Consumer complaint received 2025-04-10 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC.
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
XXXX'My husband, XX/XX/XXXXand I are dealing with a case of Identity fraud where 4 unauthorized wires emptied out Savings Account at CIT Online bank in a matter of days in XX/XX/XXXX The parent company is First Citizens Bank. My husband has had a savings account with them for 13 years. In 13 years, XX/XX/XXXX has only ever authorized an ACH transfer out to our joint XX/XX/XXXX checking account.  We typically transfer a large amount of money, (this year, it was $132,400.00) in the first quarter of the year and then over 12 months use that money to supplement our checking account.  In XX/XX/XXXX, my husband connected our XX/XX/XXXXchecking account to the CIT savings account portal and then clicked on it to transfer money out. This is the only method that we have ever used to transfer money. We have sent over money from the CIT savings account to the XX/XX/XXXX checking account over 12 months for the past 12 years.  The CIT savings account also had dual authentication with my husband\'s cell phone which never left his possession whenever we transferred money out. We have received no communication from CIT or the fraudulent XXXX  XX/XX/XXXX account set up in my husband\'s name during this time that the money was wired to. No emails, texts, phone calls or XXXX XXXX \nMy husband checked on his CIT online savings account on Friday morning,XX/XX/XXXXand discovered the theft. After multiple attempts to contact CIT online bank\'s fraud department, we finally talked to XX/XX/XXXX who is a VP of Fraud Investigations.  at First Citizens Bank. She tried to blame us and our XX/XX/XXXXphone line saying it was hacked although we have never heard that from XX/XX/XXXXor received any inkling of anything that was wrong. We did take our computer to XX/XX/XXXX to have it "cleaned".  We shut down our XX/XX/XXXXhomephone line. After multiple emails/calls to XX/XX/XXXXat CIT/First Citizens Bank, she has very little to tell us regarding the investigation and whether we see our money back.  We have done everything that we possibly could, talked to the police, filled out the Identity theft paperwork and returned it already to XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX. We have checked with the 3 credit reporting agencies and there is a message now at the bottom of all three reports regarding identity theft. We have signed up for XX/XX/XXXX We have filled out paperwork from the Identity theft. gov website. Luckily, our credit cards were never hacked. in early XX/XX/XXXX, for the first time, we received our account statement from XX/XX/XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXXIt showed that the wires were going to something called XX/XX/XXXX from the XX/XX/XXXX account. Basically, theXX/XX/XXXXaccount was set up fraudulently with my husband\'s XX/XX/XXXXname and address on XX/XX/XXXX  A wire arrived from our CIT bank Account onXX/XX/XXXX less than 24 hours later and then was wired out again on XX/XX/XXXXfromXX/XX/XXXX This pattern went on for another 3 wires until our CIT savings account was down to XX/XX/XXXX dollars. Yesterday, the Fraud investigative team at XX/XX/XXXX said he was very surprised that the new account had no restrictions on it since it was opened as an internet checking account and my husband have never banked with them before. We need help getting CIT (First Citizen\'s bank) to return our money to us in the amount of XXXX  (the amount of the 4 fraudulent wires). We have emailed and called asking\nCIT (First Citizens Bank ) to return our money.  The fraud investigative team at CIT XXXX line Bank (A division of FIrst Citizens Bank) says its out of their control. They have no time line on when a decision is going to be made or when/if our money will be returned.\nThank you, XX/XX/XXXXandXX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation