Consumer complaint received 2022-12-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TX
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:
On XX/XX/2022, I was working and had some tech issues with my computer. I contacted XXXX XXXX, the tech service I use with Best Buy. I usually contact them online through the chat function. I tried that twice and they dropped me both times so in frustration, I XXXX  the XXXX XXXX number and obtained it and called them. 

When I called them, I was frustrated at having been dropped twice. The guy on the line identified himself as XXXX XXXX and said he would bump me up to the front of the line and would have a XXXX contact me in XXXX minutes or so to follow up with my issue. He had me pull up a best buy box that I put a special number in that would bump me up in line ( this feature had been used before with the XXXX XXXX XXXX so I recognized it ). About XXXX minutes later, guy XXXX called me ( the " XXXX '' ). 

When the 'manager ' called me he began running programs on my computer. He kept asking me to check my internet connection and was asking for the XXXX XXXX  on my XXXX  etc so i was frequently walking away from my computer. He kept showing me some 'old files ' that needed to be cleared and it would cost XXXX to clear them ( at this point, he was buying a XXXX gift card from best buy online ). When I asked what he was doing, he explained that he would override the cost at the end to XXXX but that was needed in order to clear out my extra files. I explained I had never been charged any extra before and he replied it was only XXXX. He asked if I consented to the XXXX XXXX. I reluctantly said yes and that's when he charged the card for XXXX. I saw that he didn't override the final charge and got mad at him. He said " oops. Sorry i can't refund that but I can compensate you in your bank directly. You bank with XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX? '' i said yes. He then opened up my bank account website ( with my help as I thought I was getting a refund ). Again, he has me walking away from my computer and I saw that he had set up a XXXX account to someone named " XXXX XXXX. '' He was transferring XXXX OUT of my bank account. I came back to the computer and started yelling at him that he was making things worse. At this point, I still hadn't realized it was a scam ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ). I thought he was really inept and I trusted that I was speaking with the real XXXX XXXX. He cancelled the pending debit from my bank. I was still frustrated that he wasn't asking the right questions to help me resolve my tech issue. I started screaming at him at this point and I think he felt bad b/c he just said " turn off your computer. Just listen to me. Turn off your computer. I will call you back. '' I had work to do so I was irritated that I would lose even more time working. After we hung up, I called best buy and they transferred me to the reaXXXX XXXX XXXX. They confirmed that the order number ( generated for the XXXX gift card ) was invalid. They asked me to send the order confirmation email to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and to bring my computer in immediately to check for viruses. I immediately called my credit card company, XXXX  XXXX, to dispute and let them know about this fraudulent charge. They told me I had to wait a few days for the charge to go through and then dispute it. So I did that. 

As a result of this fraud, I had to change my bank account that I had for XXXX  years. I had to change all my passwords. I had many viruses on my computer that this guy had put on it so I had to have all those cleared. I have received many more phishing emails and both of those guys ( guy number XXXX and guy XXXX " the XXXX '' ) continued to call me for days after ( but I never answered them as I figured out by then it was a scam ). On XX/XX/2022, I made a report to the XXXX police dept. They told me I had to make a report to the Federal Trade Commission so I did on XX/XX/XXXX. 

After a few days, after the charge went though, I called and disputed it. They initially gave me credit and went back and forth with the " merchant '' who in this case is the scammer. The scammer sent me a best buy gift card in the mail. He had a tracking number. It's not a valid gift card. I told my credit card company all of this. I have sent them an explanation and sent them documentation of my complaints with XXXX police dept and FTC and the email forwarded to XXXX. They investigated it and sided with the scammer merchant. I called them again and asked why they made that decision. They told me I had to get a charge slipback from the merchant. They are asking me to go back to my scammer and ask him to unscam me. This makes XXXX sense. I told them to call the real best buy give them the order number and ask if that's a valid number. Despite all the info I gave them, they ignored all my documentation and sided with the scammer. After their documentation on XXXX XXXX informing me they were siding with him, I contacted them and spoke with a very nice lady. She said as a consumer I had never made a billing dispute in my 11 years with them and she would address it with them. They had XXXX business days to reopen the investigation. On XXXX XXXX, it was the XXXX business day and they didn't reopen the investigation. I closed my account with them as a result on XXXX XXXX. I realized that they are not believing me and are siding with him even though I have given them a lot of info and proof and given them an easy way to really resolve it ( call best buy ) Furthermore, I called them IMMEDIATELY to resolve it and they told me to WAIT until the charge went through. I want this XXXX charge addressed with my credit card company. It is the XXXX XXXX citicard XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX phone number XXXX.

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