Citibank review: Unauthorized charge using a virtual account

I generated a virtual account number on Dec 24, 2025 is to order from the merchant DRIVSE. However, same merchant tried to charge $119 a couple times to which Citibank rejected and flagged the charges as Fraud, so I never knew about those charges. on Jan 20, 2026, I got a notification from Citibank of the charge. Immediately I called to let them know of the unauthorized charge, but I was told I had to wait until the transaction was posted and to call back to initiate a dispute. I called a couple times and last call from Jan 23rd I was told by the Fraud Early detection department (Alba) that they will cancel the virtual account as to prevent any other charges and no need to get new card as the original account was not compromised and I should hear back from Fraud that by the end of the following week I would receive the notification on the status of the investigation. I never heard back so I called again today, Jan 30, to find out that nothing had happened as the dispute had never been initiated. Now James from Fraud had to initiate the dispute and that a new card needs to be sent even thou previously I was told the original card was not compromised. In each call I told them I had proof that the charge was unauthorized, but the representatives were not interested. The merchant, DRIVSE, sent me an email dated Jan 20, 2026, at 9:38 AM asking to confirm subscription with a disclaimer that read "If you didn't subscribe to this list or you're not sure why you received this email, you can delete it. You will not be subscribed if you don't click on the link above." I did not click on the link but at that time the charge had already been submitted as I received that payment alert of $74.97 from Citibank on Jan 20, 2026, at 9:10 AM.
I received two letters from Citibank asking to call to validate some suspicious transactions. A charge for $119 was attempted on the virtual account but Citibank rejected the payment and flagged it as Fraud, so I never saw those charges on the account which I confirmed on all my calls. However, Citibank allowed the charge of $74.97 from same merchant DRIVSE to go through. Now I was told that they must cancel my card, even thou before I was told that since I used a virtual account my original card was not compromised, I said OK. Supposedly now there will be a record of a dispute being filed and was told that it can take 2 billing cycles to resolve. I was told I must pay the amount in question until the issue is resolved and I will either be given credit back or the charge will remain. This was clearly a fraudulent charge, but I have little confidence that Citibank will resolve the issue as it seems their customer representatives from the different departments are not in sync to what they tell the customers!

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