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Comment by corobo | Hacker News Reader

My money is on it being crypto related, but that’s because the only people I’ve seen complaining about this publicly were doing some crypto stuff (tx both in and out) and it looked very laundry-esque out of context when you get into the actual details

And yeah as others have said that’s not a Monzo thing not telling you, no UK bank would tell you why they think you’re laundering money

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Not in my case - no crypto, no recent large transfers. I'm a boring middle-aged IT consultant, not a terrorist, drug dealer or crypto trader. There was absolutely nothing I'd done with my account that should have caused this to happen.

That's what's so kafkaesque (and frankly rather violating) about the experience: you literally haven't the faintest idea what you've done wrong and the bank refuses to tell you.

Use First Direct. They're designed for boring middle-aged IT consultants. :)

Not disagreeing (First Direct has a far better reputation) but it's really a brand of HSBC. The irony of having to move to a bank suspected of funding [1] actual drug dealing/laundering/terrorism so my accounts won't get frozen over imaginary drugs/laundering/terrorism is somewhat amusing.

[1] https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-07-28/mon... / https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/07/16/hsbc-h...

They're not suspected, they admitted it, and paid their speeding fine.

Yes the law compels them to be like this. It’s actually criminal to tip someone off they’re being investigated.

Perhaps the law is too strict due to the impact it can have on individuals.

I had a similar experience, not crypto-related.

My employer paid me a couple of grand in expenses, which I quickly moved to another account. That triggered an account freeze.

I asked the customer service rep for "why" - couldn't tell me. They then asked me for payslips to prove my story. I told them feck off because they could see the monthly entries marked "Salary" from the same source.

I escalated the matter and it took several hours before my account was unfrozen.

Lesson: only keep a minimum amount of money in UK bank accounts.

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