Consumer complaint received 2024-11-11 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — International money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.

Complaint narrative:
Introduction A customer of Citibank US tricked me using a fake Citibank brochure of a bond paying 1.8 % interest. and I sent XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX to a Citibank account XXXX This was all of my life savings as the investment appeared genuine with all the logos and signage of Citibank and it seemed a good thing to do as it was to a Citibank account. Had it been to any other type of account I would not have been taken in. 
I am seeking help from the FDIC as Citibank is totally obstructive and will not co - operate with tracing or refunding my money in spite of informing them as soon as I suspected this transaction to be a fraud and without contacting the criminal first ie not warning them of my suspicions. This has been going on for 4 years now.. 
There would have been plenty of money in the criminal account as I did not warn or challenge the criminals. 
Instead I warned Citibank UK and US and the email address and telephone numbers were taken down immediately. 
I note that Citibank/Citi have had imposed on them multi XXXX dollar fines for lax anti money laundering processes putting victims such as myself at very high risk Email trail to Citibank Thu XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX I have asked you for your complaints procedure which you have ignored. 
I also asked you for organisations that I can complain to in the US, which you have again ignored. 
I will now have to seek help from the XXXX XXXX XXXX On Monday XXXX XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX BST, XXXX XXXX XXXX wrote : On XX/XX/XXXX I asked you for your complaints procedure. 
As you have ignored it please let me have the names of organisations in the US who will consider my case along the lines of the Financial Ombudsman services in the UK Thanks XXXX XXXX On Wednesday XXXX XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX BST, XXXX XXXX XXXX wrote : Criminals hosted by Citibank stole my life savings but Citibank NA refuse to engage with me in any meaningful way, always batting it back to me telling me to use my own bank XXXX and my law enforcement to track down the criminals. 
My own police tell me they are too busy chasing criminals here without chasing them abroad and XXXX tell me they sent XXXX recall notices but Citibank deny receiving any of these. 
Recalls via XXXX do not go astray. 
I have pointed out to Citibank that while we squabble over this, criminals are laughing their heads off. 
What message does it give to the criminals? 
That they can do this again and again ad infinitum and get away with it. 


I sought help from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. ( CFPB ). 

On Wednesday XXXX XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX BST, XXXX XXXX XXXX wrote : Following the theft of my life savings by a Citibank Customer, I raised a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. ( CFPB ). However the CFPB has no teeth and Citibank ended up running rings around them with their usual arrogance. Citibank were obstinate and obstructive demanding I send evidence with XXXX XXXX as the header even though the evidence I submitted did show XXXX XXXX on the side. 

All this effort amounted to nothing at all Citibank NA finally got in touch but they were as obstructive as before and this was my response to them but they would not engage any further Your XXXX requirements were : XXXX ) Copy of the wire transfer showing XXXX XXXX XXXX ) Copy of the wire transfer showing that XXXX issued a recall. 

In support of XXXX ) a ) I sent you a copy of the payment instruction clearly showing XXXX XXXX on the lhs b ) you can effortlessly check all the incoming payments into the account of your client XXXX XXXX where you will see my payments I expect you to use your common sense and not have me spoon feed you. 

In support of XXXX ) asking XXXX to verify their recalls is of much lower priority now because : a ) As soon as I suspected a fraud I contacted your call centre ( without making further contact with the fraudster ) who asked me to forward all the fraudulent emails to your Citibank in XXXX. They then contacted you so you were fully aware of the circumstances and the website, email addresses and telephone numbers were taken down immediately. 
b ) I also contacted your CEO XXXX XXXX by letter and email so you were fully appraised of the circumstances and should have returned my money without my asking again and again and having to contact the CFPB. 
As I said before I expect you to use your common sense and initiative. 

In the interests of transparency I want Citibank NA to share with me : XXXX ) their communications with Citibank XXXX XXXX ) all the transactions on the fraudulent account. 

effectively Citibank participated in the fraud and facilitated money laundering Of course there will not be any money left now in the criminal account as Citibank will have closed it but there would have been plenty there when when I contacted them and they should refund it plus 10 % pa interest compounded. 

Citibank are pretending not to know about the the transactions and they are not co-operating with XXXX who have advised that the correct procedure is to contact XXXX via XXXX and they will then be put in touch with the correct team to trace the payments. 

From XXXX : If any further technical data or information is required by Citibank as part of their investigations, they must contact us via the established XXXX channel, using the XXXX network, to ensure the correct area of our business is approached ; it is not for you to attempt to do this for them. 


Please ask Citibank NA to refund my money as I wrote to their CEO XXXX XXXX way back in XX/XX/XXXX. 
They are only concerned with protecting their own interests and not that of victims of fraud. 
As fraud is now on an industrial scale, everyone should be helping everyone else, regardless of whether they are a customer or not. Citibank XXXX told me they could not help me as I am not a customer! 

Yours sincerely XXXX XXXX Conclusions I hope the XXXX will note the convincing nature of the fake brochure and the fact that it requires payment into a Citibank account. 
Had Citibank not taken this criminal as a customer, I would not have paid by any other means except to a Citibank account as it was meant to be a Citibank investment. 
I hope that the XXXX will see me as a victim of this criminal customer of Citibank and ask Citibank to refund all of my GBP XXXX plus 10 % interest pa compounded. 
Based on the evidence submitted above, it is clear that Citibank XXXX have been nothing but arrogant, obstructive and bullying, not just towards me but towards XXXX as well. 


Citibank are clearly at fault for taking on this customer whose sole purpose was to defraud the public What I now expect from Citibank US Citibank have been nothing but obstructive and bullying over the last 4 years. For this reason alone, they should refund all my money plus 10 % interest pa compounded Citibank deny receiving my money into their client account in spite of my providing all the transfer details and for this reason alone, they should refund all my money plus 10 % interest pa compounded. 
Citibank UK as well as Citibank US were informed of this fraudulent transaction and all the fake emails and telephone numbers were taken down rapidly so it is pointless on their part to deny any knowledge of their criminal customer.. For this reason alone, they should refund all my money plus 10 % interest pa compounded. 
Citibank US have refused to co - operate with XXXX via XXXX to trace my money which they deny receiving as well as the 9 recall notices sent by XXXX. For this reason alone, they should refund all my money plus 10 % interest pa compounded I demand to see all the communications between Citibank US and Citibank UK I demand to see all the transactions in the criminal account with Citibank I expect a further fine to be imposed on Citibank US for their continued delinquent behaviour in spite of previous warnings and pleas Attachments letter to XXXX XXXX XXXX fake Citibank brochure complete with Citi logos and text confirmation from XXXX about XXXX transfer confirmation from XXXX about XXXX transfer I have various emails to Citibank UK as well as Citibank US which I can not attach but can forward Download all attachments as a zip file CEO Citibank US - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX page XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX page XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX pqge XXXX XXXX XXXX Fake Citibank brochure .pdf 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