AdWeek's "AdFreak" blog just whipped up this spoof of Citibank's "Live richly" ads: "Who needs a working ATM card? It's not about the money, remember?"
(Thanks, Tim Nudd from AdFreak.com!)
Related: Ben Popken at Consumerist is digging up more detail on the Citibank security breach by calling up and posing as a customer. The rep he spoke with just now claims the security issue was not a class break (definition here) — this contradicts what another rep told Jake Appelbaum on Saturday, in the course of a call about Jake's affected Citibank account. Link to Consumerist post.
Update: Jake Appelbaum, who first alerted BoingBoing to the story, responds:
A month huh? That's two weeks up from the last time! This new explanation doesn't seem correct. The woman I spoke with on the phone said that the networks in these countries were compromised, she sent a new card to my US address as a result of using said networks. She also told me that if I used these networks again, Citibank might lock my card again. She could not assure me that it wouldn't happen the first time I used the Canadian ATM network with my new card. Her suggestion to withdraw large sums of money was cute, but perhaps not unwarranted given the stupid state of Citibank.
This sounds like an issue that's unrelated to cards just being rejected, doesn't it? If it was just the networks rejecting cards, why did I need to have a new card reissued? I've had fraud issues with my account cleared over the phone numerous times from my insane traveling schedule. Never have I had to have a card reissued because my card was "rejected by some banks." WTF?
Though if anything, it's like there's more than one problem with Citibank and ATM networks in Canada. It seems like we've got a few issues: 1) Citibank cards are being rejected by some Canadian banks on the Canadian ATM network. This is being claimed the consumerist. It happened to me but perhaps this isn't the same case. My card was rejected but it wasn't only rejected by the bank I visited, it was locked by Citibank.
2) Citibank had/has a fraud issue with people generating card numbers and pins. This was disclosed when I called previously. It is unclear if my card was generated or if my pin was generated. I'm of the mindset that this could be the case but they're pretty tight lipped about it.
3) Citibank claims that using any of the Canadian ATM network will result in a card likely being flagged and locked. The only way to reset this flag is to get a new card issued. This does not prevent the issue though. They claim this is because the Canadian network itself is insecure. This is a pretty bold claim and the woman I spoke with on the phone repeated that this has been an issue for two weeks. This was also disclosed when I called.
4) Citibank says this is also happening in the UK and Russia. Again, they told me this over the telephone. The consumerist appears to have gotten the same response to the affected areas of the world.
I say they're doing damage control. Something doesn't sit right with me. How does "some banks reject citibank customers" translate into three nations worth of ATM networks being untrusted?
Previously on Boing Boing:
– Citibank security breach: undisclosed *internally*, let alone publicly?
– Citibank under fraud attack, customers locked out of accounts
Reader comment: Bill Hansley says,
I'm a US customer of Royal Bank of Canada / Centura, and they're having similar issues. The word from them was that Visa corp told them that several thousand (65,000 according to the service desk people at my grocery store, who knew about this as well) *cards* (not accounts) had been compromised and were cancelled Saturday and replacements mailed. My card was affected, my wife's, who's on the same account, was not. I wonder how many other banks were affected?
Update: Consumerist posts an official response from Citibank. It's generally short on facts, and fails to address some of the contested details. Link.
Update: Here's another presumably related personal account from a Citibank customer who found himself locked out of his account: Link.
