[Dataloss] What's up with Citibank?

[lyger]

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/05/citibank_under_fraud.html

BoingBoing pal and Citibank customer Jake Appelbaum tried to withdraw some 
cash with his ATM card on Saturday night. He initiated his bank account 
long ago in the US, but was in Toronto, Canada yesterday. Jake explains:

"To my surprise, the ATM machine rejected the transaction and urged me to 
contact my financial institution. The machine also reported on the receipt 
"INELIGIBLE ACCOUNT."

Jake called Citibank's international customer support number, and soon 
learned that the lockout was part of a much larger fraud crisis -- by no 
means the only data security issue at Citibank in recent months.

Jake continues:

"The supervisor identified herself as a manager named Carla ID#CRU194. I 
identified myself as an upset customer whose account was locked for some 
unknown reason. She asked me a few questions about my location, my issue 
and then informed me that my card was suspected of fraud.
Naturally, I perked my ears up and asked for details of any fraud. She 
informed me that there had been no direct fraudulent transactions on my 
account. Rather, she informed me that the ATM networks of Canada, Russia 
and the United Kingdom have been compromised. I used the term class break 
as a question and she repeated that there has been a class break of the 
ATM networks in those countries. The ATM network in Canada has been 
compromised and as a result, using my ATM card over the Canadian network 
locked my account automatically. 
She informed me that this has been an ongoing issue for the last two 
weeks. When I asked why there was no media attention, she said she wasn't 
sure. I said it was a pretty big deal and she agreed.

"She informed me that I would have to return to the United States to 
change my pin number before my card would be valid and in a usable state 
again. When I informed her that I would be traveling outside of the United 
States for at least a few months, possibly up to six, she repeated that I 
would have to re-enter the United States to fix the problem."

In other words, if you're a US Citibank customer trying to use your ATM 
card in Canada, Russia, or the UK right now, you are totally fuxx0red.

Citibank didn't handle Jake's problem in a customer-friendly way at all, 
and it appears they're handling all affected customers with exactly the 
same procedure.

[...]