Cryptocurrency transactions had every appearance of legitimate purchases

Categories:
Fraud & scams,
Summary:
In July 2023, Sienna responded to a Facebook post offering earning extra income by working remotely. Someone subsequently contacted her through WhatsApp instructing her to buy cryptocurrency so she could carry out certain aspects of her new job. Sienna tried to use her debit cards to make the purchases, but they had stopped working. She called the bank to ask for help. The bank explained because she was making cryptocurrency purchases she needed to sign a disclaimer form first confirming, among other things, that she had checked the legitimacy of the organisation receiving the money and was confident the payments were not part of a scam.

Sienna tried again to make the required transactions, but could not. She subsequently learned the bank had a $1,000 daily limit on cryptocurrency transactions. Following this, she made further cryptocurrency purchases below this limit. When she tried to withdraw the money and the promised profits, the scammer said she couldn't do this without depositing more money. Sienna then realised it was a scam.

The bank refused to reimburse her, saying nothing about the transactions suggested a scam, but offered $500 for the delay in responding to her complaint. Sienna rejected this offer and asked us to investigate.
Published:
November 2024

Our investigation

We could find nothing about either the purchases themselves or the phone calls with Sienna that would have alerted the bank to suspect a scam. If a bank did detect warning signs, called a red flag, it must make enquiries about the intended transaction and, if warranted, warn the customer about a possibility of a scam. However, we could find no such red flags.

Sienna had signed the disclaimer form confirming everything was legitimate. The purchases were in small amounts through legitimate cryptocurrency companies – none of which was unusual or cause for suspicion. Furthermore, nothing in what Sienna told the bank about the transactions suggested a scam.


Outcome

Sienna accepted the bank's offer of $500 for the delay in responding to her complaint.

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