Consumer complaint received 2023-01-25
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Fee problem
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (OR)

) XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, between XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX, I received three telephone calls to my cell phone from XXXX XXXX, the number for 24-hour customer service on the back of my Citibank ATM card. The person at the other end of the line identified himself as XXXX from Citibank and told me he was calling because of a suspicious attempted charge on my Citibank card ( my ATM card also works as a Mastercard ). He asked if I was traveling and had I just made a charge for {$300.00} and some change in Florida. I told him no, I was home in Oregon, and that I hadnt been traveling. He told me there were some other recent charges that he had better confirm with me as well. He asked if I had my Citibank ATM card in my possession, so I went to make sure I did. He pointed out that he was calling from the Citibank customer service number shown on the back of my ATM card, which I double checked was the case. He also read off the numbers on my ATM card with the exception of the seventh and final numbers, which he asked me to read back to him, saying that was part of Citibanks process of verifying a customer. He also said they wouldnt ask me for my whole social security number but asked me just for the last four digits. 

This was the only identifying information the man requested from me during the entire conversation. 

This XXXX said there was a {$5.00} transfer to XXXX XXXX via XXXX and asked if I had authorized it. I said I recognized XXXX XXXXXXXX the editor of a book Im working  on, and that I had sent her money via XXXX earlier in the month but not a {$5.00} transfer that day. He had the amount of my transfer to her via XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX, which in retrospect is very concerning because I made that transfer from my XXXX XXXX account, not from my Citibank account. He said there was another one also scheduled for the day for {$900.00} and I said that was not authorized either. He said he was going to send a six-digit code to my cell phone that I should repeat back to him to give him authorization to cancel those transfers. 

The text he sent with the code came through on a number on which I had received previous codes from Citibank ( e.g., dating back to XXXX of this year ). He kept putting me on hold and asking me to wait for a few minutes, and I told him I had a guest who had just arrived so I needed to finish this soon. He kept indicating it wouldnt take much longer. He told me my Citibank account had been taken over, the password changed that day and the email and text alerts turned off, which is why he said I hadnt received prior notices from Citibank asking whether Id authorized those charges/transfers. He said there were transfers via XXXX to a XXXX XXXX and asked if Id authorized those. I said I didnt know a XXXX XXXX and certainly hadnt authorized any transfers at all. 

He told me that if I could call XXXX XXXX while he was on the line and get the six-digit code from her that was associated with the {$5.00} XXXX transfer to her that day, that he could make sure the charge was canceled immediately rather than having to be credited back to me down the road. I said I had no idea if I could reach her -- that she lived in a different time zone ( XXXX ) and it was late in the day -- but he indicated that would expedite things if I could reach her so I gave it a try. It seemed like an odd request and I told him it sounded like an unusual request. He wasnt insistent that I do it but indicated that it would help expedite canceling the transfers if I was able to reach her and get the number. He indicated he would hold while I was calling her so he could be on the line and I wouldnt have to call back. So I put him on hold and called and XXXX answered right away. She looked and saw a couple of XXXX transfers from me coming to her. She looked for a six-digit code in the messages to her and gave it to me and I repeated it to XXXX. XXXX expressed concern as weve been working together for a year and she is quite scrupulous and knew that I had no reason to be sending her the amounts her texts indicated she was to be receiving that day. Later on through the evening she texted me a couple of times indicating she was receiving even more transfers from me via XXXX. Im attaching screen shots of those messages as well. 

He then had me on hold for awhile as he indicated he was reinstituting the text and email alerts from my account. During this time he also was sending me more six-digit codes and asking me to confirm them so he could take care of identifying charges that needed to be canceled. You can see those texts in the attached screenshots. During the conversation he also advised me that I should avoid swiping my card for transactions, that I should use the chip whenever possible, to avoid my number being stolen. I told him I hadnt used the card for some months, and he explained that Citibank had recently been hacked and a lot of customer accounts had been compromised so that might have been how the fraudster got my information. Ultimately I did receive a few emails that appear to be from Citibank, including one that listed three transfers to XXXX XXXX. 

