Bitcoin purchase through IBAN blocked

[samspaces]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I wanted to buy some bitcoin through my Dutch ING account. This account is secured with a 2f authentication, login+sms code. The payment to Bitonic (a well known Dutch Bitcoin platform) was blocked by the bank, with a notification that I didn't have the authorisation to make this transactions.

As I was taking a screen shot, the bank called me (!) on a Saturday, asking if I tried to purchase bitcoin. After asking some questions of my own, as I felt somewhat privacy invaded, she claimed that their fraud prevention department had blocked the transaction and wanted confirmation that it was the account holder that tried to make the purchase. She also said this wasn't standard procedure with bitcoin purchases, so it seemed even more 'personal' at that point. At the end, she said the blockage was lifted from my account, so that I could make the transaction.

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

Cheers, Sam.

[Amph]

i would suggest to use something like deutsche bank, they ahve their debit card from visa, with an iban on it, and ZERO fee on everything, minus conversion rate of 1.75%, i'm using it for purchasing bitcoin since two eyars, and never one problem

also pretty easy to access to your fund via DB interactive, a sandbox online with 1 number for security 1 password and one anti-spy numeric keypad

[Xialla]

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

I had similar experience, when I sent over 5k EUR to Bitstamp. Local bank blocked the TX and call me to make sure, that I initiate the payment and acc was not hacked. And yes, you monitored online like me or majority of people and tbh I'm quite surprised that you are surprised..

[oblivi]

There have been lots of problems like this in the past. There is a list of banks that seem not to care about what you do with your money, but most will constantly monitor and question stuff specially when you send money to some exchange in god knows where, thats why buying in localbitcoins is probably the best way unless you really need an exchange because you like active trading.

[samspaces]

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

I had similar experience, when I sent over 5k EUR to Bitstamp. Local bank blocked the TX and call me to make sure, that I initiate the payment and acc was not hacked. And yes, you monitored online like me or majority of people and tbh I'm quite surprised that you are surprised..

The money is mine to waist. How would you like it if you were going to step on a ladder to change a light bulb and the health department called you to make sure you knew what you were doing. I don't consider that normal or acceptable.

[virtualx]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I wanted to buy some bitcoin through my Dutch ING account. This account is secured with a 2f authentication, login+sms code. The payment to Bitonic (a well known Dutch Bitcoin platform) was blocked by the bank, with a notification that I didn't have the authorisation to make this transactions.

As I was taking a screen shot, the bank called me (!) on a Saturday, asking if I tried to purchase bitcoin. After asking some questions of my own, as I felt somewhat privacy invaded, she claimed that their fraud prevention department had blocked the transaction and wanted confirmation that it was the account holder that tried to make the purchase. She also said this wasn't standard procedure with bitcoin purchases, so it seemed even more 'personal' at that point. At the end, she said the blockage was lifted from my account, so that I could make the transaction.

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

Cheers, Sam.

There have been many problems with bitcoin payments using banks in the past. People had their bank account frozen when trying to buy bitcoins.

You are being monitored with every click you make or word you type, there is no such thing as privacy anymore. All financial transactions are monitored, both banks and the bitcoin network. The big question is, who do you trust with your data? I do not know about the laws in your country, but the internet is global. 

[OnkelPaul]

It's a mixed blessing.
On one hand, I totally understand that you feel that your privacy is invaded.
On the other hand, banks have to deal with many cases of compromised accounts and attempts to steal money by transferring it in a way that cannot be undone (for example, transfer to a foreign bank or bitcoin exchange). So it is understandable that they have monitoring in place.
As a bank customer, I would sometimes like to have less protective measures (for example, last time I bought a car I needed to transfer some k EUR which was a bit above the daily transaction volume limit, so I had to notify the bank in advance to have them raise the limit for some days).
However, even though I could tell them to remove the limit altogether I rather leave it in place as a stopgap measure against fraud and stolen account data. I'm not buing a car every other week. If I were using my money to trade or speculate I'd probably decide differently.

Maybe having some chat with competing banks about no-limit options, and then going back to your bank with the choice of getting unlimited access versus moving your account to the competion would work for you?

Onkel Paul

[Furio]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I wanted to buy some bitcoin through my Dutch ING account. This account is secured with a 2f authentication, login+sms code. The payment to Bitonic (a well known Dutch Bitcoin platform) was blocked by the bank, with a notification that I didn't have the authorisation to make this transactions.

As I was taking a screen shot, the bank called me (!) on a Saturday, asking if I tried to purchase bitcoin. After asking some questions of my own, as I felt somewhat privacy invaded, she claimed that their fraud prevention department had blocked the transaction and wanted confirmation that it was the account holder that tried to make the purchase. She also said this wasn't standard procedure with bitcoin purchases, so it seemed even more 'personal' at that point. At the end, she said the blockage was lifted from my account, so that I could make the transaction.

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

Cheers, Sam.

This is exactly the reason why conspirat theorists do what they do. Only most people call them crazy tinfoil hats and such, but the evidence is staggering, we're all caddle, and if we don't behave the way we supposed to, unwanted attention is laid upon you......

[Necrathex]

(Co-founder of Bitonic here.)
This is not unusual for Dutch banks, ING in particular. Although we as a company have good relations with them (as a long term customer), transactions to/from bitcoin are still considered high risk by them.
Automated systems still sometimes block transactions to us, contacting your bank (ING mostly contacts you, other Dutch banks mostly don't) and asking them to deblock almost always works.
If you keep experiencing problems, please contact us so we can address these issues with the bank directly.

