Consumer complaint received 2023-02-04
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: OH
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
I was alerted to Fraudulent Charges sometime in XX/XX/XXXX. I initiated disputes for Fraudulent Transactions that were unauthorized and charged to my account, and viewed statements by CitiCards that were available online. These went back to XX/XX/XXXX, and I found fraudulent and unauthorized charges to my account spanning XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX. Upon learning of these unauthorized charges, I immediately contacted Citi, informed them my card number had been compromised in some way, and initiated fraudulent disputes spanning almost 2 years from XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX. These amounted to total fraud charges around {$40000.00} CitiCards contacted me, conducted a thorough investigation. Citicards concluded the investigation sometime around XX/XX/XXXX. CitiCards found in MY Favor, and remit an amount of about {$40000.00} to my bank account to reimburse me for the fraudulent charges that I had paid ( knowingly ) over the years. 

As this first wave of fraud disputes was being investigated for XXXX and XXXX charges, I tried to find the root cause and see how far back this went. Citibank did not have my XXXX and XXXX statements available online ( they were archived ). So I requested all the statements I could find - stemming back to XXXX. Upon waiting 7 days to receive the XXXX and XXXX statements, I found and identified the same pattern of Fraudulent Charges on XXXX and XXXX statements. Some XXXX transactions, totaling around {$35000.00} had been charged ( and I paid for ) to Citibank. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent in these hard copy documents, as instructed by Citi, to a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, SD. I waited for 4 weeks. I never received confirmation that my XXXX and XXXX disputed Fraud charges were received. Finally, after waiting 4 weeks, I called into the phone number to speak with the XXXX XXXX team and informed them I had not received a response. I was told that I should send an email, about the XXXX and XXXX charges to " XXXX '' I sent the exact same documentation that was sent to the XXXX XXXX XXXX I have attached these emails to this dispute. 

Around XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that my XXXX and XXXX disputed Fraud charges were finally posted online to my account, and under the Manage Disputes section, all 17 charges were " under investigation ''. At this point, I thought things were on the way to being resolved. Keep in mind, at this point, Citibank had already investigated, completed and concluded that the XXXX and XXXX charges on my account totaling approximately {$40000.00} was Fraudulent and Unauthorized by me. Not just that, but payment was actually sent to me- so this matter was deemed complete and concluded. 

Yesterday, on XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my Citicards account and it stated that my account was closed. It further posted that Citicards reversed all the credits ( which they already concluded and paid to me ) and posted an account balance owed of approximately {$39000.00}. These reversed charges were from XXXX and XXXX Fraudulent Transactions. ( Not the XXXX or XXXX Fraud disputes that were underway ). Essentially, Citicards : 1. Undertook an investigation for fraud. 
2. Found in my favor after completing the investigation.

3. Remit payment for the completed fraud case to me in an amount of approximately {$40000.00} 4. Had a {$0.00} balance on my account and was in the process of investigating XXXX and XXXX charges. 
5. Then WENT BACK and reversed and re-posted charges already credited, found fraudulent, and completed from XXXX and XXXX and now made my account balance nearly {$40000.00}. 

Throughout this entire process, I was Not notified of anything that was going on. I must have called Citicards nearly 25 times from XX/XX/XXXX - present. I was ensured time and time again that I am not liable for Fraudulent charges ( which a full investigation already concluded I wasn't ). Then I only find out the status of my XXXX and XXXX pending charges ( that are fraudulent and I am still owed some {$35000.00} for ), were just dropped - and to add insult to injury, they re-posted the XXXX and XXXX fraudulent transactions to my account and state that I now owe a balance of nearly {$40000.00}. 

I have attempted numerous times to call them ( during XXXX XXXX business hours on Friday ) and nobody responded to my complaint. Nobody called me back to discuss the situation when I was told this would be escalated immediately. As of now, I escalated my call to a supervisor today ( XXXX ) and informed them they need to have a supervisor or the specific case manager handling the Fraud investigation case, call me immediately on Monday morning. ( They told me the name of the person handling my case- who I addressed my email correspondence to repeatedly, without any confirmation or response ).

The bottom line is this : 1. It is blatantly unfair, unjust, dishonest, and a complete lack of transparency and problematic business practice to begin, investigate, conclude and remit payment for a fraud investigation - only to then AFTER the investigation is complete and concluded - ask for {$40000.00} in funds back by posting that I now owe that amount on my Citicard account.

2. Aside from above, there are STILL nearly {$35000.00} in Fraudulent Charges that I have initiated a dispute against for XXXX and XXXX charges. 

So instead of rightfully receiving nearly {$75000.00} in security credit and reimbursement. ( {$40000.00} already found and concluded in my favor- {$35000.00} I tried to initiate a dispute over ) - Citicard is now stating I owe a balance of the {$40000.00}. To do such a thing to someone, is unconscionable, unethical, and in violation of common fairness in business practices.

What I am asking is the following : 1. Citicards honors their first Fraud investigation which already was concluded, found in my favor, and remit approximately {$40000.00} to my account. Instead of now backtracking on the XXXX and XXXX Fraudulent Charge investigation after they have had plenty of time to pursue their investigation, and posting this account back to my balance stating I now owe it- they need to remove this account posted balance on my account and {$0.00} and close my account down so I do not have any negative credit or financial credit report impact. ( Assuming they attempt to collect on the posted reversed funds ).

2. Besides zeroing out my account balance as stated above, I would like Citicards to continue the XXXX and XXXX Fraud Dispute Investigations that are clearly Fraudulent due to some multiple charges over this period of time from XXXX and XXXX. To have clearly found in my favor for the XXXX and XXXX Fraud charges, enough so to return payment to me- how is it possible not to find the exact same conclusion for XXXX and XXXX when my card number and identity was clearly compromised. The right, logical and honest thing to do is find that these the XXXX and XXXX transactions were fraudulent, and issue credits back to my account. 

In conclusion - Citicards has failed to follow fair and reasonable practices, likely failed to follow procedure with response/confirmation time of my disputes, or some other internal procedure to ensure something like this does not happen. Then in turn, for their own mistakes, they want to re-post transactions they found were already Fraudulent, and make me, as the individual, pay for them. 

I look forward to a favorable resolution with CitiCards. I would be happy if someone from Citicards with the power to fix this, contacts me, actually has a discussion with me, and resolves this matter. If they do, I would be happy to come back and amend ( or add to ) these statements if they can move forward in good faith and rectify this situation. This has caused me undue stress, both emotional and physical. 

Thank you.

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