Consumer complaint received 2025-10-23 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: ME

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, my Best Buy credit card through Citibank was charged {$440.00}. I reviewed this charge on my statement and determined that this charge was fraudulent. I determined this because the website did not exist, and I went through my finances and purchases and had no record of this. I keep records of all of my finances and have a strict budget, so I knew I did not spent that amount of money on a random website I didnt recognize. The website associated with this card was XXXX, which I looked up and it did not exist. I will attach a screenshot that shows what happens when I look up the website. When I look at the merchant category for the purchase it is Merchandise-XXXX XXXX XXXX, but it will not tell me what items were purchased. On XX/XX/year> I reported this fraudulent charge to the credit card company and they cancelled my card and issued me a new one. I was refunded the money on the same day. I thought the issue was taken care of but of XX/XX/year> the same amount of XXXX was charged to my new card. I called the credit card XXXX and they informed me that they did and investigation and determined that the charges were not fraudulent. I told them I knew I didnt make the charge and asked what I could do to prove that I didnt. They told me there was nothing I could do and they tracked the charge back to my email, home address, and social security number. I told them if somebody hacked my card they could have all of my personal information. They did not believe me that I didnt spend this money and were extremely rude when I was asking what to do about the situation. I asked if I could appeal the decision they made about this charge, and they told me I could but I had to send it to a specific email address. I asked for the email address, but I could not understand what the person was saying because of their aggravated tone and accent. I was asking nicely for them to repeat it but they were getting very frustrated with me and raising their voice. They also accused me of not listening to what they were saying, but I just could not understand because they were speaking fast in their accent and not using proper XXXX grammar. I never raised my voice at them, and I felt like I was not receiving adequate customer service. I composed an email appealing the decision they made on XX/XX/year>. I waited to hear back from them, but received nothing. I thought this was extremely unprofessional considering I had got {$500.00} stolen from me, which I tried to stress the urgency of the situation to them. I was out of the country at the time, and needed money to be able to get home. Money I had set aside to get home was now going to have to be put towards a charge that I did not make. Finally, when I returned back to the country on XX/XX/year> I called the credit card company to see what else I could do. Again, the person talking to me was not being kind even though I was remaining completely calm. They informed me that my appeal was rejected yet I never got an email or a call back from them to let me know that. I tried to ask why they rejected my appeal and they said the same thing about it being tracked back to me. I tried to express to them I believe my identity and information had been stolen because thats why it was tracked back to me. I also asked them if I could cancel the credit card because somebody had my information and could continue to charge me. They rejected this and said I couldnt cancel unless I paid the balance off of the card. I denied to pay the balance because I was not going to pay off a fraudulent charge. The customer service agent accused me of lying and saying that I made that purchase. I tried to ask them how they knew I made the purchase and what the address was that this supposed item was sent to. They would not give me this information. I tried to inform them I would know if I made a purchase this large and also that the website didnt exist. They said I needed to prove this but didnt tell me how even after I asked. I asked them if I could gather evidence and make another appeal and they said yes. Because they wouldnt tell me what I needed to gather for evidence I started researching on my own. I determined I needed to file a complaint through the consumer financial protection bureau and also make a police report and report identity theft. I was not able to report identity theft because the service was unavailable because of the government shutdown. I am very disappointed with the customer service I received and how I was given no assistance to resolved this issue. I have talked it multiple people through Best Buy and Citibank and received no help. That is why I am trying to figure this out on my own and gather as much evidence and possible I did not make this charge.

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