Here is the original customer problem with additional details provided by Citi to the customer. The part that intrigues me, is the comment from the Citibank call centre employee regarding "crackers". There must be more about this somewhere, and I will track it down.
ioerror: Citibank – "We don't care about you!"

Citibank refused to tell me anymore details beyond saying a group of illegal
crackers had generated a bunch of account numbers and also generated a
bunch of pin numbers.

It all began this way….

I first attempted to use my ATM card at 4:42PM to access $100 from my
checking account. I was at a small local market, not a bank. 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." Thinking I'd merely made a mistake,
perhaps even in balancing my checking account, I attempted to withdraw
the same amount of money from my savings account. I know that I
correctly typed my pin number in but again, I was rejected and urged to
contact my financial institution. I assumed those messages about
rejection were just custom to the machine and there was some issue with
that machine.At this point, I was pretty sure that something was amiss but I decided
to defer judgment until I'd visited a real bank of some sort. It could
just be the ATM machine I'd used. I walked down the road to a Royal Bank
of Canada and I attempted to use my ATM card again. Having absolutely
zero Canadian cash with me, I was hopeful this would work. Much to my
dismay, it did not. Attempting to withdraw from my checking account
resulted in a similar "INVALID ACCOUNT" message. The same of my savings
account. An attempt to withdraw from my credit card tied to my ATM
account also failed.

Here
is the entire account. From a customer perspective this service level
is precisely why Banks have a bad reputation. It may not be the
customers fault, but the opportunity to make this one loyal customer is
lost forever now.

This is a short account of dealing with Citibank on Saturday March 4th.

All times are in Eastern Standard Time. I'm currently in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

I first attempted to use my ATM card at 4:42PM to access $100 from my
checking account. I was at a small local market, not a bank. 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." Thinking I'd merely made a mistake,
perhaps even in balancing my checking account, I attempted to withdraw
the same amount of money from my savings account. I know that I
correctly typed my pin number in but again, I was rejected and urged to
contact my financial institution. I assumed those messages about
rejection were just custom to the machine and there was some issue with
that machine.

At this point, I was pretty sure that something was amiss but I decided
to defer judgment until I'd visited a real bank of some sort. It could
just be the ATM machine I'd used. I walked down the road to a Royal Bank
of Canada and I attempted to use my ATM card again. Having absolutely
zero Canadian cash with me, I was hopeful this would work. Much to my
dismay, it did not. Attempting to withdraw from my checking account
resulted in a similar "INVALID ACCOUNT" message. The same of my savings
account. An attempt to withdraw from my credit card tied to my ATM
account also failed.

I think I was a bit miffed at this point because it was cold and I had
no money. I was late and highly inconvenienced by this. I walked back to
my girlfriends apartment and called my bank collect. The number I called
was 210-677-0065 as is printed on the back of my card. At this point it
was around 5:10pm.

After waiting on hold for sometime, I spoke to a representative who
verified my account. I explained that I wanted to know why I'd been
locked out of my accounts. He verified that I had my card. He also
verified that I was in Canada. He had no idea what was wrong with my
account. He suggested that perhaps I was unable to type my pin in
correctly each and every time. I suggested he was mistaken and that I
wasn't going to have any nonsense about this being my fault. He put me
on hold for the better part of ten minutes and eventually I was
transferred to his supervisor.

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.

I found this to be entirely unacceptable and I asked that my account be
unlocked. It was locked upon the first usage in Canada not one hour
previously and there was no fraud reported on my account. She refused
and said that their system had a series of checks and balances she could
not reset. She suggested a method to reset the flag on my account that
involved mailing me a new ATM card to my home in California and
suggested that I have a local friend mail it to me in Toronto. She also
refused to mail me a card in Toronto. She could only mail it to my
registered home address in the USA. I explained that I wasn't planning
to be back in California anytime soon and she still refused to unlock my
account.

