Consumer complaint received 2022-08-28
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
The following description of the events that have occurred against me has happened with Citibank and i was scammed by my having connected my bank account through the Citibank app to XXXX. 

On XX/XX/2022 i received a phone call from a person posing as a Citibank Fraud Department representative. They called me and asked if i had authorized a {$2000.00} wire transfer. I told them that no i did not and they proceeded to take me through a verification process, where they read my home address back to me and asked to confirm if it was my address. I said yes and they asked me to confirm the last XXXX digits of my social security number. They then proceeded to ask on my recent transactions and asked if i had just went to XXXX and spent {$280.00} ; i told them yes. They proceeded to verify additional transactions that were on my checking account. 

They said that " fraudsters '' had gained access to my online account and attempted to initiate several XXXX transactions and in order to delay alerts to my cell and email, they disabled the notifications. They said that they would then enable the notifications, so not to be alarmed as several would be coming through. I then proceeded to receive approximately 3 or 4 XXXX  transaction alerts. They also sent {$25.00} to my brother in law and asked if i could call him, we got him on the line and he provided a text code that they were requesting. The fraudster then proceeded to say that he would be enrolling me in XXXX and i then received emails confirming this enrollment to my email account ; they were legitimate Citibank emails confirming enrollment status. 

I also received email confirmations of new checking accounts that had been created in my name and attached to my original checking account, as well. I let him know that i was receiving these emails and he stated that it was part of the delayed email notifications that had been previously XXXX. Additionally, he said that he was reversing the activity of these accounts having been created. 

From the checking account that I have had and used at CitiBank for the past almost 20 years, they stole a total of {$26000.00}. They dispersed the money across three checking accounts by creating XXXX new accounts and transferred money into those to continue making XXXX  transactions. From my original checking, they wired out {$9900.00}, from the XXXX new accounts they transferred and wired {$6900.00} and {$9900.00} into the other. I had approximately {$20000.00} in cash and the difference was taken from a Line of Credit that i have connected to my checking account. 

Approximately XXXX XXXX transactions occurred on XXXX XXXX ; the fraudster said that he would freeze my account for 24 hours while Citi did an investigation as to what was going on and how the wires were initiated. He said he would call me the next day XX/XX/2022 to let me know the status and give me back online access. When he called me the next day, the scam continued and he finished the last of the XXXX transactions. 

XX/XX/2022 he had said that he would follow up with me one more time and when i did not receive the phone call i panicked, called citibank and found out i had been scammed. They stole my life savings and i was under the impression the entire time that i was assisting help stop fraudulent activity. I am a victim of fraud and i feel that this intrusion was due to a data leak and/or security breach at the Citibank level XXXX The fraudsters had direct access to my online bank account and the evidence of this was that they were reading my transactions back to me, creating new checking accounts that i did not request or initiate and also enrolled me into XXXX which is a Citibank program I also did not request or initiate. They had the ability to create a false sense of security with me through using the knowledge they had available to them from my personal financial account to carry out this scam and steal everything i have worked for. 

Citibank has still not allowed me provisional credit while this investigation takes place and i have been using only credit cards. My accounts are frozen and they have made it extremely difficult to get proper status updates, only mentioning that i would need to wait up to 90 days before any decision could be made on whether or not they will cover this loss. Their inadequate security has allowed these fraudsters to view, manipulate and manage my personal finances. I have frozen my credit, submitted a police report, reported this identity theft at the federal level and have now submitted a complaint through your service.

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