alt Hacker NewsBanks frequently completely freeze accounts for no discernable reason and with zero communication, support, or recourse.
You're just lucky that it hasn't happened to you. That does not mean it doesn't happen to anyone.
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Depending on the jurisdiction, there may be a financial ombudsman you can appeal to. From what I have heard, Australia’s is effective.
Well for banks your account is usually tied to a local brick-and-mortar agency, where it's definitely someone's problem if a customer comes in and refuses to leave. It's one of the reasons I'll never go with fully online banks.
patio11 wrote a great article and podcast about debanking and anti-money laundering processes last year, it was eye opening how kafkaesque these things are: https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/debanking-and-debunki...
A bank might freeze an account for suspicious activity but you can walk in to a any local branch and talk to someone about it.
Banks are well regulated and will face meaningful consequences for getting this wrong with any regularity.
Yes. But that doesn't make it right.
In the US, that doesn't mean they steal your money though.
What I want to know is why does it always have to go straight from 0 to 100? There's seemingly no concept of proportion. For most online services, your account can be in one of two states: Totally good and "banned for life". There's no warning, no investigative period, no concept of scale (was the fraud $10 or $10,000?), no way to serve your time and come back if you actually were bad. It's just instant, silent BAN HAMMER.