Consumer complaint received 2022-06-14
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NY)

Greetings, On XX/XX/2022, I received an email from someone acting as a representative of the clothing company, XXXX, a company that has clothes and other merchandise across the US. The email was in response to my resume being posted on the website, Indeed, and stated that they were looking for a Product Photographer to join their team, working remotely, and wanted me to reach out to them for an interview. Now, the company I currently work for has actually done business with XXXX many times in the past, so I was very flattered and intrigued. I emailed them back stating that I was interested, and they set up an interview for the following week. I went through the interview process, it was done via text through the XXXX app. I had not done a interview in more than a decade, as I have been with my current employer for XXXX years now. I did not think anything was suspicious or fraudulent, as we are now in a remote era where things are done via XXXX and XXXX and you don't even need to be at the actual location to close important deals or even work. The interview happened on XX/XX/2022, at at the conclusion I was offered the job. I was sent over a contract, which myself and my wife looked over, and it looked very legit. I was very excited as I am looking to become a full time photographer because that is what I love to do. Currently, when I am not on my weekday XXXX job, I do all things photography ( including weddings, concerts, special events, etc ) on the weekends and on my spare time, so I am fully invested into photography and it is what i truly love. Sadly, none of this would come to pass because all of this hooplah was the work of a scammer, and unfortunately, I didn't see any red flags. 

The " person '' I was communicating with on XXXX went by the name of " XXXX XXXX ''. I put that in quotes because they have since blocked me on XXXX and also changed their names. However, in the attached screenshots, you will see their name and also phone number on the app, if that is any help to you. XXXX told me that XXXX was going to send me a few checks to make sure I was properly outfitted to work with them remotely. They wanted me to have the right equipment, meaning camera gear, computer gear, lighting gear, etc and they wanted me to use the company provided equipment, NOT my own. Again, i didn't see an issue with this, because XXXX is a big company and if I was to be photographing new product that they would display in their website, it only made sense for me to follow their rules. They would sent me checks to deposit into my account and then they would ask that I send the money via XXXX to their own company approved vendors so that the vendors could purchase and customize the equipment before sending it to me. XXXX of the things they talked about was a device on a XXXX that would track my time so that I could get overtime. XXXX checks were mailed to me : the first was for XXXX dollars on XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX was for XXXX dollars on XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX was for XXXX dollars on XX/XX/XXXX, and the XXXX was for XXXX dollars on XX/XX/XXXX. All were deposited into my checking account. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent XXXX dollars via XXXX to a " XXXX XXXX '', which was XXXX of their company approved vendors. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent XXXX dollars via XXXX to a " XXXX XXXX '', the second of the XXXX company approved vendors that would get my equipment all together. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent XXXX dollars via XXXX to XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I sent XXXX dollars via XXXX to XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent XXXX via XXXX to XXXX XXXX. That would be the last transaction I sent via XXXX because that is when things got ugly. The next day I noticed that XXXX of the XXXX checks I got from " XXXX '' had bounced and returned, deducting XXXX from my checking account. I immediately told this " XXXX XXXX '' what had happened, and they said they would look into it over the weekend. I had deposited XXXX of fools gold into my account and sent back XXXX dollars of real money to a scammer. I got the sickest feeling to my stomach and notified my bank that I feared the worst. Citibank told me that if the first check had bounced, most likely all XXXX checks would bounce. My entire bank account was frozen until all XXXX checks bounced, which they all did. On the following Monday, I followed up with " XXXX XXXX '' and was promptly blocked and had the entire chat conversation wiped clean. Thankfully, I had started screenshotting the conversation before it was wiped. 

I filed a dispute with Citibank, but I never really felt like Citibank had my back. It was hours on hold just to get a hold of anyone in the fraud department, and then no one really had answers that made me feel better. I faxed over XXXX pages of supporting documentation that clearly showed that I was the victim of an employment scam, but Citibank ruled against me and does not want to refund my money. When you look at all the supporting documentation, you will clearly see that I went into this with good intentions and someone took advantage of me. What sane person would want to just give XXXX dollars away for reckless and foolish reasons? I legitimately thought this was a great career opportunity as a photographer for a company that I actually dealt with in the past, and was absolutely crushed when this did not go through. 

Here is the link to all of my supporting documation : https : XXXX? usp=sharing Included is the employment letter, conversations with the scammer themselves, and screenshots of the zelle transactions. I have over XXXX screenshots so I thought it would be easier this way.