Consumer complaint received 2025-07-29 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: CA

Complaint narrative:
Dear CFPB, On XX/XX/year> I purchased two airline tickets to XXXX for my wife and I from XXXX XXXX directly for {$8000.00}. All this was good, paid for and settled and Im only adding this for background on the fraud that occurred on our Citibank XXXX Visa on XX/XX/year>. 

Additional background, my wife XXXX was recovering from XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/year> which I believe contributed to her falling for internet fraud that occurred on XX/XX/year>. I have been struggling to resolve this with Citibank through their very inefficient and incompetent Fraud Dispute department. I logged a case with Citibank on XX/XX/year> when I discovered the fraud. Citibank case Id is XXXX. 

So on XX/XX/year> I completed the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX steps for international travel and notified my wife XXXX to complete the same. XXXX attempted to complete the process but was running into errors. She did an internet search to contact XXXX XXXX via phone number and reached a scam artist who represented himself as XXXX XXXX employee that would help her to resolve the problem. This authorized Visa merchant convinced XXXX that he was a XXXX employee and would help to resolve her issue so that she would not have issues getting back into the US from XXXX in XXXX ( our planned trip ). The merchant convinced XXXX there would need to be a reticket of the transaction so he would first create the new ticket and then issue an immediate credit, both in the amount of {$8000.00}. We authorized the charge based on this understanding. When I reviewed the supporting emails not more than a week later, I discovered XXXX was not speaking with XXXX, I called XXXX and confirmed there had been no such transaction, our original ticket was still in place. 

I immediately logged a case with Citibank as I mentioned above. Citibank requested that I provide : 1. Contract and refund ( I provided both emails in pdf form ) 2. Travel destination and service dates ( this merchant did not provide any such service ) 3. Proof of cancellation, request for credit ( I provided the refund email, refund has never been completed. I also provided transcripts of voice mails I have saved from the merchant regarding commitment of refund ). 

This merchant is scamming consumers by impersonating XXXX XXXX and others, while they have no connection to the airlines. In our case they charged our account, promised immediate refund which never came. 

Citibanks system relies on email delivery of source documents, but I have had trouble getting documents through to them. So I have sent things via certified return receipt mail. Also, they only accept pdf and word files when I also have audio and jpg files to support my case. With a lack of a true case management system, its impossible to resolve this with Citibank. They seem to be making it difficult to communicate directly and drag their feet. Im very disappointed.

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 monetary relief