Consumer complaint received 2018-10-22
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Banking errors
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (MA)

In XX/XX/XXXX I discovered that my checking account was hacked by someone named XXXX XXXX in Kentucky. When I found out about this I filed a report with the XXXX, MA police and met with Citizens Bank, who assured me that I would be fully reimbursed. 

I filed well over 60 claims with the Fraud Department who handles both ACH and check payments. The Fraud Department reviewed my claims, admitted that fraud occurred but is only reimbursing me for the fraudulent ACH payments and not the fraudulent checks! Further, they said that I was at fault because : 1 ) I did not report the fraud within 30 days of the XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX statement and, 2 ) they usually don't review/catch fraudulent checks with a low amount - despite the fact that over {$11000.00} in fraudulent checks were written within days of each other in XX/XX/XXXX - totally uncharacteristic of my banking activity! In XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, it was also clear that Citizens had some suspicions about my account because they denied three checks totaling {$5300.00} and reversed one ACH payment for {$2000.00} " Refer to Maker! '' However, they did not flag my account, notify me by phone or letter, or even freeze my account! Had they complied with this particular policy a lot of problems could have been avoided. 

Citizens also said that they cashed the checks in good faith - even though : 1 ) the name on the checks was not mine, 2 ) the signature was not mine, 3 ) the address was not mine - and it was out of state, 4 ) the checks were written for uncharacteristically large amounts to several out of state companies, individuals and municipalities for payroll, light bills, taxes, etc., and 5 ) the checks had an obviously fake Citizens logo. 

When I escalated this to the Office of the Chairman of Citizens Bank they said they would not do anything about it - policy is policy. This is despite the fact that I never received a copy of their policy - and even though I opened the account in XX/XX/XXXX - they do not even have a copy of my signature in their records! 

Is it legal and/or within regulations for Citizens to admit that my account was hacked and reimburse me only for ACH fraud but not check fraud? Is it legal and/or within compliance/lawful for Citizens to follow some bank policies and not others? I would really appreciate your help as it appears to me that Citizens is not protecting me against undeniable fraud and instead, manipulating their policies, regulations and maybe even laws in their own best interests and not mine, as a consumer. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX, Citizens has reimbursed me {$26000.00} in ACH payments and has an additional 14 ACH claims totaling {$6300.00} under review. I still have 8 fraudulent check claims totaling {$11000.00} that Citizens is denying reimbursing me for. You might be wondering why I didn't review my accounts within 30 days. My father passed away in XX/XX/XXXX, we buried him in XX/XX/XXXX and we would have celebrated his XXXX birthday in XX/XX/XXXX. The fraud occurred within one year of his death and as dad 's sole caregiver for 5 years prior to his death, I was grief stricken and preoccupied with trying to settle his estate and look for a job. I also thought with all of Citizen 's promises about fraud protection ( XX/XX/XXXX is Fraud Prevention month at Citizens! ),  loyalty advertisements and the fact that I had been with them since I bought my first home in the XXXX, I was protected.