Citibank has become Shittibank

The wrong amounts in my accounts

The scene of the crime, photo by author

This is not about a major fraud affecting millions, but about a small misery inflicted upon me by my bank of nearly four decades.

The check for $1205.92 was forged.

I did not notice it until October 15 of 2024, when I was examining my 2023 financial material in order to file my extended United States tax returns.

Perhaps I had scanned my monthly statement too casually when the falsification happened; I must have readily assumed the cleared check was my regular rent payment.

It was indeed my ordinary numbered check with my account number and printed name, but all of the writing had been revised.

I had made the original check out to “R… Management,” my landlord. Instead, I saw that it was paid to “Ramona Antonia Ovalles” with my signature traced over in bold. I know no such person. The back is signed by this Ramona A. Ovalles and endorsed to a hairdresser: “Jaslie Beauty Salon.” I googled this beauty salon and learned it is in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

I have never been to New Brunswick, and I certainly have never spent anywhere near twelve hundred dollars at a hairdresser.

My rent check and the washed version of my check were both made out to entities with…