When I received the attached Citibank email indicating three transfers -- the first for {$700.00} that it said had been declined, the second for {$800.00} that was said to be approved, and the third for {$1200.00} that it indicated had been declined -- there were two buttons at the bottom of the email. The green Yes button says below it I recognize all of the above, and the red No button has below it the legend, I do not recognize one or more of the above. He told me I needed to put my finger on the green button in order to confirm that the charges should be declined. I questioned that since of the three charges listed, one of them indicated it was approved while the other two stated theyd been declined. But he said the way to confirm that they should be declined was to tap the green button so I finally did. 

Forty-eight minutes into the call, while XXXX had me on hold because he was supposedly contacting another department at the bank to reinstate my text alerts, since I told him those had not come through yet, the call dropped. I was about to call back when I received yet another call from XXXX from the same Citibank XXXX number. That was at XXXX XXXX, as the attached screen shots of my cell phone call records indicate. I told XXXX I didnt know why the call had dropped on my end, and he didnt indicate that he had dropped it. I continued to be on with him for another 26 minutes, as the attached call records indicate. During that time, while periodically putting me on hold while he supposedly finished taking care of things with other Citibank departments, he told me that I was being sent a new ATM card that I would receive by expedited delivery within the next one to two days. He said there would be no charge for the delivery and told me that once I had the new card I could get back in to my online account, under a new account number ( which has happened before over the years when Ive misplaced my card or unauthorized charges were made, both with Citibank and my other accounts ). He also said I would receive a call back in the morning from either him or another senior customer service rep from Citibank following up on the corrective steps having been taken to cancel the unauthorized charges and restore the money to my account. 

He repeatedly asked me during the second half of the call if I had any questions for him. I said I had a lot -- like How could this happen? -- but that I realized he wouldnt have answers for that. I also asked that he verify the address they had for me for sending the replacement debit card, so that it wouldnt be going to some address in Florida. He repeated my XXXX XXXX address in Oregon to me. 

I told him that since I was scheduled for the colonoscopy first thing in the morning, I would be available for the call he promised in the morning. He asked if I would be available at noon the next day and I said it would be safer to schedule that call for XXXX XXXX. He said he was making a record of that in his notes and that I would receive the call at XXXX XXXX  the next day -- i.e., XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX. Throughout the call, XXXX seemed not only very professional but also exhibited the kind of personal concern for what appeared to be happening to my account and the inconvenience it and his call with me were causing that one would expect from a well trained, professional customer service supervisor. He repeatedly apologized for having to put me on hold and kept saying it would only take another couple or few minutes. In other words, he was totally believable as a caring, professional Citibank representative -- in stark contrast to what I was to experience two days later from the several actual Citibank employees that I spoke to as described below. 

I never did receive the follow up call the next afternoon. I called Citibank at XXXX XXXX  on XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, to get an update on the issues XXXX had called about and to find out why I hadnt received the promise call from Citibank the previous afternoon. It took hours on the phone with the customer service rep and multiple employees in the fraud department but ultimately I learned that I'd been the victim of a fraud and that my credit line had been drained. My account was closed to prevent further activity. The fraud investigation ultimately resulted in the fraudulent charges being reversed. It took me over a month to receive a new ATM card from Citibank that would allow me to access the new account they had set up for me. When I finally did, in XXXX, it was showing {$8000.00} or so in my account and nothing owing on my part. I ultimately closed that account since I have two checking accounts with other banks and no faith anymore in Citibank 's ability to protect the money in accounts with them. I then received a letter from Citibank this week indicating that my checking plus account with them was past due. I called to find out about this and after hours on the phone was finally given online access to see that account and that there was a large balance owing. There was no way online for me to make a payment on the account, but after hours being on the phone today Citibank finally accepted a payment from me on this balance. What I am disputing is a {$25.00} late fee they charged as of XX/XX/XXXX, when I had no access to this account, no way of knowing what, if anything, was owed, and know way of paying. I was transferred back and forth among departments at Citibank on this issue today before finally speaking to XXXX, an account supervisor ( badge # XXXX ) who informed me that there was no one there who could reverse the late fee on my account.