Topic: My bank account was frozen due to suspicious activity on my account - page 2. (Read 7762 times)

And by the way to all those who post information about big transactions this isn't the case. The total was £1000 only and still if someone complains about you that you took their money and gave them nothing in return they are basically accusing you of committing fraud in which case they will most likely freeze your account and send back the money to the buyer unless you can prove that you did everything correctly and the fraud allegations are false.
The same applies for cash deposits, even that I read in places the person who deposits the money can attempt to get it back with claims he was forced to do it or was cheated etc.
Seems nothing is truly irreversible except cash and Bitcoin

Thanks for the reassurances. I'm unable to get into the branch until next Friday but I have spoken to their fraud department and I was lucky the last time I tried a really nice representative took the call and really tried to help me. But I'll still need to go into the branch and show my localbitcoins.com activity and prove that the bitcoins were given to the buyer.
I will update you on the results. In the meantime any more practical advice would be appreciated especially from anyone who has faced such a situation with a UK bank before.

I don't think there's anything to worry about. The bank has regulations to prevent money laundry. Once they found out the source of the money is legal, they will remove the freeze.

With rampant cases of money laundering, banks are afraid to transact in very big amounts of money. It will always be suspicious to have a single transaction with a very big amount. The best way to deal with this situation is have smaller transactions scattered over a period of time. When you were trading in the bitcoin, you would have sold a few and explained the transaction using another item but not trading in bitcoin. As it stands, bitcoin is not universally accepted and banks believe bitcoin is being used for money laundering. I hope your issue was resolved?

If you are a victim of man-in-the-middle attack, then tough luck. You will have to show evidence that the bitcoins were indeed sent to him, and not to anybody else.

Hi thanks for the reply
In my case I found out that the buyer complained that I had scammed him by taking his money and giving him nothing. Now I will have to prove my innocense to the bank by going to the branch with all the evidence that he did in fact receive bitcoin in return for his payment

To freeze a bank account is unusual. It takes more than a large deposit for a bank to activate it. I mean that even if you're on minimum wage, you can always sell an used car, or get a loan from a parent. The cause of the freeze comes most probably from the other side. I mean the buyer who made a large transfer to an unrelated person. That transfer raised alarm at the other guy's bank, and that alarm spread to your bank.

Hi friends,

It's been a few months since the last post on this thread but this is exactly my problem at the moment.
I'm from the UK. Yesterday I sold some bitcoin on localbitcoins to a new user with 0 feedback. I suppose I should've know better than that but his ID was verified with lcb and I made sure the funds came from an account in his name.
A few hours following the trade I discovered that I was unable to perform any transactions on my bank account (HALIFAX) when I contacted the bank I was told my account was being investigated due to fraud and I must report in person in a branch with identification.
I contacted localbitcoins and they refuse to release any details about the buyer ID that might help me prove my innocence to the bank. All I have is a record of the transactions on lbc and you can see that the buyer's real name is verified and that's the name that matches up with the bank transfer that he paid me for the bitcoins.
I've been really stressed all day and I can't sleep.. I feel so helpless. I saw there some really good people writing on this forum and contributing their opinion and experience. Please if anyone reads this and can give advice what am I supposed to do? I am totally innocent.
Will my bank Halifax accept the proof when I show them my localbitcoins account? Will they understand that of course there was no fraud since the buyer received the bitcoin in exchange for his payment as they were held and then released from escrow. There is actually no way he didn't receive them.
Will the bank accept that this person ID was verified by lbc and therefor of course it was him making he payment that came from an account in his name.. who is going to believe that some one stole someone's ID documents AND managed to steal access to their bank account... Now way! Of course it was him and now he's just trying to scam me after having received the bitcoins knowing full well what kind of trouble banks can cause.
Please tell me what to do... I'm so stressed. Will I lose all my money? Will I lose some of my money? What am I to do?

While your funds could have been tainted in some way, which will flag a transaction on this platform, you most likely are running into problems because of the amount of money involved with your account/that transaction. Transactions that large invoke AML/KYC procedures automatically, so they will most likely need you to answer a few questions and possibly identify yourself. Otherwise, they would be breaking the law (they may have to fill out a questionnaire for the transaction to cover everything on their end).

That's why the bitcoin is the need of this hour. Governments are seeking for the extreme control on the economy of the countries (they are not wrong at their place but it's not convenient for everyone). Using usual route to remit funds outside the country requires much more time and we have to depend on banks for that but bitcoin gives the user, full control of their funds.

as soon as any of your money touches a bank, it's no longer 'your' money. it's a credit owed by them to you. there certainly will be legal avenues you can follow but that's the fundamental bedrock of anyone's relationship with their bank. not enough people seem to give it any thought.

Did you write the letter. If not a template can be found here
http://www.which.co.uk/documents/docx/letter-asking-the-financial-ombudsman-service-to-intervene-in-a-dispute-with-the-bank-309322.docx

The bank must have some timeline to complete the investigation of the $10k. They can't hold it forever.

I think this is the case of the fraudulent transaction (the amount sent to your bank account was compromised), Make sure you keep all the transaction records (previous records and feedbacks of other transactions too) in for the further investigation. Unfortunately, the priority will be given to the recovery of fiat funds (which was sent to your account). Keep posting updates, good luck.

Keep us updated: papaxamo111

thanks

I am very sure that when you signed up for an account with the bank, there was a place where you were to declare the source of your funds. If it is a business account, it will have no problems but with a personal account, any amount which is bigger than your normal will raise suspicion from the bank. 

Hi papaxamo111
Last week i was wondering about you
Did you get an answer from the bank? Did they released your funds and or told you a reason? 10k is a good bag of cash. I am not from UK but i think you should visit an association for consumers rights. It's free and they have competent people to help you

Hi guys, I really appreciate your support. I have one good information for you. I visited different branch last Saturday and spoke to different people then I spoke before and these people were very polite to me and gave me opportunity to withdraw my money from my employer (wages). One thing what's happened with my BTC money (£10 000), this amount has been removed from my account and it's still under the investigation.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this communication I already filed a complaint regarding dissatisfaction with bank communication and today I received letter from the bank that my recent complaint has been resolved and closed.

''We're sorry that you recently had cause to complain. During our conversation today we discussed the details of your complaint and agreed an outcome that you were satisfied with. ''

''You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge - but you must do so within six months of the date of this letter.''

Guys, please anyone from you have ever faced this issue with the bank and have a template of letter to the Financial Ombudsman? I'm not sure how long it takes, but I'm a bit afraid I will never receive my 10k back :-(

Other things I would like to know:
1. For UK residents: what bank/association do you recommend for trading with BTC? Should I open a business account? What bank do you recommend?

Look forward to your reply.
Best Regards

Once assets are frozen you'd have to go through an intermediary... Banks freeze due to suspicious activity and tend to be easy to regain access to if proven innocent.

The Feds might contact you about taxation if you can manage to unlock it, but that's after banks come up with a positive decision.

I dont know about legal matters. But if you seek for legal adviser. Maybe theres a higher chance you retrieve your bank account. You cant do this on your own. If they found that you are innocent, i guess they will unlock your account. But the chances of retrieving your account is low. Just seek for lawyer to give you immediate solutions.

Probably due to the unusual transaction, I think anything above £4,999 is flagged as suspicious and checked to ensure no fraud etc is going on.  I think the best move in future is to find a bitcoin friendly bank or at the least contact the bank in advance to notify them and find out what problems you may face.

I could be wrong but that is my feeling on why they froze your account, I would expect better customer service from them though, from what you have said they haven't been very helpfull.