FRAUD WARNING: Bitstamp is holding my money hostage and ignoring me for 14 days

[crazyivan]

Still no update on this one? Have you been able to resolve the issue?

I have never had any problems talking to them and their support s been quite fast. Now you made me uncomfortable dealing with them.

[Kn_os]

Still no update on this one? Have you been able to resolve the issue?

I have never had any problems talking to them and their support s been quite fast. Now you made me uncomfortable dealing with them.

I got answer from support:

16.8.2017 11:26:16

We are happy to inform you that your withdrawals have been re-enabled.

No clue what it was, and what was a reason for block account since it were unblocked without any questions. Proly some security trigger worked..

[warningsigns]

I suspect they have a team of AML staff going through withdrawal requests. And if that's a small team, then that might explain these delays (and silent treatments).

Re-enabling of withdrawals is a positive step forward. Always good to see a light at the end of a (very long and dark) tunnel. Don't store too much fiat and bitcoins in an exchange account. You might wake up one morning to find them blocked and frozen.

[CYPER]

My deposit was credited and my withdrawals enabled.
I will explain everything a bit later, cause I have other thing to do now.

[Kn_os]

My deposit was credited and my withdrawals enabled.
I will explain everything a bit later, cause I have other thing to do now.

Looks like person who supposed to deal with such cases came into work ?

[LocoMB]

hi guys, I have similar issues with Bitstamp- will read up here more closely, and post details if I can not get it resolved.

[figmentofmyass]

I got answer from support:

16.8.2017 11:26:16

We are happy to inform you that your withdrawals have been re-enabled.

No clue what it was, and what was a reason for block account since it were unblocked without any questions. Proly some security trigger worked..

My deposit was credited and my withdrawals enabled.
I will explain everything a bit later, cause I have other thing to do now.

i'm really glad the situations were resolved. i had my doubts there for a minute. still, this experience indicates that bitstamp is getting very serious about regulatory compliance. i would be very careful about sending coins there, particularly coins that could be tainted.

even if i had a legit paper trail to show that funds are legitimate at all times, i wouldn't want to have funds tied up for days, weeks or months because of their AML compliance checks. the fact is that i can't necessarily show a good paper trail for a good deal of my funds (trading, gambling, giveaways, etc. all moved around from the same wallet), so those funds can't be deposited to stamp or GDAX...

[warningsigns]

My deposit was credited and my withdrawals enabled.
I will explain everything a bit later, cause I have other thing to do now.

Congratulations and thanks for the update. Looks like someone read your threats of legal action or someone at Pantera Capital must have given them an earful.

I still have a fully verified Bitstamp account from way back in 2013. Wondering if it's safe to use it or will I be asked to re-verify the account with my most current passport (the one I used in 2013 is now expired) and other documents.

I will probably try with small amounts, perhaps 500 euros worth of btc and test first if I can withdraw it to my bank account in Germany.

[CYPER]

I think my Subject Access Request that I sent last night might have triggered a response from Bitstamp.
Their Head of Legal & Compliance, emailed me today and then I spent 40 minutes with him on the phone.
He was was quite apologetic and told me that there was an investigation, where my name matched the name of another person involved in illegal activities, but that has been cleared.
Still I explained that this kind of compliance is damaging to their business if customers are subjected to such kind of silent treatment.
It is really ironic how such businesses strive to look all professional and compliant, but manage to damage the trust of their customers in the process.

Even though the resolution was positive for me I still feel that Bitstamp need to change their practices and balance their customers' interests with their compliance methods. I am not convinced this will not happen again to other people.
Bitstamp should should strive to be a transparent company that is accountable for its actions.

I will be contacting a lawyer tomorrow to see if I have any grounds to claim damages.

[warningsigns]

I still have faith in Bitstamp. Despite the damage they caused you, I believe their being licensed and regulated makes them one of the few exchanges one can trade on with peace of mind. The apology from the HEAD of compliance was the right thing to do. That certainly is a positive (even if not remedial, given the damage and losses caused) step in re-establishing confidence.

The investigation shows they are quite proactive and vigilant in their efforts to protect and preserve their license.

There are risks associated with taking legal action and I think a prime example of that would be Bitstamp defending their position as appropriate action in line with a legitimate investigation. Winning the case would help you recover losses, if any, but given the uncertainty of the outcome and the costs of engaging a lawyer qualified to litigate this type of case, you should probably carefully consider the task and challenges ahead.

[SkyFall005]

I think my Subject Access Request that I sent last night might have triggered a response from Bitstamp.
Their Head of Legal & Compliance, emailed me today and then I spent 40 minutes with him on the phone.
He was was quite apologetic and told me that there was an investigation, where my name matched the name of another person involved in illegal activities, but that has been cleared.
Still I explained that this kind of compliance is damaging to their business if customers are subjected to such kind of silent treatment.
It is really ironic how such businesses strive to look all professional and compliant, but manage to damage the trust of their customers in the process.

