Consumer complaint received 2015-09-14
Product: Credit card — 
Issue: Credit card protection / Debt protection — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NY)

Since I can not reach the CFPB by phone and I have no response to my emails, I write here to add information to an existing complaint XXXX. 

XXXX XXXX stole my credit card in XXXX 2008 and used it for several weeks that month, forging my name to purchase hotel rooms, taxi rides, dinners, etc. totaling {$7300.00} for his use. This is a clear case of identity theft. He posed as a XXXX to help me with some work in my apartment solely to get my credit card to buy supplies and to have it authorized by me for that XXXX purchase on that day and convinced me to order XXXX in his name he never used because it arrived after the account had been closed as Citibank well knows. He stole the card, and with a fake ID he made stole my identity. He forged my signature for purchases all over town for three weeks buying anything but supplies for my apartment, of which I was completely unaware. Citibank knew it was fraud at the time because XXXX XXXX, of the Fraud XXXX Department, Citibank sent a letter dated XXXX XXXX, 2008 to inform me of the misuse of my card, following a phone call I had received from another Citibank XXXX a few days before informing me of the same. After receiving and reviewing my XXXX statement, I responded on XXXX XXXX, 2008 I reported the fraudulent purchases on my already closed account. XXXX XXXX acknowledged on XXXX XXXX, 2008 the receipt of my correspondence and the closure of my account for 'security reasons. ' On XXXX XXXX, 2008 XXXX XXXX wrote to inform me that Citibank would not reimburse me any of the {$7300.00} in stolen credit and took no responsibility for its approval of the same although the bank and its vendors had approved the thief 's fraudulent use of my signature and credit card. I appealed in correspondence dated XXXX XXXX, 2008 and was again declined. XXXX XXXX XXXX in her letter of XXXX XXXX, 2008 lies when she implies that the card in XXXX XXXX 's name sent to me was used for these purchasers because she must know that card was never used. She lies when she states I approved the purchases in a conversation with a Citibank representative on XXXX XXXX, 2008. On the contrary, I informed the representative on that date that the purchases were fraudulent and that my card had been misused. Citibank stopped sending me statements on that card and then sued me for payment. What Citibank fails to understand is that XXXX XXXX stole my identity after he tricked me into authorizing him as a user to simply getting the construction job done. He had worked for several weeks prior to his theft to build up my trust in him to get the card he stole from me because he was completely out of touch during that three week period. I never knew where he lived anyway, but of course during that period he was living in the hotels my card was paying for. I will create an avadavit to gain access to the signed receipts and copies of the id he used, which I will prove is a fake. I certainly did not authorize XXXX XXXX to rob me. He tricked me into authorizing him and misused my card for as long as a time he could before my statement arrived and he would have been discovered by me, while Citibank watched all the time. His foul deed took planning as shown by his timing and proves it was identity theft from which Citibank and its merchants are required to protect me