- Report: #1439951
Complaint Review: Citifinancial - Greenfield Beach Florida
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Author Confirmed
Why?
Citifinancial
Greenfield Beach, Florida, United States
Phone:
954-354-9112
Web:
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Citifinancial Adam Smith Sr. Loan Officer. and Christopher Johnson Fraudulently Operate under Citifinancial....defrauded me out of a lot of money Greenfield Beach Florida
Provide a description of the incident and how you were victimized. Provide information not captured elsewhere in this complaint form.
On April 17, 2018 I received a voicemail message on my phone. I was to contact Christopher Johnson, calling from Citifinancial, regarding a loan. So I called (954)354-9112 and was told by Mr. Johnson that I was approved for a loan up to 10,000. I indicated I'd be interested in the loan of 10,000. Mr. Johnson indicated that they would send me two separate Money Grams in the Amount of 5001.00, but I would need to pay for the transfer fee upfront. He requested I send it using Steam gift cards. Purchased the 200.00 as requested and sent them by photo over the phone. (Pics of the back of the cards with ID numbers). Then I was told by a couple stores Advance America, and CVS that the max amount I could get is 2,500.00 every 24 hrs. After calling Them back they indicated that to transfer funds to my bank, Tennessee requires a transfer tax, so I proceeded to obtain 700.00 in Steam cards and sent them by photo over my cell phone. Then another fee was required for certification from State Farm to back the loan if I failed to repay...that was 500.00 more sent the same way. They then indicated an error by them would required me to resend and additional 500.00, so I did. Then another fee of 310.00 was required, so I purchased 320.00 in steam cards and sent them. They then got angry and stated I was to get 310.00 in cards, not 320.00, so this require me to send another 310. As most stores don't carry 10.00 gift cards, I ran around and located one by google at Kroger's. Each time I got ready to go get the cards, they stated your loan will be transferred in no more than a half hour. After sending them 2,330.00 in Steam gift cards. They then indicated I would need to pay 1230.00 to transfer the loan to a bank that was setup on an ATM system.
At this point I stopped sending anything more, and have all the gift cards in my possession, with all but one receipts. As a 65 year old retired 23yrs honorable service Veteran of both Vietnam and Desert Storm, I now am 100% disable for service connected injuries from Combat. I've contacted Citifinancial Corporate Office to question this transaction, I indicated they no longer do loans. This confirmed to me it is apparently a scam.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Lawrence
Somewhere,Tennessee,
United States
Resolved
#2Author of original report
Tue, April 24, 2018
Thank you Jim for your insight and nothing you stated do I disagree with. There is no doubt I was gualible, but utilizing all my resources, worked. This situation has been resolved. I've gotten all my money back and will now go forward with both criminal and civil proceedings.
Jim
Anaheim,California,
United States
Yeah, It's a Scam
#3Consumer Comment
Tue, April 24, 2018
Pete, the big problem you have is that you are now on a sucker's list - meaning you are now easy prey to a scam like this. Nobody carees whether you are disabled or old - in fact, people like this love will use the fact you are elderly or a veteran to manipulate you into their confidence. They are preying on you because you think you know better, but don't. So here are some quick things to remember so you don't fall for this in the future:
1. Nobody legitimate calls you on the phone telling you that you qualified for a loan - NOBODY. If you are legitimately applying for a loan, then you went into a bank to apply for one, and the person you met at the bank is the person you are speaking to. If you don't know who it is you're talking to, hang up.
2. Legitimate lenders NEVER ask for a fee upfront. Loan fees are always built into the total loan balance that you will eventually pay back. If you think about it, if you had to pay a fee upfront, you are essentially gambling that the lender will do the work to get you the loan.
3. Anyone who asks you to purchase a gift card to pay a fee, asks you to use Western Union, thinks you are an idiot. No legitimate lender would ever ask you to use a gift card to pay a loan fee. Think about it - if they have money to lend, why would you pay the fee unless they don't think you would qualify for the loan?
4. Don't fall for someone using a legitimate name of a business you may have heard of over the phone. Citifinancial, for example, has no reason to legitimately call people to loan them money. They don't need to.
People don't call you out of the blue offering legitimate loans or free money. It's most always a scam. Don't do it.