Even though the resolution was positive for me I still feel that Bitstamp need to change their practices and balance their customers' interests with their compliance methods. I am not convinced this will not happen again to other people.
Bitstamp should should strive to be a transparent company that is accountable for its actions.

I will be contacting a lawyer tomorrow to see if I have any grounds to claim damages.

Would you please send me the contact, the same thing happened to me they terminated my account and have my money for more than a month and they are ignoring my emails.

[johnyj]

I had the same issue,  it has been a week with little progress.

This pattern is quite like the time when MTGOX had liquidity problem, the deposit or withdraw can take more than a week, simply because they don't have liquidity in their account to process it, so they are waiting for new customer's money come in to pay the queued previous deposit/withdraw

Once this happens, no matter the excuse they gave, I will stop the deposit to this exchange for at least a month to watch more carefully. This is in general a problem for all the centralized exchanges, there are so many hidden details happening behind that users are not aware of

[warningsigns]

These are examples of why it is important to anticipate and expect to be verified BEFORE trading any fiat and coins on exchanges. There is a very real risk that your money will be blocked for a long time if not even indefinitely while they investigate you. The thing that is most worrying is that they don't usually say what's going on or what's wrong.

They will simply give you the silent treatment during the course of the investigation. It's probably how such investigations are done and it's standard procedure for them to remain silent. Why? I read about one bank's KYC procedure where the staff are supposed to not inform the customer when something suspicious about the account is detected. It allows them to investigate while at the same time preventing the customer from destroying evidence or "perverting the course of justice".

Assuming your coins or fiat are from clean sources, you shouldn't be worried about losing your money. Bitstamp is a regulated and properly licensed exchange. They will eventually resolve the matter. It just takes time.

[gentlemand]

I still have faith in Bitstamp. Despite the damage they caused you, I believe their being licensed and regulated makes them one of the few exchanges one can trade on with peace of mind.

I approve of solidity. I don't approve of their excessive approach. If I had significant sums there's no way I'd trust them with it in case it triggered their paranoia. Once you're verified that should be enough.

I've traded way more through conventional stock trading sites and they never wanted anything more than the usual ID and I never heard from their 'support' again.

[bitstampcustomer]

I think Bitstamp have stolen at least £276.21 from me following the unexplained termination of my account immediately following a large deposit.

I've been systematically ignored by their discourteous, elusive and evasive support team leaving me furious and extremely vexed. 

I hope someone here can help me find answers.

Following years of using Bitstamp without problem, on the 15th August 2017 I made a deposit of £7703 GBP via international transfer to their bank account in Slovenia. The money left my bank account on the 16th August, but was never credited in Bitstamp (though, via account details I retrieved via a Subject Access Request, I can see it entered their bank account on 16th August.)

On 23rd August  2017 (they had held my money hostage for a week by this point, while I watched the price of Bitcoin rise by ~ $500) I received an Account Termination Notice from Bitstamp stating my account had been terminated. I contacted Bitstamp support via email, phone, Facebook and Twitter to ask what had caused my termination, and when I would receive my funds back.

I was completely ignored - with not a single reply to my many emails and messages.

Eventually, following advice I found on this forum, I submitted complaints to the Commission de surveillance du secteur financier in Luxembourg, plus a complaint to bitstamp copying in the CEO, plus a subject access request, and I finally received a response saying they couldn't tell me why my account was terminated, and that I would have my deposit refunded, and my account balance returned. As I could not log in to Bitstamp, I could not verify my outstanding balance.

After waiting another week, and seeing the price of Bitcoin rise further, I received 2 payments from them:

30th Aug - £348.21 – presumably this was my outstanding bitcoin balance, though I cannot verify
30th Aug - £7,426.79 –I think this is the refund of the deposit I made, except, it is £276.21 short of the £7703 I deposited.

I have contacted Bitstamp support to ask why has my deposit not been returned in full, and I have been ignored.

Bitstamp actively advertises itself as being fully regulated and being granted a license in the EU as a payment institution by the CSSF.

Unfortunately their customer support is completely inadequate for the types of customers they are serving and It seems there is no accountability for their actions.

I've checked the fee schedule https://www.bitstamp.net/fee_schedule/ and (in spite of the fact that charging any fee whatsoever for a deposit only to immediately terminate an account is utterly scandalous, outrageous larceny) I cannot see how any application of fees could sum the £276.21 shortfall.

There is a 0.05% deposit fee on international transfers that would total £3.8515, and if I have been charged all the 'NON-STANDARD PROCESSING' fees (which would be disgraceful), they would total $170 USD.  Nowhere near £276.21.

Could currency exchange rates somewhere along the line be to blame, due to the fact that they held my deposit hostage in a different currency while they were fucking around terminating my account? If this is the case, it's shameful.

