Consumer complaint received 2025-02-17 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
On the afternoon of XX/XX/scrub>XXXX XXXX XXXX I closed on the sale of my home. Since it was completed in the afternoon, the funds wired for the closing were to hit my account on XX/XX/year>XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX the Originating Bank for the wire ) confirmed that the wire had been completed on Friday, XX/XX/year>, at XXXX, but I was not seeing the funds in my account at XXXX XXXX The details of the wire are as follows : XX/XX/year> Transaction # XXXX Amount : {>= $1,000,000} USD On Monday, XX/XX/year>, I still did not see the funds in my account, so I contacted my closing agent XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Title who sent me the confirmation she received from XXXX XXXX When I received it, I was completely confused. I told her that these were the wrong wire instructions. The wire was supposed to go to XXXX XXXX XXXX not to Citibank. She said that I had sent her an email over the weekend confirming the instructions to Citibank. To make a long story short, a hacker had gotten in between my emails to XXXX XXXX, my closing agent and I, and he diverted the funds from XXXX XXXX XXXX to an old XXXX account held at Citibank.. 


On Tuesday, my closing agent and I compared all the emails that we had sent between us, and we found that the bank wiring instructions had been changed. She immediately contacted XXXX XXXX who quickly tried to recall the wire from Citibank. She also contacted Citibank customer service and the Citibank Fraud Department to alert them of what had transpired. Later, she also contacted the FBI due to the amount of the wire. Later that day, the hacker acting as me asked her to change the For Further Credit To instructions to a company she had never heard of, but she refused to do so. 

During her conversation with Citibank Customer Service, the gentleman she spoke to confirmed the receipt of the funds into a XXXX account at Citibank on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. He confirmed to her that the account had already been flagged numerous times for illegal activity and that the funds had NOT left the account. She asked and he promised to make sure that those funds never left the account. The bottom line is Citibank should have bounced this wire back to XXXX XXXX Because the wire transfers instruction did not perfectly match, specifically the For Further Credit To instructions which were : XXXX : Acct # XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX We waited 10 business days for the wire to be recalled to XXXX XXXX by Citibank, but Citibank refused to cancel and return the wire because they believed fraud had occurred and they needed to research the problem. 

It has now been over 30 days and Citibank has stonewalled everyone involved in the transaction failing to provide any information to anyone. They state that the problem is an XXXXXXXX issue and they will not provide any information to anyone but XXXX XXXX even though it is my money, and I am the victim. Now, they are not even getting back to XXXX XXXX when they ask for an update. I believe they are stalling because they screwed up. This wire should have initially been bounced back to XXXX XXXX and when it wasn't, it should have then been recalled back to XXXX XXXX in the first 5 to 10 business days after the transaction. Citibank doesn't even know its internal rules with regards to this transaction as I have called numerous times and was told different timeframes for completing their investigation. I have been told 30 days, 30 business days and 90 days. All of these timeframes are absurd as XXXX XXXX provided Citibank with all of the information for the wire Day XXXX. 

Will you please help me? I do not know how to proceed. No one will give me any information and I am in the dark. I am not a rich man, and these are my life savings. 

Thanks you. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX

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