Consumer complaint received 2022-11-11
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CO
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I am a victim of XXXX scam. I received a text and a phone call on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX ( XXXX  XXXX ) from a scammer posing to be a citibank employee claiming to help dispute an unauthorized charge on my checking account. It resulted in opening 2 new checking account and getting unauthorized approval for a personal loan of {$7800.00} ( I received citibank emails confirming these processed within minutes ) which then the scammer transferred the entire loan amount and about {$1900.00} of my personal fund from those checking accounts to another account via XXXX transfer resulting around {$10000.00} of transfer. I have already filed previous complaint regarding fraudulent loan approval ( Complaint number : XXXX ) and fraudulent openings of 2 checking accounts ( Complaint number : XXXX ). This report is regarding multiple fraudulent transfer of money. 

Details or transfers will be found in provided screenshot attachments. 1 transfer under checking account ending with XXXX, 1 transfer under checking account ending with XXXX, and 6 transfers/transactions under original account ending in XXXX which I have used since the first opening of citibank account XXXX I believe ) more than 10 years ago created in New Jersey XXXX 

After realizing the fraud/scam/breach, I started contacting Citibank customer service immediately around XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) and informed the bank of the situation. I was working with " XXXX '' from " unsecured lending account department '' which she relayed the info and transferred me to " security department. '' This representative transferred me to another department which I was informed that they processed " blocking '' of all citibank checking accounts and loan accounts under my name, and informed me that the " investigation department '' will contact me for further guidance. I asked multiple times that since " all the charges that were made on this day XX/XX/XXXX are result of fraudulent process and it is shown as PENDING on the bank account '', if they can reverse or cancel the XXXX or loan process charges made this day. They informed me that the while the account is " blocked '' that would prevent those accounts from further transactions, but they will keep the account for the investigation team to collect information from. The call between citibank and myself lasted 47minutes. After quickly leaving my work and preparing myself for further follow-up actions, I contacted Citibank again at XXXX ( XXXX  time XXXX at home to verify and inquire more about what I can do. The 1hour 18minutes of phone call with the Citibank representative repeated the same information informing me to wait for the investigation team to contact me back, and that they have block all related accounts under my name. They also recommended me to open a new checking account so that the refund money can be easily transferred back to me when the dispute is settled which I complied to. I asked them how can I be sure of that the process/action has been made, and the representative informed me that I would be getting the communication via my email or mail. At XXXX, without the mentioned confirmation email of the action against this fraud report sent to me ( I did received an email from Citibank for opening up my new account though ), I contacted the customer service again to verify and to request a written/documented confirmation of the events of this day. The representative repeated the same information mentioned above saying that all accounts are blocked and I should wait for their team to contact me back. I asked again since the XXXX payments were all in " pending status '', if that will be reversed or not processed. At that point, the representative informed me that the XXXX payment will not be processed answering my specific question. 

I am reporting that I have NOT received any follow up email from Citibank regarding this fraud that I am experiencing. My online banking is " locked '' from laptop access, but I can still access it from my smartphone and I will report individual charges to CFPB as recommended from the website. Please contact me for any information or recommended actions that I can take from my side. 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 monetary relief