Coinbase just scammed me of 10k usd?

[ccs5t]

I have been going back and forth with coinbase for the last 2 weeks trying to buy more BTC. They claimed my orders were being blocked by my bank, which I dealt with and resolved. Anyway last week two separate charges of 5k each were pulled from my bank account with zero BTC give to me. So my bank wasn't the one blocking the charges and Coinbase just decided to take my money.

I received an automated response that I should get a refund within 3-4 days. After dealing with the extremely unhelpful customer service guy, Alex I was told today to check back in with him in 10 business days. What does that even mean? 10 business days from when? How can they just decide to hold on to $10,000 and leave me hanging? I am shocked a business can act this dishonest to a customer of several years. What can I do here? I can't afford to just lose $10,000

[OgNasty]

If there were a single company that could be labeled the most evil and destructive to what Bitcoin represents, it would be Coinbase.

[ccs5t]

How is this even legal? A company can just decide to hold my money for no reason at all? Or lie about it taking 10 business days? Do I have any recourse here?

[mayax]

I have been going back and forth with coinbase for the last 2 weeks trying to buy more BTC. They claimed my orders were being blocked by my bank, which I dealt with and resolved. Anyway last week two separate charges of 5k each were pulled from my bank account with zero BTC give to me. So my bank wasn't the one blocking the charges and Coinbase just decided to take my money.

I received an automated response that I should get a refund within 3-4 days. After dealing with the extremely unhelpful customer service guy, Alex I was told today to check back in with him in 10 business days. What does that even mean? 10 business days from when? How can they just decide to hold on to $10,000 and leave me hanging? I am shocked a business can act this dishonest to a customer of several years. What can I do here? I can't afford to just lose $10,000

see: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1483525.0

[The Arcitect]

This looks like it won't be the last type of story we will hear like this one.
News feeds are currently running rampant with coinbase cheating their customers with unauthorized withdraws from their bank accounts.

[digit]

Sounds like this might be related

http://themerkle.com/coinbase-will-have-to-refund-double-charged-customers/

COINBASE DOUBLE-CHARGE WITHOUT EXPLANATION

TheMerkle_Coinbase Double-Charge

A new topic surfaced on Reddit yesterday, explaining how Coinbase has apparently double-charged a few customers. One particular batch of transactions seems to be affected by this issue, and all platform users are advised to keep an eye on their bank statement. If this double-charge took place, they should file for a refund immediately, assuming that hasn’t already happened.

[LiteCoinGuy]

If there were a single company that could be labeled the most evil and destructive to what Bitcoin represents, it would be Coinbase.

i choose Mtgox.

[tiggytomb]

This really doesn't look good for Coinbase, I have seen far too many people complaining about them and these dodgy happenings, could this be an indication of something major happening and perhaps time to start shifting elsewhere?

I hope you get your money back quicker than 10 days, it is shockng how they think it's okay to just take money and hold onto it.

[odolvlobo]

... my orders were being blocked by my bank, which I dealt with and resolved.

Your bank blocked payments to Coinbase and that probably makes you look like a scammer. I am no fan of Coinbase, but your problem was caused by you or your bank, and not Coinbase. Furthermore, whether you like it or not, refunds are slow because the banking system is slow.

[ccs5t]

... my orders were being blocked by my bank, which I dealt with and resolved.

Your bank blocked payments to Coinbase and that probably makes you look like a scammer. I am no fan of Coinbase, but your problem was caused by you or your bank, and not Coinbase. Furthermore, whether you like it or not, refunds are slow because the banking system is slow.

I don't disagree with that at all. If the payments flagged as suspicious thats fine then they shouldn't  be pushed through. And if Coinbase thinks I am doing Fraud or scamming after 3 years of being a customer then they should just block my account instead of play games with me. Two payments for 5k each did go through. I was told they would be refunded in 3-4 business days but now I have been told 10 business days (from when?). So Ironically it is now Coinbase scamming me not vice versa. Just deciding to hold onto my funds is not honest business.

[calkob]

I doubt very much that you have been scammed !!!  More than likely the money is in banking limbo which happens often, i would guess that the money will turn up eventually and you will get your bitcoin.  This is the problem with companies like coinbase, they can do what they want with your money once you let them.  Next time use a differant service for buying bitcoin and please dont ever keep your bitcoin with coinbase because then it isnt actually your bitcoin its theirs and they can then stop you using that to.   

[XCASH]

... my orders were being blocked by my bank, which I dealt with and resolved.

Your bank blocked payments to Coinbase and that probably makes you look like a scammer. I am no fan of Coinbase, but your problem was caused by you or your bank, and not Coinbase. Furthermore, whether you like it or not, refunds are slow because the banking system is slow.

I don't disagree with that at all. If the payments flagged as suspicious thats fine then they shouldn't  be pushed through. And if Coinbase thinks I am doing Fraud or scamming after 3 years of being a customer then they should just block my account instead of play games with me. Two payments for 5k each did go through. I was told they would be refunded in 3-4 business days but now I have been told 10 business days (from when?). So Ironically it is now Coinbase scamming me not vice versa. Just deciding to hold onto my funds is not honest business.