[NorrisK]

(Co-founder of Bitonic here.)
This is not unusual for Dutch banks, ING in particular. Although we as a company have good relations with them (as a long term customer), transactions to/from bitcoin are still considered high risk by them.
Automated systems still sometimes block transactions to us, contacting your bank (ING mostly contacts you, other Dutch banks mostly don't) and asking them to deblock almost always works.
If you keep experiencing problems, please contact us so we can address these issues with the bank directly.

With rabobank I never had any troubles purchasing at bitonic.. (maybe at the end of November 2013 it was a bit difficult).

Thanks for providing this great service! Buying bitcoin was never easier

[Furio]

(Co-founder of Bitonic here.)
This is not unusual for Dutch banks, ING in particular. Although we as a company have good relations with them (as a long term customer), transactions to/from bitcoin are still considered high risk by them.
Automated systems still sometimes block transactions to us, contacting your bank (ING mostly contacts you, other Dutch banks mostly don't) and asking them to deblock almost always works.
If you keep experiencing problems, please contact us so we can address these issues with the bank directly.

With rabobank I never had any troubles purchasing at bitonic.. (maybe at the end of November 2013 it was a bit difficult).

Thanks for providing this great service! Buying bitcoin was never easier

I have ING, never any problems before. Allways on time, even faster then most of my friends who uses different banks

[bitcart]

At least they lifted the restriction and you can now buy bitcoin again.

[samspaces]

At least they lifted the restriction and you can now buy bitcoin again.

I think Furio just proved my point. He's never had any problems with it while using ING. Over the phone, the employee told me these kinds of checks aren't custom in bitcoin trading.

That means there is an arbitrary check on my account and the transaction got flagged for reasons beyond me. And that is a big step in the direction of a 'guilty until proven innocent' situation.


Edit; she also acted quite secretive when I inquired why this particular transaction got flagged, saying she'd would give away too much vital information if she told me.

[Mickeyb]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I wanted to buy some bitcoin through my Dutch ING account. This account is secured with a 2f authentication, login+sms code. The payment to Bitonic (a well known Dutch Bitcoin platform) was blocked by the bank, with a notification that I didn't have the authorisation to make this transactions.

As I was taking a screen shot, the bank called me (!) on a Saturday, asking if I tried to purchase bitcoin. After asking some questions of my own, as I felt somewhat privacy invaded, she claimed that their fraud prevention department had blocked the transaction and wanted confirmation that it was the account holder that tried to make the purchase. She also said this wasn't standard procedure with bitcoin purchases, so it seemed even more 'personal' at that point. At the end, she said the blockage was lifted from my account, so that I could make the transaction.

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

Cheers, Sam.

Well I don't know how much you have tried to send, but as I heard, all transactions for purchasing Bitcoins over 1000€ in Europe are being monitored. This is a new thing that started several weeks ago.

[samspaces]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I wanted to buy some bitcoin through my Dutch ING account. This account is secured with a 2f authentication, login+sms code. The payment to Bitonic (a well known Dutch Bitcoin platform) was blocked by the bank, with a notification that I didn't have the authorisation to make this transactions.

As I was taking a screen shot, the bank called me (!) on a Saturday, asking if I tried to purchase bitcoin. After asking some questions of my own, as I felt somewhat privacy invaded, she claimed that their fraud prevention department had blocked the transaction and wanted confirmation that it was the account holder that tried to make the purchase. She also said this wasn't standard procedure with bitcoin purchases, so it seemed even more 'personal' at that point. At the end, she said the blockage was lifted from my account, so that I could make the transaction.

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

Cheers, Sam.

Well I don't know how much you have tried to send, but as I heard, all transactions for purchasing Bitcoins over 1000€ in Europe are being monitored. This is a new thing that started several weeks ago.

I was buying 1.

[alva5763]

I was transferring funds abroad,sterling,not bitcoin and the transaction was blocked despite having done so before.Had to phone bank to release funds and ask to allow in future. Suppose they have to flag unusual transactions on any account.

[ashour]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I wanted to buy some bitcoin through my Dutch ING account. This account is secured with a 2f authentication, login+sms code. The payment to Bitonic (a well known Dutch Bitcoin platform) was blocked by the bank, with a notification that I didn't have the authorisation to make this transactions.

As I was taking a screen shot, the bank called me (!) on a Saturday, asking if I tried to purchase bitcoin. After asking some questions of my own, as I felt somewhat privacy invaded, she claimed that their fraud prevention department had blocked the transaction and wanted confirmation that it was the account holder that tried to make the purchase. She also said this wasn't standard procedure with bitcoin purchases, so it seemed even more 'personal' at that point. At the end, she said the blockage was lifted from my account, so that I could make the transaction.

I've never had a situation like this before, where it seems I am suspect until proven otherwise and frankly, it's quite discomforting to get the feeling of being monitored so closely with everything you do online.

Cheers, Sam.

You should have asked them before proceeding with the transactions. Most banks have their own ToS of bitcoin and virtual currency trading with account holders. Try using a more bitcoin friendly bank or go to the bank and explain personally why you do bitcoin transactions with your bank account, I am sure that the bank will understand and don't block further transaction related with bitcoin .

[sionsandman]

Never experienced anything similar with my Luxembourger ING account but I won't be surprised when it happens.