When 85-year-old Joel Weiss* of Boca Raton, Florida, opened his Citibank statement, he was alarmed to see recent charges he did not recognize — among them, a $3,000 retail expenditure in Indiana, King Kong DVDs, and several untraceable Amazon purchases. Not only had he not bought anything from Amazon in 2024, be he also didn’t know anyone in Indiana. Suspecting fraud, Weiss called his bank to cancel his credit card and, in effect, close his account. That was two months ago — meanwhile, his account remains open while suspicious charges accrue.
“I have spoken to at least five to six customer service and fraud agents at Citi. It has been a very frustrating experience,” stated his son, Matthew Weiss,* who has been assisting his father.
After his father’s initial call to Citibank, Weiss’ card was frozen and he was issued a replacement card in the mail. This made his previous card inactive, but it did not stop recurring charges to his account. “For the alleged customer’s convenience and to avoid disrupting legitimate services, [banks] allow recurring charges if the customer account is in good standing,” stated Yashin Manraj, CEO of Pvotal Technologies. Yet, not all recurring charges were his.
