Consumer complaint received 2026-03-24 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I was the victim of a very sophisticated fraud involving impersonation of personnel at XXXX XXXX, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney, as well as forged Court Orders issued by the XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I reported the scam to the FBI. The Agents there are familiar with the group, which they say is one of the best theyve ever seen. My complaint against Citibank, where I have been a customer for over XXXX years, is that it allowed XXXX {$500000.00} wire transfers that I ordered in person to be without made placing a phone call to me to be assured that the wires were legitimate. In my more than XXXX years of banking with Citibank, I had never ordered a wire transfer. The first wire transfer of {$500000.00} was ordered by me at my home branch at XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, with the Branch Manager, XXXX XXXX. The wired funds were to be sent to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, for credit to the account of a company called XXXX XXXX. I had been told by the fake U.S. Attorney that this was the name being used by the U.S. Marshall Service in a highly confidential investigation involving wire fraud and money laundering, and that I should simply tell the Branch Manager that XXXX was an investment company that I was using. A fake Order Setting Conditions of Pretrial Release had been issued against me, requiring that I post cash bail in the amount of {>= $1,000,000}. The {$500000.00} wire transfer from Citibank on XX/XX/year> was the first bail payment. XXXX XXXX took the order for the wire transfer, told me there would be a {$35.00} fee, and told me that, because this was a significant wire transfer, that I should expect a telephone call from Citibanks Fraud Prevention Unit within an hour or so, and that if I did not receive a call, that I should phone the number on the back of my Citigold card. No one called me. The wire was ordered at XXXX pm on XX/XX/year>, and the transfer was posted at XXXX pm, before I had even gotten home. The same thing happened when I ordered a second {$500000.00} wire transfer with XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/year>. He was quite surprised that no one had called me about the circumstances of the first {$500000.00} wire transfer on XX/XX/XXXX. The XX/XX/year> wire transfer was ordered at XXXX pm, and the transfer was posted less than XXXX minutes later, at XXXX pm. There was a third Citibank wire transfer ordered by me on XX/XX/year>, this time in the amount of {$350000.00}, making a total of {>= $1,000,000}. XXXX XXXX was in a meeting, and so this time the order was handled by another officer, XXXX XXXX. She, like XXXX XXXX, told me to expect a follow up call from Citibanks Fraud Prevention Unit. For this third wire transfer, I did receive a brief telephone call at home, simply asking if I had ordered the wire transfer. The {$350000.00} wire transfer was ordered at XXXX pm on XX/XX/year>, and it was posted at XXXX pm. Compare Citibanks gross negligence with the caution exercised by XXXX XXXX when I sought to make a wire transfer on XX/XX/year> of {>= $1,000,000} from my Rollover IRA there to my checking account at Citibank. This was to be a wire transfer to my own checking account, but XXXX insisted that it go through multiple levels of review. Unlike Citibank, which allowed wire transfers of {>= $1,000,000} to a third party without any further inquiry, XXXX ultimately rejected a wire transfer of {>= $1,000,000} to my own checking account because the circumstances seemed suspicious. To her credit, the case manager at XXXX, named XXXX XXXX, was so concerned that she placed XXXX telephone calls to my brother and sister-in-law, who are listed as Trusted Contacts, on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Compare this with Citibank, which did nothing. Citibanks own Funds Transfer Agreement ( Branch ), at Section F.3, states : You further agree that Citibank may refuse to process or delay processing any funds transfer request as a result of routine compliance and fraud screening, inability to verify the request, or if it would violate any guideline, rule, policy, or regulation of any government authority or funds transfer system. I know that Citibank has a Fraud Prevention Unit, because on XX/XX/year>, it sent a letter to me about a first XXXX transfer of {$500.00}. There was no inquiry at all about wire transfers of {$500000.00} XXXX times, but an alert about a {$500.00} initial XXXX payment. XXXX XXXX. of the Citibank Funds Transfer Agreement ( Branch ) provides : This indemnity will not be effective to relieve and indemnify Citibank against its gross negligence, bad faith, or willful misconduct. If Citibanks failure to make the slightest inquiry regarding huge wire transfers ordered for the first time by a longtime customer to a third party doesnt constitute gross negligence, I dont know what does.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation