Bank blocking transactions

[JamesH]

Evening all. New experience for me today. One of the silver bar sale payments (to me) was blocked by the buyers bank (due to suspected fraudulent activity). They were saying they’d paid (and they had) but I was saying nothing received. Checked payment details and all was correct. Eventually buyer had to call their bank, answer a whole stream of questions, including questions they were asking about the seller (me) before unblocking and allowing the transaction to process. We’re not talking big bucks here. It was £266 total. Is this a common occurrence for others on here or maybe just a random one off? Thanks

[SheepStacker]

Never heard of it personally for any transactions under the KYC/AML limits. Certainly not for £266. Get a business bank account or change bank.

[HerefordBullyun]

2 minutes ago, JamesH said:

Evening all. New experience for me today. One of the silver bar sale payments (to me) was blocked by the buyers bank (due to suspected fraudulent activity). They were saying they’d paid (and they had) but I was saying nothing received. Checked payment details and all was correct. Eventually buyer had to call their bank, answer a whole stream of questions, including questions they were asking about the seller (me) before unblocking and allowing the transactithe one on to process. We’re not talking big bucks here. It was £266 total. Is this a common occurrence for others on here or maybe just a random one off? Thanks

So welcome the pre testing world of blockchain / CBDC testing element. And KYC (know your customer) which is validated by banks.  @Gruff knows what I mean in the IT world...

 Banks are starting to test anyone, go and get 10000 out a bank account with cash and they will ask you what you are doing and possibly less..

The world now is about control period - and in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king....

[SheepStacker]

9 minutes ago, JamesH said:

Evening all. New experience for me today. One of the silver bar sale payments (to me) was blocked by the buyers bank (due to suspected fraudulent activity). They were saying they’d paid (and they had) but I was saying nothing received. Checked payment details and all was correct. Eventually buyer had to call their bank, answer a whole stream of questions, including questions they were asking about the seller (me) before unblocking and allowing the transaction to process. We’re not talking big bucks here. It was £266 total. Is this a common occurrence for others on here or maybe just a random one off? Thanks

 

2 minutes ago, SheepStacker said:

Never heard of it personally for any transactions under the KYC/AML limits. Certainly not for £266. Get a business bank account or change bank.

There is of course the elephant in the room, and the buyer could have been lying. Maybe he was a bit short and needed to stall you for a day or 2?

Edited November 28, 2022 by SheepStacker

[JamesH]

4 minutes ago, SheepStacker said:

 

There is of course the elephant in the room, and the buyer could have been lying. Maybe he was a bit short and needed to stall you for a day or 2?

I’d wondered that too but was fixed about 5 hours later so reluctant to believe this was the case. Had it rolled 24 hours I’d have absolutely thought similar but didn’t get that vibe on this one 

[James32]

1 hour ago, JamesH said:

Evening all. New experience for me today. One of the silver bar sale payments (to me) was blocked by the buyers bank (due to suspected fraudulent activity). They were saying they’d paid (and they had) but I was saying nothing received. Checked payment details and all was correct. Eventually buyer had to call their bank, answer a whole stream of questions, including questions they were asking about the seller (me) before unblocking and allowing the transaction to process. We’re not talking big bucks here. It was £266 total. Is this a common occurrence for others on here or maybe just a random one off? Thanks

It happened to me, buyer who I wont name sent payment..never arrived. Had left buyer's account but never reached mine. Buyer probably initially thought I was up to something and I thought he was insane 😅😅 only joking but it is awkward to begin with, thankfully we were both trusting enough of each other. I just sent a screenshot to prove the problem was on his end. He had to make phone calls and basically beg for his own money ( all to protect him of course 🙄)

[SheepStacker]

2 minutes ago, James32 said:

It happened to me, buyer who I wont name sent payment..never arrived. Had left buyer's account but never reached mine. Buyer probably initially thought I was up to something and I thought he was insane 😅😅 only joking but it is awkward to begin with, thankfully we were both trusting enough of each other. I just sent a screenshot to prove the problem was on his end. He had to make phone calls and basically beg for his own money ( all to protect him of course 🙄)

If only the cryptobros hadn't turned bitcoin and ethereum into a casino, we might have had a serious alternative payment solution.

[StackemHigh]

This was quite common 10 - 15 years ago. I had a nasty habit of sending money a different account of mine as holiday savings of around £150 per month. My bank didn't like my AC bank account for some reason.

[Gruff]

7 hours ago, HerefordBullyun said:

So welcome the pre testing world of blockchain / CBDC testing element. And KYC (know your customer) which is validated by banks.  @Gruff knows what I mean in the IT world...

 Banks are starting to test anyone, go and get 10000 out a bank account with cash and they will ask you what you are doing and possibly less..

The world now is about control period - and in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king....

Yep, sadly KYC is going to become more and more of an issue. It's data profiling of course but sold in the guise of protecting you and them from fraud.
As banks get more and more into debt and have less and less liquidity, they'll tighten the screws even more. 

Remember that you're an unsecured creditor to the bank, so effectively even though your monthly pay check goes in, it is in effect instantly not your any longer and it is a loan to the bank to keep afloat. As the credit crunch and recession/depression really start to bite and people are struggling, the banks will tighten right up as lending between banks will grind to a snails pace. Banks don't trust each other as they know they're all in the same boat. It's a case of who blinks/sneezes/breaks first...

[HerefordBullyun]

5 hours ago, SheepStacker said:

If only the cryptobros hadn't turned bitcoin and ethereum into a casino, we might have had a serious alternative payment solution.

I think the regulators wanted them to fail, they could hand and justify power back to their mates, the banks. 

And now they will just regulate crypto to the point, where it will be of little use to anyone but banks....

Edited November 29, 2022 by HerefordBullyun

[Bigmarc]

9 hours ago, JamesH said:

Evening all. New experience for me today. One of the silver bar sale payments (to me) was blocked by the buyers bank (due to suspected fraudulent activity). They were saying they’d paid (and they had) but I was saying nothing received. Checked payment details and all was correct. Eventually buyer had to call their bank, answer a whole stream of questions, including questions they were asking about the seller (me) before unblocking and allowing the transaction to process. We’re not talking big bucks here. It was £266 total. Is this a common occurrence for others on here or maybe just a random one off? Thanks

I have sold about 30 items on here all various prices and I had one pop up. I was the receiver of £25 and my bank wanted to know the details of the person sending it. Turns out it wasn't her account and she said it was her husband's, not sure if it was true or not but the bank was happy and honoured it. 

It was a fairly easy process for me as the bank text me straight away. I can't see how it is fraud or money laundering for such a small amount so assuming it's just a random check. 

[flyingveepixie]

This has happened to me twice.  Once from my own end and once from the buyers end.  Although to be fair the amounts in question were considerably larger than the £266 mentioned here...

The first time it happened it took 2 days for the money to reappear and the second time it took just over an hour.

Different banks in each instance.

[modofantasma]

Had an issue paying 2 different dealers from a Halifax account. It wasn't my first time paying either of them. The most recent time the chap I got through to on the phone was pretty hostile from the off and was asking a fair few questions that weren't related to the transaction at all. Now I think about it... I wonder what he was digging for? 

I closed a few of my Barclays accounts as it was hoop jumping for the vast majority of transactions. I don't have time to spend 20 mins on the phone every time I want to pay someone 

[modofantasma]

Anybody know how much the employee can see about you when you call?

You go through security, presumably they can see you balance on your accounts? Does the bank have software that might show some average payment amounts or monthly income or expenses etc?

[paulmerton]

1 hour ago, modofantasma said:

Anybody know how much the employee can see about you when you call?

You go through security, presumably they can see you balance on your accounts? Does the bank have software that might show some average payment amounts or monthly income or expenses etc?

Absolutely. I know a few people who work as call handlers in anti fraud departments at banks and they know pretty much everything about you as soon as you get put through to them. They don't let that on, as it's part of the test to gauge how truthful you are when they ask certain questions they pretend they don't know the answers to. Not everyone who phones them up is as honest and pumped full of integrity as us lot, of course! 🤣

[modofantasma]

6 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

Absolutely. I know a few people who work as call handlers in anti fraud departments at banks and they know pretty much everything about you as soon as you get put through to them. They don't let that on, as it's part of the test to gauge how truthful you are when they ask certain questions they pretend they don't know the answers to. Not everyone who phones them up is as honest and pumped full of integrity as us lot, of course!

That was my assumption that more or less everything is visible. Makes me more suspicious what he was digging for... the questions he was asking seemed as if he was trying to trip me up. Multiple times rewording a very similar question 

[Thelonerangershorse]

Happened to me twice, took around 45 minutes on the phone to the bank on both occasions.

[sixgun]

The bank rang me out of the blue asking me about all the debits i was making to various accounts. They listed them off. Quite a lot were TSF members, the likes of Arshimo2012. i said it was to buy gold and silver. It was for investment. i said you should also be buying gold and silver. Aren't you buying gold and silver?
They said ok and rang off.

Lots of times payments have been held up. Sometimes they ring me, sometimes i ring them. Usually i turn it round. What's the problem? Can't i send my money to XYZ now? They don't want to say i can't and they start apologising and ring off.

Edited November 29, 2022 by sixgun

[bluffer]

21 hours ago, JamesH said:

Evening all. New experience for me today. One of the silver bar sale payments (to me) was blocked by the buyers bank (due to suspected fraudulent activity). They were saying they’d paid (and they had) but I was saying nothing received. Checked payment details and all was correct. Eventually buyer had to call their bank, answer a whole stream of questions, including questions they were asking about the seller (me) before unblocking and allowing the transaction to process. We’re not talking big bucks here. It was £266 total. Is this a common occurrence for others on here or maybe just a random one off? Thanks

ignore the conspiracy folk.

 

its not random but driven by the various bank algothithms.  each bank will have their own, so starling will be different from rbs from lloyds to santander etc. as the recipient, you wont be told it was blocked.

 

generally if it was you making the payment. it may be your turn, it may be your spending pattern - too much, outside the usual category etc, it may be the recipient and so on.  what the bank employee sees will be dependent on the software used.  ie if its card transaction it can usually tell if the pin was used, card not present, phone transaction, if through online banking did the person sign on with the normal ip address, how they logged on etc

the security questions can often be the hardest even for the genuine customer to get through - card limit, last few transactions etc

 

I did it for a few years and my attitude after a few days was basically why is this fecking person fecking lying to me when trying to claim someone had stolen their card and used it to make a cash withdrawal using the pin but then putting the card back in the wallet without them noticing.  you quickly had a gut feeling who was genuine and who wasnt. 

 

yelling at me saying you had a train or bus to catch usually resulted in slow system or a bad line 😈

 

problem is that quite a few times the anti fraud text messages asking people to confirm if something was real and could be released automatically, were thought of as fraud by customers and ignored. so no reply was received and the transaction was blocked!

[PhilOdgny]

22 minutes ago, bluffer said:

problem is that quite a few times the anti fraud text messages asking people to confirm if something was real and could be released automatically, were thought of as fraud by customers and ignored. so no reply was received and the transaction was blocked!

Seems sensible to assume any incoming communication from your bank is fraudulent until proven otherwise.  Ignoring it is not sensible though, you should contact the bank using an existing trusted channel rather than replying to some random looking txt message or dealing with some automated telephone system.

[spookyandroid]

So we're all slowly becoming more accepting of "blocked transactions" that I/we authorise, under the guise of protection (when isn't a restriction put in place for our protection) in the name of "anti-fraud" policies, put in place by businesses that partake in the highest levels of fraud...and to question this is a conspiracy theory. 

My disdain, wait no, that's too nice, my sheer hatred and loathing of the banking industry is at an all time high. I take responsibility for my own money, having to provide valid reasons to spend over X amount is something everyone should find troubling and is ultimately a step towards CBDC dystopia, whereby you can only redeem your vouchers if you've been a good boy/girl. Conspiracy you say? Seen China recently?

Edited November 30, 2022 by spookyandroid

[flyingveepixie]

30 minutes ago, spookyandroid said:

So we're all slowly becoming more accepting of "blocked transactions" that I/we authorise, under the guise of protection (when isn't a restriction put in place for our protection) in the name of "anti-fraud" policies, put in place by businesses that partake in the highest levels of fraud...and to question this is a conspiracy theory. 

My disdain, wait no, that's too nice, my sheer hatred and loathing of the banking industry is at an all time high. I take responsibility for my own money, having to provide valid reasons to spend over X amount is something everyone should find troubling and is ultimately a step towards CBDC dystopia, whereby you can only redeem your vouchers if you've been a good boy/girl. Conspiracy you say? Seen China recently?

Banks and bigwig bankers are the worst of all fraudsters and scammers, they it is who are responsible for all of our financial woes, yet to question their actions and behaviour invites disapproval and disdain.  How can this be..?

I do however admire their skill in turning the whole thing around to make it look convincingly like they're only ever working in our interests and protecting us all while making vast riches for themselves as they print money endlessly from thin air at all of our expense..

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by flyingveepixie