It's been almost three years since a Skokie man had his Citibank account emptied by scammers. According to his lawsuit, $121,000, held in a trust account for his disabled sister, was fraudulently wired out of his account in a span of days. He said Citibank told him there was nothing they could do.
Now, a new lawsuit against Citibank out of New York is giving some fraud victims, including Scott Jacobson, fresh hope.
Since 2019, Jacobson has been his sister Laurie’s caretaker.
Laurie, 65, is living with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. The money for her care comes from a Citibank trust account set up by the Jacobsons parents before they died.
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"We've never touched [Laurie’s] account at all. Never at all. Up until Oct. 14, [2021], when everything occurred,” said Jacobson last October, while recounting the events that led up to the fraud in our original report in November.
In early October 2021, Jacobson said he happened to check the trust account balance while visiting an ATM. That's when he said he saw that the $121,000 in Laurie's trust account was gone, drained by three fraudulent wire transfers to Thailand. He reported the fraud immediately but said Citibank told him there was nothing they could do.
"I had a personal banker. And I went in there. And I asked him about all this. He says, 'Well, you're going to have to get attorneys,'" said Jacobson.
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"Not only were they not concerned about getting Scott's money back, but they weren't concerned about investigating to make sure it didn't happen again," said James Bonebreak, Jacobson’s attorney.
For years, Jacobson, Bonebrake and Noel Elfant have been fighting Citibank in court, arguing the bank didn't get the required approval from Jacobson for those international wire transfers.
"The banks are required under the law to notify [you] before the transfers go back and forth, [to say], 'Hey consumer, these are the taxes, international taxes you're going to pay.' The arbitrator found out that there was no evidence that [Citibank] did that in this case," said Bonebreak.
As the case dragged on, Jacobson struggled to pay for his sister's day-to-day care.
"We lost our house, lost our house because of it, and it's cost a fortune for these attorneys," said Jacobson.
Finally this year, Jacobson got a powerful ally in his fight.
In January, New York Attorney General Leticia James filed a lawsuit against Citibank, claiming its "lax security procedures" allowed "scammers" to steal "millions of dollars from New York consumers" who were victims of wire fraud, just like Jacobson.
And just like in Jacobson's case, that lawsuit accuses Citibank of:
- “Failing to protect and refusing to reimburse victims of fraud”
- not implementing “strong online protections” to stop fraud
- and misleading “account holders about their rights after their accounts are hacked”
Earlier this month Citibank asked a federal judge to dismiss the attorney general’s lawsuit, calling it "misguided," adding they've "implemented robust countermeasures" to combat fraud.
The judge has not yet ruled on that request.
"My reaction is that this must be happening all over the place. And … something needs to be done about this,” said Jacobson.
Suddenly last week, a turning point took place in Jacobson’s case.
An arbitrator ruled in Jacobson’s favor, finding Citibank didn’t follow its own online funds transfer agreement and protocols, by: not getting approval from Jacobson before authorizing the international wire transfers; ignoring its own internal scam alerts, triggered after the first fraudulent wire transfer on Jacobson’s account; and authorizing the final two wire transfers the day after Jacobson notified them of the fraud.
"We were awarded all of that money, $121,005 plus close to $20,000 in interest, which is because he has been deprived of that money for for two years,” said Bonebreak, who was also awarded attorney fees in the judgment. "I think that Citibank and many banks and many companies believe that they can win … just grind down the other side. I credit Scott for having the wherewithal and the gumption and the courage to do this."
His ordeal now over. Jacobson encourages others who've lost their hard-earned money to bank fraud to be persistent.
"I would say keep trying, keep trying, you know, do what you have to do to try to get your money back and don't quit, don't give up," said Jacobson.
Citibank declined to comment on Jacobson’s case, but in a statement, a Citibank spokesperson told us, "Citi closely follows all laws and regulations related to wire transfers and works extremely hard to prevent threats from affecting our clients and to assist them in recovering losses when possible. We’ve taken proactive steps to safeguard our clients’ accounts with leading security protocols, intuitive fraud prevention tools, clear insights about the latest scams, and client awareness and education. Our actions have reduced client wire fraud losses significantly, and we remain committed to investing in fraud prevention measures to help our clients secure their accounts against emerging threats."
