Consumer complaint received 2021-03-01
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NY)

Citibank is refusing to refund me {$330.00} for fraudulent charges that I immediately reported as fraud and am willing to attest to such in a police report. Further, Citibank is preventing me from filing a police report because my local precinct requires a letter from the bank stating that it requires a police report, and Citibank has repeatedly ignored my requests for such a letter. Finally, Citibank neglected to conduct an investigation into whether the charge was fraudulent, and instead, simply sent me a letter asserting that I " verified that [ my ] card was in [ my ] possession at the time of the transaction '' even though I did no such thing. The card was not in my possession at the time of the transaction, and I certainly did not " verify '' that it was. Citibank has hung up when I called for more information, and has not replied to multiple emails. 

Here 's the timeline : XX/XX/2021 : My wife 's Citibank credit card was stolen from her at approximately XXXX while she was out shopping. We do not know how exactly ; it may have been pickpocketed or picked up by someone when she placed it down on a counter to pay. Shortly thereafter, a fraudulent {$3.00} charge appeared on our account. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Two more fraudulent charges appear on our account, one for {$320.00} and one for {$13.00}. We noticed the charges that afternoon / evening and immediately reported the card as stolen via Citibank 's mobile app. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Citibank sends us a letter ( attached ) stating that it has closed its investigation because it " confirmed that [ we ] participated in the transaction with the merchant '' and " verified that [ our ] card was in [ our ] possession at the time of the transactions. '' Approx. XX/XX/XXXX : We receive the XX/XX/XXXX letter, and I immediately call Citibank for more information. A representative informs me that the bank 's basis for asserting that it " confirmed that we participated in the transaction '' was because the fraudulent purchases were in-store purchases, i.e., they were not online purchases. I explained that the physical card was stolen from us and requested that Citibank reopen the dispute. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I called back to ask about the progress of Citibank 's investigation, and the representative explained that the dispute was closed because the bank " confirmed that we participated in the transaction. '' I once again explained that we did not participate in the transaction, and the representative said that the bank would refund the charges if I file a police report. I called my local precinct to file a report, and the precinct told me that, in order to file a police report, I would need a letter from Citibank stating that the bank requires a police report in order to close its investigation. I sent an email to Citibank 's Security Operations Manager requesting such a letter and explaining that I could not file a police report without it. Citibank never responded to my email and never provided the letter I needed to file a police report. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I sent a follow-up email to Citibank 's Security Operations Manager reiterating my request for the letter that my police precinct requires in order to file the police report that Citibank deems a prerequisite to refunding me the money that was fraudulently charged to my account. Citibank never responded to this email and never provided the letter I need to file a police report.