

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