Foreign Banks CITIBANK and ICICI security exposed

Hi Viewers,

Ever wondered how easy it is to do an ATM fraud with Citibank or ICICI in India and never get caught. Read my whole story and you'll realize how easy it is to steal from someone in India and never get caught. 

Note: This is my true story with all the facts and evidences attached. I would request law firms and independent lawyers to study this case and if they feel that either #Citibank or #ICICI can be sued for mental harassment, defamation, negligence, malpractice and perjury please contact me and i'll be more than happy to file a case against them.

On 3rd April 2015 at 07:15 am, 07:16 am and 07:17 am, 3 subsequent ATM withdrawals were done from my Citibank account of Rs 10,000 each. Please note that when these transactions were done, the ATM card was in my custody. I was sleeping at that time and saw 3 SMS alerts at around 07:45 am. Here is my bank statement:

I called up Citibank customer care immediately after that and got my card blocked. They informed me that this withdrawal was done via a Non-Citibank ATM located in BTM 2nd Stage, Bangalore. They couldn’t give me the exact location and name of the ATM.

I went to H.S.R Layout police station as i stay in H.S.R Layout, who asked me to go to BTM, MICO Layout Police Station as this withdrawal has been done in BTM 2nd Stage.

I went to BTM MICO Layout Police Station and they informed me that I need to wait for 3 days, till Monday before they can file a complaint, as it was a holiday in Karnataka followed by Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday i.e. 4th April 2015 I went to Citibank M.G Road Branch. The manager asked me to give a written complaint which you can see below:

When I asked him, if there is any need for me to file an FIR with police, he said there is no need for it and Citibank M.G Road branch is already taking this up with a nearby police station. He mentioned that this is not the first case that they have received and in fact I was the 2nd customer today who came up with this complaint. In fact I have the name and number of the person whose written complaint I referred to. I just choose not to mention it in public blog. Also the Citibank Manager clearly quoted that they are suspecting that some high official in Citibank might be involved in this case.

On 6th April 2015 Citibank credited the money back to my account on a temporary basis. They said that they will start their investigation which will take about 45 days. In case they find out that this was a valid transaction they will deduct the money again.

Despite getting my money back and being told not to file an FIR, I still went again to BTM MICO Layout police station. Me and my friend had to wait for 3 days before we could meet a Sub-Inspector. That too happened because we called up the ACP office and she promised us that our matter will be taken care of.

On 7th April, Sub-Inspector of BTM MICO Layout police station sent a constable with us to Citibank M.G Road branch. We submitted a complaint to Citibank and requested them to provide us with the details of the ATM which was used. Here is a copy of complaint given to police station and to Citibank:

On 15th of April, Citibank replied to MICO Layout police station with the ATM code information, and asked the police to carry on the further investigation with the ICICI bank. Note that MICO Layout police station never contacted me, nor did I received this copy:

On 28th May 2015, 30,000 Rs was deducted from my account by Citibank. When I gave a call to call center, they said that they have completed the investigation and claimed that this was a valid transaction and no cloning of card was done. They now asked me to contact the police, but since I didn’t had the ATM code still, I asked Citibank to write this in writing and asked them why didn’t they investigated the CCTV footage. They mentioned that they are yet to receive the CCTV footage from ICICI. Here is a copy of the letter they issued to me on 9th June:

Prior to this on 3rd June 2015 i had also filed a complaint with RBI Banking Ombudsman against Citibank. Here is a copy of that:

Now after receiving the ATM Code I again went to MICO Layout police station to file an FIR. We found out that the ATM was located at:

172, 9th Cross, 29th Main Road, BTM Layout, 2nd Stage, Bangalore – 560076.

Now this ATM location doesn’t come under MICO Layout police station and they asked me to file an FIR at Madiwala Police Station. Here is a receipt from that ATM, stating the ATM Code:

On 9th June I filed a complaint in Madiwala Police station and on 10th June my FIR got filed. Here are the copy of both:

On 10th June Madiwala Police Station gave me a letter, which I had to give to Citibank. This letter was asking Citibank to provide police with CCTV footage and asking them to investigate this case. Citibank Manager accepted that letter and gave me an acknowledgement of the same. At that time he informed me that previously the complaint which I gave to Citibank from Madiwala police station has been replied to and he also showed me its copy. He also told me to contact the Citibank Call center and ask them to again provide me with the provisional credit till the time Citibank is done with the investigation. He also asked me to contact Police station again and ask police to take this matter with the ICICI. Here is a copy of the complaint from Madiwala police station which I submitted to Citibank:

After spending an hour over phone, the manager of Citibank Call center, took my request for the provisional credit.

Now on 13th June I went to Madiwala Police station again cause I had to submit the acknowledgement given by Citibank. At that time I also informed police that Citibank wants them to investigate. Police again issued me a letter for ICICI bank seeking for CCTV footage.

Before giving this letter to ICICI bank I had a word with Citibank Call Center and they said that ICICI has given them a confirmation that this is a valid transaction and that ICICI doesn’t have the CCTV footage. This was the most confusing part because in the letter of 9th June, Citibank stated that they are waiting for CCTV footage from ICICI, and now they were saying that ICICI doesn’t have the footage.

On 15th June I gave a copy of that complaint to ICICI bank. The manager of ICICI bank told me that they keep CCTV footage for 90 days and that I should come back next week and he will show me the footage. Here is a copy of that letter:

On that same day I received a call from Citibank Legal team. They stated that they have completed the investigation, CCTV footage was not given by ICICI and that they are ready to give this in written to me. NOTE: I got this letter on 8th July 2015 after 25 days. Also I asked them to share the complete investigation report. They said they cannot do it as it is internal to them. Here is the copy of their email:

On 27th June I again went to ICICI bank. The Manager showed me the JPEG image which he received from their investigation team. And on the other hand i have Citibank who is trying to blame ICICI, that ICICI refused to share the CCTV image. BTW here’s the pic:

This is the security that is being provided to us by these foreign banks. CCTV camera is not even positioned correctly.