She suggested that I could get money by asking for a cash advance
against the Mastercard portion of my ATM card. She instructed me to go
into any bank and simply ask for "emergency money" with my passport and
ATM card. When I pointed out the fact that it was Saturday and after
5:00pm, she said I'd just have to wait until Monday. When I again
explained that I had no money and that's why I was visiting an ATM, she
suggested I go into a bank again. We went back and forth for awhile like
this and she conceded that until Monday, I was out of luck. So now that
we'd confirmed I was out of luck until Monday for so called "emergency"
funds, she tried to explain methods for me to continue to get money
until I returned to the USA. She upped my limit for a daily withdraw to
$7000 and suggested that I just take out as much as I think I'd need.
Once the banks were open next week of course. Just carry around six
months worth of cash with you, then it's not our problem Sir!

I decided that mailing a new card should be the best way to solve this
issue. She again told me that she couldn't mail it to me in Toronto and
that it would have to go to my home address where my bank statements are
mailed. I asked her what assurances she could offer me with regard to my
card actually working once it had been re-mailed to me from California
to Toronto. She informed that they offered none (!) and that I should
simply take out a large sum of money in the case that my card was
automatically frozen again! This is of course assuming that my card even
works the first time! She couldn't even assure me that it would work
once!

Aiieeeeee!

That was the best solution she offered me. I can wait until banks open
and take out large sums of money. They don't care that I'm left up the
creek without a paddle until Monday morning. The follow up to that
solution being that I could request a new card that might have the same
issue. She also informed me that the Mastercard portion of my ATM card
should work (should?!) and will not be canceled until I activate my soon
to be mailed card. I can live off of my credit card until I get my
perhaps new working ATM card, maybe.

My girlfriend asked "How does this affect me?" She's a Canadian and
wants to know about how her countries ATM network has been compromised.

Citibank refused to tell me anymore details beyond saying a group of
illegal crackers had generated a bunch of account numbers and also
generated a bunch of pin numbers. They didn't tell me if my card was one
of the numbers generated, they just told me that I was lucky. Carla
said: "Other people have lost everything. They've got it much harder
than you."

I was pretty infuriated and informed her that the customers had lost
nothing unless they had over $100,000USD. Everyone is FDIC insured and
they're simply covering their own assets. They're giving everyone a
difficult time because they're covering the profits of their corporation
at the cost of their customers. She agreed that the FDIC does cover them
and that no, they'd not lost everything. Amazing way to frame it. "We've
been owned, you lose everything! Terrible! So sorry!" Telling me I'm
lucky because others have lost everything. Amazing! What a stance for a
company to take, telling its customers that they've lost everything when
Citibank has been compromised in someway that's not even remotely
related to the customer!

Anyway, I'm a resident of California. I believe there is a security law
that requires Citibank to notify all of their customers in California of
an account compromise. Does this apply to my account now? If so, when
will Citibank comply with this? When will I get a detailed report of the
compromise from Citibank? Why didn't Citibank alert me when they know I
travel frequently? Especially when I informed them I'd be in Canada over
the next few months to avoid the fraud department from locking my
account? I'd called them in January to inform them of my travels between
the USA and Canada for the next several months.

After I got off the phone, I confirmed that the Mastercard portion of my
card does work for purchases. I can't get any cash from a merchant but I
can live off of my credit card until I find a way to get cash. Anything
that requires cash is entirely inaccessible for me until banks open, so
much for my plans to take public transit, attend a cash only concert and
ironically, use a photobooth for a friends birthday. I can't ride the
streetcars or subways unless I find someplace to let me buy tickets with
my credit card, I'm not even sure if that's possible in this city let
alone on the weekend. I guess I'll find out! I can't even buy food
unless I meet some minimum credit card purchase price. Citibank doesn't
care about these issues, they refused to unlock my ATM card when I
presented them with my dilemma. They only care about their bottom line
and they attempt to make their customers feel bad, as if we've done
something wrong!