Consumer complaint received 2025-12-27 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
Good Evening : I am a Citi AAdvantage credit card customer. Citi has improperly denied my fraud dispute for a fraudulent {$6700.00} charge arising from Identity Theft to XXXX, XXXX ( XXXX, GA ) dated XX/XX/year>. 

Account : Citi AAdvantage Card old card ending in XXXX ( replaced by XXXX ) Cardholder : XXXX XXXX Disputed Charge : {$6700.00} Merchant : CharterUp, XXXX Transaction Date : XX/XX/year> This transaction was not authorized by me. At the time of the fraud, I lived in XXXX, Texas. The individual who committed the identity theft is someone I had known from prior business dealings ( his name is XXXX XXXX, also using the alias XXXX XXXX ). He previously obtained access to my credit information and used my Citi card information without my knowledge. 

I initially filed a dispute with Citi and received a conditional credit. Citi later reversed the credit, stating the dispute had been incorrectly processed as a purchase dispute. I then followed up and filed a fraud dispute. Citi denied the fraud dispute on the basis that I knew the person who used the card which disqualified this as a fraud dispute. Most recently, in the face of completely contradictory evidence, they denied the last appeal because they claim I " authorized the transaction ''. I did not. Let me say that again. I. Did. Not. Authorize. This. Transaction. The Merchant, itself, verified so in the phone call I had with them and the email they sent afterwards. All were sent to Citi 's Dispute Teams repeatedly and most recently to Citi 's Executive Team. 

The merchant, XXXX, XXXX, confirmed in an email that they knew they were not speaking to me ( the actual cardholder ) and that they did not speak with me to obtain authorization for the transaction. I provided this email thread to Citi multiple times. I have also provided the associated Police Report, an additional Police Report and another Police Report Number, for which I have not yet received the full report, from XXXX XXXX yet showing this person 's ongoing efforts in stealing my identity and defrauding me, to Citi 's Dispute Teams, and most recently to Citi 's Executive Team.

Despite this, Citi has refused to treat this as an unauthorized transaction and has re-billed the {$6700.00} to my account.

I believe Citis handling of this matter violates : Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. 1026.12 ( b ) liability for unauthorized use of credit cards ; and Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. 1026.13 creditor obligations to investigate and
resolve billing errors.

Knowing who committed the fraud does not make the transaction authorized. I am requesting that the CFPB require Citi to : 1. Reverse the {$6700.00} XXXX, XXXX charge ; 2. Reverse any interest or fees resulting from this charge ; 3. Restore my account to the status it would have had absent this fraud ; and 4. Correct any negative or inaccurate credit reporting arising from this transaction.

5. Provide compensation commensurate with the amount of emotional torture Citi 's failure to act has had as a negative impact on my life and on my time 6. Ensure that those people working in the Dispute Teams have a full mastery of the XXXX language, as to be able to correctly read and interpret Police Reports and Emails, and determine the difference between " authorized '' and " unauthorized '', and fully understand what " Identity Theft '' means on a Police Report, so that claims are correctly filed. Additionally, ensure employees on Dispute Teams know and understand Citi 's own internal differentiation between a Purchase or Fraud Claim, as to not reject disputes multiple times for erroneous reasons.

I have attempted all other means by which to ask Citi to more carefully review the evidence provided to them, including Police Reports and Email chains from the Merchant who admits not having my authorization to run the transaction. All of my attempts have been denied and/or ignored.

I now ask the CFPB to look into this situation and ask Citi to review the fraudulent Identity theft purchase once again. I have filed with the XXXX XXXX  XXXX and the FTC. I am now adding the CFPB to prompt Citi to take appropriate action to protect their cardholders from unauthorized transactions and months ' long fights to have their credit restored. This has negatively impacted my credit score, cost me interest on a fraudulent purchase and entirely too many days of emotional suffering in efforts of simply saying that it is not " OK '' for my " supposed '' bank to support the illegal activities of a known Identity Thief.

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