Consumer complaint received 2024-02-16 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/2023 while on a vacation in XXXX I was fraudulently charged {$230.00} on my account through a known fraud Jewelry store located on XXXX XXXX in XXXX. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$230.00} This is a scam company with hundreds of one-star reviews of them selling fake jewelry and doing the same exact scam they did with me ( charging much higher then they originally indicate ), see reviews below : https : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX My fiance and I were lured into the store by someone that claimed they recognized us from the hotel we were staying at and asked us to visit his family 's Jewelry store. Inside the store, they kept showing us different jewelry and kept pushing on us to purchase something. We just wanted to get out of the store and did not feel comfortable at all, so when they showed us a ring and stated that the price was XXXX pesos ( Around {$26.00} USD ) we agreed to this price just to get the transaction over with and get out of the store. 

The merchant took my CITI credit card and charged us XXXX pesos instead of XXXX pesos. I immediately knew at this point they were just trying to scam me by charging a much higher fake price that we did not agree too and then saying they made a mistake and could not cancel the transaction. I told them I did not want the ring at that price and to cancel it, and they said they were unable to do so. 

I contacted CITI on the spot while in the store ( I'm sure CITI has a recording of this and can look it up ) and asked them what to do, and told them I did not agree to being charge this large amount and they were trying to fraudulently charge me an amount that I did not agree too. The CITI representative told me not to worry and that nothing could be done until the pending charges went through and I could file a chargeback with the merchant and they would change it to reflect the correct price. 

The merchant tried to get me to sign documentation in the store that I authorized the XXXX peso transaction. I did not sign anything and later found out that they forged my signature and also put a fake address and fake phone number on the documentation. They later used this fake signature and fake information in the dispute when I filed a chargeback. 

For some reason CITI is saying that I am responsible even after I pointed out that the evidence the merchant provided is fake ( The address and phone number they listed are just a random address and phone number in New York ). They did not have my real address so they had to make it up. They also forged my signature. There are also hundreds of reviews out online of this company scamming other people. 

I am not sure what kind of investigation was done into this dispute, but it was done very poorly done and anyone who put even 10 minutes into looking at the documentation or how hundreds of other people were scamming by this company online they provided could see that they are a fraudulent company. 

I contacted CITI two times on that same day and I am sure the investigator to listen to the recordings while I was in the store and afterwards too see that I asked CITI support for help and was told to just wait until the transaction went through for further assistance. 

Furthermore, the merchant also claimed in the dispute ". Our merchant has indicated that the cardholder left your establishment satisfied with his purchase and had no subsequent approach or attempt to return it. '' This is a straight out lie. If the investigator had listened to my recordings with CITI on the date that this transaction happened, they could clearly see that I tried to get the merchant to cancel the transaction because they charged a fraudulent amount and that I did not leave satisfied at all. They scammed me! 

Please assist me in resolving this situation. It is clear that no real investigation was done into this dispute. 

I have attached documentation of the receipt they provided me and also the fake signatures that they forged with a fake phone number and fake address. I also attached the merchant 's response.

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 non-monetary relief