Citibank fails to protect customers from fraud, N.Y. AG's lawsuit contends

Jan. 30 (UPI) -- New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit Tuesday against Citibank for allegedly failing to protect and reimburse customers from fraud.

"The lawsuit alleges that Citi does not implement strong online protections to stop unauthorized account takeovers, misleads account holders about their rights after their accounts are hacked and funds are stolen, and illegally denies reimbursement to victims of fraud," James said in press release Tuesday.

James said Citi did not respond to fraud claims, "appropriately and quickly," and that customers had amassed millions in losses.

According to James, some customers received fraudulent text messages asking for them to log into their accounts and then had access to their accounts taken over by scammers.

"As a result of Citi's lax security, New York customers have lost millions of dollars, and in some instances their entire lifesavings, to scammers and hackers," James said in a statement Tuesday.

In a statement Tuesday, Citibank suggested certain kinds of fraud are beyond their control.

"Banks are not required to make customers whole when those customers follow criminals' instructions and banks can see no indication the customers are being deceived," Citibank said in statement Tuesday, according to CNBC.

In November, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Citibank to pay a $25.9 million fine for discrimination against members of the Armenian community.

The CFPB said Citi employees had treated Armenian applicants as potential criminals.