I don't know about AML/KYC regulations, but franky1 knows his stuff about them. This was his advice to someone having problems with the Kraken. In that case the problem was eventually resolved, and I hope any Coinbase problems have a similar happy ending.

ok.. UK and US regulations are similar
https://www.fincen.gov/financial_institutions/msb/materials/en/prevention_guide.html

in short.
a MSB has no reason to hold funds unless requested by a court order..

their regulatory compliance requirements is purely to keep a paper trail of customers actions. and if something looks suspect report it. but to NEVER inform the customer that they are being investigated nor stop the funds.

so if you are being told that funds are being held by a MSB due to suspicious activity. then you know that its false. as that is totally not what the compliance of MSB regulations is about..

they do not have the power... and as i said the only time they would have the power (due to court order) the customer would be informed by authorities directly.. and not by the MSB before so.

no where would an MSB freeze an account just because your moving more than $5k. instead the transaction would proceed and a record is kept..
the paper trail is kept for upto 5 years, and authorities at their leisure would investigate and deal with the issues as a separate matter.

there is no reason to hold funds without reason. infact the regulations make it illegal for an MSB to do so

Makes it illegal for a financial institution, or an employee of a financial institution, to disclose to anyone involved in a suspicious transaction when a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) has been filed.

All MSBs should have a system or procedure to ensure that SARs are filed when appropriate. When an MSB employee suspects a person is laundering money, conducting transactions to evade BSA requirements, or conducting a transaction that has no apparent lawful purpose and for which no reasonable explanation can be determined, or involves use of the money services business to facilitate criminal activity, the employee should report that activity to his/her manager or to the MSB compliance officer. Then, if the MSB determines that a SAR should be filed, it must file the SAR and keep a copy of it for five years. Any supporting documentation, such as transaction records, must be maintained with the copy of the filed form and also kept for five years from the date of filing the report.

its the authorities that do freezing of accounts(after the fact). after evidence enough to sway a judge to allow a court order to do so.. in no way should/could a MSB just freeze an account without proper authority.

all they can do is file a report, let the transaction continue and not tell the customer.

so if any MSB is trying to give you some bull crap reason why a transaction failed due to AML/KYC.. they are BSing you.

an legit MSB would gather your ID before even allowing you the opportunity to move funds. so if they havent gathered info. then thats their fault. and they will fail their compliance checks (if registered) at a later date. but there is no reason even without ID to stop you having your funds (unless there is a court order)

[RawDog]

How is this even legal? A company can just decide to hold my money for no reason at all? Or lie about it taking 10 business days? Do I have any recourse here?

Recourse?  Are you kidding?  There is a very good chance that money is gone forever.  Coinbase is pulling a Mt Gox these days.  More and more money is getting stuck in the cracks.  They have no more money to pay employees and some are now working for 'free'.  I think it is soon over for them.  If you can, get your money out now.  When this started happening at MtGox people didn't listen and lost everything.   Don't let that happen to you.

[From Above]

I have been going back and forth with coinbase for the last 2 weeks trying to buy more BTC. They claimed my orders were being blocked by my bank, which I dealt with and resolved. Anyway last week two separate charges of 5k each were pulled from my bank account with zero BTC give to me. So my bank wasn't the one blocking the charges and Coinbase just decided to take my money.

I received an automated response that I should get a refund within 3-4 days. After dealing with the extremely unhelpful customer service guy, Alex I was told today to check back in with him in 10 business days. What does that even mean? 10 business days from when? How can they just decide to hold on to $10,000 and leave me hanging? I am shocked a business can act this dishonest to a customer of several years. What can I do here? I can't afford to just lose $10,000

Damn! Are u serious? If that's true please contact ur lawyer immediately.

~CfA~

[Denker]

This looks like trouble is coming!
Never undestood why people used this company to buy bitcoins.
All that crazy KYC/AML and these stupid questions they ask.They are bank!A shitty crypto bank!!
There are several other companies or possibilities to buy BTC.Even on a larger scale!

Don't you think there is a reason why Coinbase did a rebrand to GDAX?
I'm sure they aren't making any money! And the switch to altcoin trading might be one of their last chances to make a trun in the right direction.
There was a reason why Armstrong was shilling so strong for the classic hardfork which would have definitely be in his companies' favour.
Be careful when you use them.And don't store any significant amount of coins on their platform!!!!!

[ccs5t]

What a joke I don't know what to do. I am not sure what happens if I file a dispute and coinbase trys to argue.

[bestluck]

Nowadays there are a lot of issues with coinbase, a lot of people are complaining against coinbase after they lost their coins at there, so I will suggest we all have to stay away from it for now and have to use some other platform and if using coinbase for you is more important then you should have to wait a little and whenever their issues are solved, join it. 

[OgNasty]

If there were a single company that could be labeled the most evil and destructive to what Bitcoin represents, it would be Coinbase.

Exhibit A: http://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-co-founder-ethereum-blow-past-bitcoin/

They want to control the future of digital currencies so bad, once they found out the Core team wasn't interested in being controlled and they weren't able to force their altcoin clone on the community, they've found a project they can buy control of and are now pushing that over Bitcoin.  These people don't have the community's best interests in mind.  They want to rape digital currencies for profit and maintain control.  Nobody in the Bitcoin community should be sending them any business or using any of their services.  They are an embarrassment to what Bitcoin stands for.

[bittrojan]

If there were a single company that could be labeled the most evil and destructive to what Bitcoin represents, it would be Coinbase.

if Legendary member said like that,i will believe,and now i start leaving coinbase as main wallet to store my bitcoins,i really afraid coinbase do more mistake,after i can't send any bitcoin when i would to recharge my smartphone.

[cjmoles]

It looks like this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Coinbase's response, in this case, seems to be diversionary in nature;  they need more time to figure out what hell they're going to do.  That's the problem in dealing with centralized institutions....

My advice in dealing with these offchain ledgers is to keep records, maintain a paper and communication trail....you may need them later. They're will be more to come....mark my words!