Consumer complaint received 2020-10-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NJ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
I reported a fraudulent and unauthorized purchase of my Citibank debit card for the amount of {$1300.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. The unauthorized purchase was made through bestbuy.com on XX/XX/XXXX ( which was two days before I reported the incident to Citibank ).  I have been appealing to Citibank to return my stolen money on dates XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Each time I called them to ask for an update, I was given various responses by various personnel such as " Citibank will not return my stolen money " to " They are processing my appeal and that I needed to wait for a letter in the mail from them ''. Six months passed, my stolen money is not returned, On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Citibank again and I was told again that " The case is 'resolved ' and that Cit

ibank is not returning my stolen money. I was told that Citibank Fraud Department will investigate on th
e matter and that they will let me know the result in a week or so. Three days after, I received a letter that the investigation was done and the 'resolution ' was that I was responsible for the stolen money. Hence, Citibank was not returning my money. 

I called Citibank to ask why they came up with that 'resolution ' and I was told I can apply for an appeal for my case and send it to this email : XXXX and mail a copy to : Citibank N.A.. Attn :  Debit Card BDU. XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX, SD XXXX I was also told that I should send a police report. And so, I reported the fraudulent activity to the XXXX police station in XXXX, NJ on XX/XX/XXXX. I have also reported identity case to FTC on XX/XX/XXXX. The police report and the ID Theft report from FTC were sent to Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Six months passed since I first reported the unauthorized usage of my debit card resulting to loss of my money on my checking account, Citibank has not returned my money. I have spoken with many Citibank personnel more than a dozen times in various days from their Customer Relations and Fraud departments ( including two managers ) and I have gotten various replies which range from " The case is resolved. You ( the cusomer ) are responsible for the stolen money on your checking account '' to " We will elevate the issue to be reviewed '' - but never got a follow-up on this thru phone call, email or mail.

After submitting all the pertinent information to Citibank thru mail and  email, I received a letter from Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX which stated instructions that I must send all necessary information such as amount of stolen money, date and merchant. The letter also stated that the information I provided was " not sufficient ''. This was a big surprise to me because I already sent all documents three times ( i.e. police report, FTC report and letter ). The letter also stated that I must send them a bank statement. And so I sent all these requested information even though Citibank must have all these information after all the mail and emails i have sent and phone conversations i had done with them  from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. As for the bank statement, they should have access to my bank statement as they are the bank. T. Nevertheless, I printed a copy and sent it to them anyway, Two weeks later, I got the same letter as if they never received the information at all. So, I put together the same documents ( police report, FTC report, bank statement and a letter that details all important information such as amount stolen, date of incident and merchant. Two weeks after I sent the mail, I received the same letter from Citibank asking for the same documents.

I am aware of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act which says that I am not responsible for any unauthorized transaction. I reported the incident on the day I found out about it. 
https : //www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0213-lost-or-stolen-credit-atm-and-debit-cards Citibank is clearly violating the law according to the consumer.ftc. gov. They say I am liable to my stolen money. When in fact, I was at home when my debit card was used by someone whom I do not know to purchase a merchandise at bestbuy.com. The item was picked up by the thief at a bestbuy store, as I found out from a Best Buy customer service representative. My money should have been safe in my checking account with Citibank. It is not my fault that money was stolen from me when I had my debit card secured in my wallet in my home during lockdown.

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