Dear Reddit,
I feel so many emotions right now: desperation, extreme anxiety, frustration, & shock to name a few...In addition to a lot of personal stress in my life, I've had to deal with Citibank denying $20,600 in fraudulent claims over the last 4 months.
I was in Mexico when the first transaction went through as a "Bill Pay" to "Paypal" on May 12th for $3900, then another one went through for $6800 on May14th. I was not alerted at all about any of the transactions and just happened to be checking my account since I was traveling... So I called them using wifi calling and told them these transactions were clearly fraudulent and the representative assured me she should have this taken care of and not to worry. On May 18th, another one went through for $9900. I called them freaking out and they kept telling me to call Paypal. I have called Paypal over 20 times at this point and they cannot find any information about the transactions using my bank account and routing number.
Citibank has denied my appeals saying that I authorized these transactions to Paypal.I have gone into multiple branches, which has proven useless, as the representatives call the same fraud number and they also get the runaround. Since there is no direct number, I have spent hours on the phone with Citi and Paypal, repeating my story each time to every representative I talk to, then I get transferred to the dispute department, then the dispute department tells me to file another appeal and then my heart sinks again with anxiety each time I get another denial, saying "an established device was used" and "activity is not consistent with fraud" when I clearly said this was fraudulent before the last transaction cleared. I am not understanding how every time I call Paypal they cannot find any transaction linked to my Citibank accounts, along with the "Paypal account" listed in the Citibank document (per Citibank this Paypal account used to "add funds" was established in 2010),yet this is inconsistent with fraud per Citibank. On 7/29, Citi responded, "Our records indicate that the $9,900 payment was entered on your mobile app using a Pixel on May 17,2021. Considering that you contacted us the day before, there was no payment on file to stop." I have requested the transcript of the first call I made alerting Citibank that this was fraud, but they said I need a subpoena to obtain "proprietary info."
When the claims were first discovered, I mentioned an unrecognized number that I saw on my checking account contact info and even a foreign email listed under my credit card account, yet no mention of these has been brought up in any of my investigations. I immediately changed my username and pw after I saw this. I have kept the minimum balance so that my accounts can be open for investigation, along with leaving the "paypal payee" account info in my file for investigational purposes. I have also requested more information about the specific device that was used to "authorize" these transactions and when/if these notifications went out (I received no alerts whatsoever and have also asked when the contact information on my account was changed), however Citibank continues to provide the most vague information. I also asked for IMEI, IP address, or exactly how/when these transactions were "authorized." They provided me with an IP address located in Mexico but I believe the first transaction may have cleared before I was in Mexico, but since they didn't give an IP for each transaction, I can't prove that for sure.
I have filed complaints to the CFBP, IC3, my local police, OCC, FDIC, FTC, yet Citibank assumes no responsibility. Prior to contacting CFBP and a local news station, Citibank would take 15 agonizing business days to get back to me via snail mail (nope, no email or phone call in 2021). I have received ONE phone call from a Citibank representative to investigate my case after several appeals, countless calls and emails. It is outrageous that Citibank is disgustingly apathetic when one of their customers lost $20,600 under their care. On 9/1, they stated "with this final letter, we consider the issue resolved. We will no longer respond to inquiries regarding this matter." I sent a follow up email on 9/8 requesting a three-way conversation with me, Paypal, and Citi, but got no response. On 9/24, a representative from the office of the President's Executive Branch said they will no longer respond to my inquiries and they could not conduct a three-way call.
After contacting a couple of lawyers they said it might end up costing more/the same in legal fees. Small claims court covers up to $10,000 only. After contacting several local news stations, surprisingly all they do is mediate and reach out to Citibank, then I hit a dead end again and they say there is nothing more they can do. It is just insane that a consumer can have over $20,000 vanish out of thin air from a trusted bank, and the bank does absolutely nothing! I have been a loyal Citibank customer (although I hate this played out phrase) for years, held multiple accounts with them and always spoke highly of them prior to this.
Does anyone have any advice at this point? Thank you for listening. Please think more than twice about the bank you use.
Submitted September 26, 2021 at 03:55AM by Shot_Pressure_2495 https://ift.tt/3oa34wm