Because of ICICI's useless camera and negligence, a thief is on loose and can rob anyone tomorrow of his hard earned money. 

Now I knew that the image is not clear and that the face is not visible, but that’s all that I could get my hands on. That too was not at all an easy journey.

I took this pic to the Madiwala police station and the investigating officer just said that its a waste of effort and that they cannot do anything.

On 9th July i posted this blog and what continues then is a series of events which were completely unexpected.

After posting this blog and sharing it on social media i received a call within 4 hours from high Citibank official who promised me that this matter will taken care of.

At 8:00 pm i received a call from Citibank stating that they have given me the money back on permanent basis. Here is a snapshot of their transaction:

They have promised me that they will give this in written that this credit is on permanent basis and this money will not be deducted ever again. 

Now when i asked them that how come they have given this money back, here is the explanation that they gave.

The complaint that i filed with RBI was resolved. RBI instructed ICICI bank to credit the money to Citibank, so that Citibank can return the money to me.

Here are the replies which i received from RBI ombudsman:

On 10th July i again received a call from that high ranking Citibank official and during our healthy conversation i asked him that isn't this Citibank's fault that their cards are getting cloned. To this the answer was that it's not only Citibank who's cards are getting cloned. Every bank's ATM card can be cloned and till now there is no technology that can make cards cloned free.

Doesn't that sound strange? With so much investment into technology industry and so much dependency on plastic money, we still live in an era where cloning of ATM cards are unavoidable.

On top of that Citibank is now trying to accuse me and threaten me of legal consequences, if i don't stop updating and posting this blog. Here is the last email that i got from that high ranking Citibank official. I just choose not to display his name in public:

Now read this paragraph carefully:

We are deeply concerned to note the false and defamatory allegations being made by you against the Bank on a public domain.  It is further noted that, you are also attributing false statements to the employees of Citibank.  We denounce your negligent conduct and hereby seriously advice you to immediately refrain from publishing false information, defamatory content and attributing wrongful statements to employees of the Bank, considering the fact that such conduct is a criminal offence liable to be prosecuted.  In the event if you continue with such wrongful actions, Bank will be constrained to initiate appropriate legal action, to protect Bank’s interest.

Can someone tell me where did i published false information and defamatory content? Where is this wrongful statements to employees of Bank?

I suffered for 3 months and now Citibank doesn't even want to take responsibility. Its their cards which are getting cloned and according to them i'm making false statements.

I guess this is how foreign banks are treating Indians and Indian judicial system nowadays.

I just feel like asking a few questions:

1. Is it my fault that I choose Citibank to protect my money? I am a Citibank customer from past 6 years. Is this is how they deal with the security of their customer’s money?
2. Is it my fault that Citibank cannot make cards that cannot be cloned? The only justification they had is that it requires a pin to do ATM withdrawal. My question is if there are people out there who can clone the card, then can’t they get hold of our PIN?
3. How can Citibank say that this card was not cloned? The original card was with me. Some method was used to withdraw money from my account. Now Citibank is asking me how this is possible? Is this my responsibility of knowing how this withdrawal happened?
4. I am ready to go under a lie detector test, which can prove that original card was with me. Can a representative from Citibank who is claiming that this was a valid transaction undertake a lie detector test? This is an open challenge to any Citibank official who is a part of this investigation. 
5. Why is Citibank giving false statements to customers? Why do I have conflicting statement in written letters and in the verbal communication done by their legal team?
6. Note: Citibank customer care department told me that there was no written note about any legal team giving me a call and about any written document that I asked for. Later on when I yelled at manager she took my complaint and promised me that she’ll resolve my concern in 2 days, which in turn took 20 days. Why did it took so long for Citi customer care department to give this document to me?
7. Is it my fault that ICICI ATM camera was so lame that it could not capture the whole face of the thief?
8. Is this the kind of security these foreign banks are providing to Indians? What if this theft would have happened in USA? I bet the bank would have sued by now. Banks know that I being an Indian cannot go to courts because our judicial system won’t care about 30,000 Rs. Also there are many high profile cases pending and my case won’t even be looked upon. Is this the way foreign banks treat Indians?
9. Why did the ICICI bank denied CCTV footage to Citibank? Or is it the Citibank who is lying to customers? Somebody is at fault here and i would like to find out who?
10. Was it my responsibility to run after police and different banks to get the CCTV image? When Citibank first told me that I don’t need to file an FIR and they would do it on their own, where is their copy of FIR?
11. An official of Citibank told me on call that Citibank would compare the face in CCTV with my PIC. Why isn’t that done till yet? Was all this fake communication that Citibank team is doing over phone?
12. Is this the kind of security that these foreign banks are providing to us? Look at the CCTV image. CCTV camera is not even positioned correctly. Shouldn't ICICI bank be sued?
13. Is it my fault that pic in CCTV footage is not clear? How can police deny that they cannot do anything with this pic? How can they catch thieves whose pics are never visible? Does all of police department run on the sole basis of CCTV camera? Doesn’t that pose a question on capability of police?
14. Shouldn't the government of India fine these foreign banks and ask them to either increase their security or should stop their operations in India?
15. These foreign banks have collaborated with all the MNC's and all the employees are forced to open up their accounts in these banks. Shouldn't Indian government push our national banks like PNB and SBI to handle our corporate accounts? That will create a lot of job opportunities in govt sector. Why are we allowing these foreign banks to decrease the job opportunities in our govt sector?

Thanks,

Shikhar Sharma 7760454126