Citibank has been sued by a self-dominated hunting of a crypto romance scam, stating that the bank ignored the red flag, allowing scammers to shut down with $ 20 million.
In a case filed in a manhattan federal court on Tuesday, the plaintiff Michael Zidel allegedly “shut an eye for his legal duties and obligations” when he allowed him to deposit millions of dollars for accounts in the bank.
Zidel said he sent $ 20 million to scammers through dozens of transactions in several banks, including about $ 4 million, which has been held in Citibank.
The complaint stated that the transactions were part of a detailed romance scam, which is commonly called. Pig but butcherWhile scammers use a fake personality to build a romantic online relationship with a victim, to woo them into a fraudulent investment plan using it.
Facebook romance led scam NFT investment
Zidell stated that the scam began in early 2023 when he was approached by a “Caroline Parker” on Facebook, with an alleged business owner, with whom he had “friendly, social relations, but later considered a romantic one development.”
One month in the relationship, Parker told Zidel that he should invest in a non-fang token, as he claimed that he earned millions of doing so and directed him to a trading platform.
Zidell decided to invest in NFTs and transferred to various bank accounts given to him by the trading platform. They were told that many banks were required due to large amounts of customer deposits.
He said that in the next few months, he sent 43 transfer of more than $ 20 million to various bank accounts, but by the end of April, the website for the platform “suddenly went away” with its millions.
Citibank ignored the scam warning signs, suit claims
The complaint accused Citibank of 12 processing, which transferred a total of $ 4 million that went to a company called Guju Inc.
It also accused the bank of ignoring the “red flag” in the accounts of Guju and alleged that “the big, goal number, among other things, the bank’s investigation should have triggered in suspicious activity.”
,[Citibank] The measures of adequate securities failed to apply, clearly failed to detect suspected transactions and failed to monitor the accounts, even though large, round money was moved inside and out of accounts from trusts and other individuals, “Read the complaint.
Zidel said Citibank said and abandoned the alleged scam and accused the bank of negligence, claiming that “it was the duty of using proper care under the supervision of suspected transactions.”
Cointelegraph has approached Citibank for comment.
Romance scam is a multibillion-dollar thug
Last year, romance scammers Stole more than $ 5.5 billion In cases identified 200,000, security firm Cyrers reported co -operatives in February.
In February, Channelis estimates that all types of crypto scams stole $ 9.9 billion in 2024, but it can grow up to $ 12.4 billion as the analytics firm identifies more scammer-tang crypto wallets.
Earlier this month, US officials said they are already $ 225 million seized This year, an operation led by Secret Service tied Pig butcher scam, which was the biggest crypto seizure ever by the agency.
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