Citibank’s Dirty Little Secret: While They Warn You About Scams, They’re Greasing the Wheels for $20 Million Cons

EDITOR'S NOTES

Let this sink in: while the megabanks pump out glossy pamphlets telling you to “stay vigilant,” they’re the ones flinging open the vault for professional scammers. This isn’t just another sloppy oversight—this is systemic negligence, if not outright complicity. Citibank, an institution knee-deep in regulatory favors and bailout cash, allegedly sat there counting fees while $20 million in stolen wealth passed through its accounts.

Ask yourself: how many times have you seen your bank freeze your legitimate transactions because they “look suspicious,” yet here we have wire transfers obliterating account limits—$2 million a pop—and nobody lifts a finger? This is not a bug in the system. This is the system working exactly as designed. If you think your deposits are safe because the smiling banker hands you a fraud brochure, think again.

How a Romance Scam Became a $20 Million Feeding Frenzy

A Texas man is dragging Citibank into court for allegedly playing a starring role in a sprawling $20 million pig butchering scheme—a grotesque name for a grotesque con that preys on lonely people by weaving romance and phantom riches into one big digital noose.

Michael B. Zidell claims he was first contacted on Facebook in early 2023 by a smooth-talking phantom calling herself Carolyn Parker, a supposed California entrepreneur. Like clockwork, the scam unfurled: the “relationship,” the too-good-to-be-true NFT investments, the fake website (OpenrarityPro.com), and the hypnotic illusion of vast wealth just a wire transfer away.

Zidell ultimately fired off 43 wire transfers totaling $20 million—yes, million—with 12 of those worth nearly $4 million funneled directly into a Citibank account under the innocuous name Guju, Inc. That account, by the way, was supposedly set up for routine $8,000 transfers to China, with annual revenues of $300,000. Citibank, in all its infinite wisdom (or willful blindness), somehow didn’t notice when single transfers blew past that annual revenue threshold by 50%.

The Blatant Red Flags Citibank Allegedly Ignored

When Zidell finally tried to withdraw what the website claimed was a $300 million fortune, the scam revealed its final twist: he’d have to pay a “risk deposit” to access it. And then—like every classic rug-pull—the website vanished into the ether.

Zidell’s lawyers allege that Citibank was not only asleep at the wheel but effectively acting as the scammers’ private banker. The complaint details how the Guju account’s activity obliterated every stated parameter Citibank had on file. Outbound wires exceeded $2 million each, and inbound wires dwarfed the account’s supposed revenue over a few short weeks.

Let’s be clear: this is not some obscure credit union fumbling compliance. This is Citibank—a multi-national, trillion-dollar behemoth with layers of compliance officers, AI fraud detection, and more data on you than the NSA. Yet somehow, none of these safeguards applied when massive sums were moving to accounts that should have triggered a SWAT team of auditors.

The Hypocrisy of the Banking Establishment

This is the same Citibank that will freeze your debit card because you dared buy groceries in another state, but will happily let a shell company vacuum up millions from dozens of victims. It’s the same banking system that lectures you about “security hygiene” while pocketing fees on money laundering operations and sweetheart deals with government contractors.

Even worse, this is not an isolated failure. Recall Wells Fargo’s billion-dollar fraud creating fake accounts to juice stock prices, or HSBC laundering narco cash for over a decade. These banks pay slap-on-the-wrist fines—costs of doing business—while you, the depositor, get left holding the bag.

Ask yourself: if this is what happens with conventional fiat accounts, imagine what’s coming when these same institutions become gatekeepers of programmable digital dollars under FedNow or a Central Bank Digital Currency. If you think they’ll protect you, think again. You’ll be at the mercy of institutions that can’t—or won’t—stop the most obvious scams as long as they get their cut.

Call to Action

If you still believe the banks are your friends, you haven’t been paying attention. It’s time to take your financial safety into your own hands. Download Seven Steps to Protect Yourself from Bank Failure by Bill Brocius and learn how to unplug from the cartel of corruption before you become the next cautionary tale.

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