phant0m

Just got off the phone right now with Citi and I'm ....ing livid.

They caught a fraudulent charge on my Prestige account for the amount of $227 at a Walmart in Georgia (I'm in CA). I send that text message alert thing saying that it wasn't mine. I have the card in my possession in my wallet. It's right in front of me and I for sure haven't made any trips to Georgia. They called me today saying that the charge was made via the chip on the card and that there's no possible way that a chip can be fraud and that they can't credit back that charge. So they're saying, in the entire history of chip transactions, there hasn't been one case of fraud? I got heated. I've been a customer for over 10 years and have 7 accounts with Citi with almost 50k in credit line. Do they really think that I will go through all of this for $227 at Walmart? I told her I wanted to speak to a manager and she said she'll have one call me back within 24 hours.

What are my options at this point? This would have never happened with Amex. I'm this close to just closing all of my accounts and say .... them if they try to stick me with the $227.

mia

Approximately how long have you had your current physical Prestige card? Not the account, the actual card. Have you used it at a terminal where the chip was used?

I ask because there is a type of fraud in which the EMV chip is swapped before you receive your card, but if that had happened your physical card should not work in a chip terminal. Discussion here pertains to corporate debit cards, but principle should be the same:

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-e...low-your-mind/

A retailer like Walmart probably has video of the transaction.

phant0m

Not long. Fraud was charged to an authorized user account I added on May 10th so that card would have been about a month ago.

Now that you bring this up, I'm wondering if I had ever received the original card from my original request. The AU I added was purely for a friend who needed help with their credit so I intended to keep the card myself. I have their card now, but now I'm thinking the card I have is the one after they reissued from the fraud and not the original.

Good call on the video camera thing. I'll bring that up when they speak to me next.

SeeBuyFly

None of this thread makes any sense. Clearly the AU card was used for the fraud, not your card.Why are you getting into an argument about whether your card has been in your possession?

phant0m

Because I do have the card in my possession but I did not think about whether it was the original or the replacement card that was sent to me after @mia's post. I have to go home later tonight and check if I have 2 cards or 1.

msp3

The real crime here is credit score piggybacking. Enjoy your fraud (pun intended).

phant0m

Really? How is that a crime/fraud.

Often1

Sounds to me as though OP needs to have a chat with his "friend" the AU card holder. If that card was used for the GA transaction, it is OP's 100% responsibility and he and his "friend" can have a chat about this.

How OP explains this to CIti so CIti does not have him flagged as a fraudster is beyond me. The truth might be helpful.

CarefulBuilder14

Citi's shipping department is generally pretty disorganized. I've had them claim a card was returned to them as undeliverable, only to have it arrive normally a day or two later. I requested one of the metal Prestige cards once under the thinking that I didn't want the replacement they'd otherwise send automatically to arrive when I was away. They ended up sending the one I requested as well as the automatic one I thought I'd be preventing.

There are lots of opportunities for a card to go lost or be taken...but wouldn't an intercepted or lost card still need to be activated by OP (or someone with OP's password) for the chip to be valid? Or do Citi cards work without needing to be activated? I don't recall.

tmiw

Another possibility (even though it sounds unlikely given that the card might not have been used) is that the terminal was forced to allow swipe of the card. This can be done pretty much anywhere by inserting the card the wrong way a couple of times. Cloning of the magstripe is still possible as a result.

Of course, if that were the case, then Citi still needs to be better at the whole customer service thing and not claim that the chip was used.

s0ssos

3 times was what I was told, by the man at the cash register. 3 times no go then swipe.

tmiw

This definitely depends on the store. I've seen swipe be allowed after only one failure before, for instance.

jashsu

It's a little confusing but it reads to me like: op adds AU and AU has possession of AU card. Fraud on AU card. Op gets the old AU card back and has replacement AU card. Op believes he has both old and replacement AU cards in possession.

garykung

You will need to exhaust your option under Fair Credit Billing Act first, which is you have to formally dispute the charge as required by the Act and get a written denial.

Then you can proceed to the lawsuit, preferably in Small Claims for the actual amount in question (An important note - Citi is one of the issuer having semi-mandatory binding arbitration, i.e. you have to opt-out in order not to be subject to arbitration).

A piece of advice to OP - it may be best if you can produce any evidence that you were physically in CA on the day of the charge.

JumboJet

Walmart will pull the video only by request of law enforcement (at least in my case). And it's three inserts and then swipe is allowed around here