I've still no idea why they terminated my account. I see, from the subject access requests, that my passport on their system had expired, perhaps that was it. Fuck knows.

I cannot believe my account was closed for no obvious reason, but I simply cannot accept that immediately prior to that, I gave them money, and they skimmed off the top before handing it back.

It's absolutely, utterly, dispicable. And they haven't even got the courtesy to acknowledge me.

Do not use this company.

[gentlemand]

They have no control of your receiving bank's fees. It's quite possible that money was eaten up by various exchange rates. Some banks charge outrageous amounts.

[bitstampcustomer]

Natwest state they charge £7. Rather less than £276.21. The exchange rate loss only occurred (if it did occur) because they held my money hostage until they decided to terminate the account, then refunded it when the rates were not equivalent. That is theft, no matter how you look at it.

http://www.natwestinternational.com/nw/personal-banking/travel-and-international/g50/international-payments/receiving-international-payments/bank-to-bank-electronic-links.ashx

[StormTrader]

I believe they are doing the same to me.  Do you mind sharing the procedure you followed to get back your funds?

[Matcrypto]

Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital was the first person involved with the company to respond to my emails today, but just said he has asked Bitstamp's COO Miha Grcar to investigate - the same guy that read 3 of my emails and ignored me.
So I am not quite enthusiastic. Will wait a few more days and contact lawers.
Found these guys: https://www.selachii.co.uk/bitcoin-law-firm-solicitor.html

Hi Crper, please could let me  know if you fix the problem with Bitstamp? i have the same problem! Thanks

[Matcrypto]

I think Bitstamp have stolen at least £276.21 from me following the unexplained termination of my account immediately following a large deposit.

I've been systematically ignored by their discourteous, elusive and evasive support team leaving me furious and extremely vexed. 

I hope someone here can help me find answers.

Following years of using Bitstamp without problem, on the 15th August 2017 I made a deposit of £7703 GBP via international transfer to their bank account in Slovenia. The money left my bank account on the 16th August, but was never credited in Bitstamp (though, via account details I retrieved via a Subject Access Request, I can see it entered their bank account on 16th August.)

On 23rd August  2017 (they had held my money hostage for a week by this point, while I watched the price of Bitcoin rise by ~ $500) I received an Account Termination Notice from Bitstamp stating my account had been terminated. I contacted Bitstamp support via email, phone, Facebook and Twitter to ask what had caused my termination, and when I would receive my funds back.

I was completely ignored - with not a single reply to my many emails and messages.

Eventually, following advice I found on this forum, I submitted complaints to the Commission de surveillance du secteur financier in Luxembourg, plus a complaint to bitstamp copying in the CEO, plus a subject access request, and I finally received a response saying they couldn't tell me why my account was terminated, and that I would have my deposit refunded, and my account balance returned. As I could not log in to Bitstamp, I could not verify my outstanding balance.

After waiting another week, and seeing the price of Bitcoin rise further, I received 2 payments from them:

30th Aug - £348.21 – presumably this was my outstanding bitcoin balance, though I cannot verify
30th Aug - £7,426.79 –I think this is the refund of the deposit I made, except, it is £276.21 short of the £7703 I deposited.

I have contacted Bitstamp support to ask why has my deposit not been returned in full, and I have been ignored.

Bitstamp actively advertises itself as being fully regulated and being granted a license in the EU as a payment institution by the CSSF.

Unfortunately their customer support is completely inadequate for the types of customers they are serving and It seems there is no accountability for their actions.

I've checked the fee schedule https://www.bitstamp.net/fee_schedule/ and (in spite of the fact that charging any fee whatsoever for a deposit only to immediately terminate an account is utterly scandalous, outrageous larceny) I cannot see how any application of fees could sum the £276.21 shortfall.

There is a 0.05% deposit fee on international transfers that would total £3.8515, and if I have been charged all the 'NON-STANDARD PROCESSING' fees (which would be disgraceful), they would total $170 USD.  Nowhere near £276.21.

Could currency exchange rates somewhere along the line be to blame, due to the fact that they held my deposit hostage in a different currency while they were fucking around terminating my account? If this is the case, it's shameful.

I've still no idea why they terminated my account. I see, from the subject access requests, that my passport on their system had expired, perhaps that was it. Fuck knows.

I cannot believe my account was closed for no obvious reason, but I simply cannot accept that immediately prior to that, I gave them money, and they skimmed off the top before handing it back.

It's absolutely, utterly, dispicable. And they haven't even got the courtesy to acknowledge me.

Do not use this company.

You got lucky that they returned your deposit! they are not returning my deposit! They terminated my account and sent me back my account funds but they didnt return back my large deposit! Anybody can help with this? the support doesnt answer anymore, i tried everything...