Intersango- new bank account, iceberg, GTC/FOK/IOC orders and site updates

[genjix]

  LOL @ the 'vulnerability' then. Had me thinking he was the next uber hacker. ;p
  thanks for the update.

There were some decent people who helped me/us out in our early days when it was just me alone. We have a list of their names to reward them one day if we become successful

[1714036023]

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[yogi]

I can independently confirm that Intersango have their UK deposits back on-line.

I have had dealings with them in the past and found them to be both reliable and trustworthy.

So I'm up for joining sonba on the bet if anyone's up for it.

[garyrowe]

I'll take that bet too. On Intersango's/Britcoin's side. I've never experienced any problems with their site or services since I first used it way back.

As always, good work genjix. Looking forward to the conference to say hello.

[MacRohard]

HSBC problems

Lloyds TSB new account

Earlier this year, we were banking with Lloyds TSB before being asked to take our business elsewhere. We have been in contact with Lloyds TSB who have assigned us a personal account manager who is also the manager of the bank branch. It turned out the previous account manager was ill equipped to handle the scale of our volume and is a person in a call centre in Birmingham, and sees 300+ accounts a day. This time around we've been assigned a manager who handles 30 accounts a month due to the complicated nature of our operations and the scale of our turnover.

Lloyds TSB were very keen to have our operations back, and a formal complaint has been launched by the bank staff at the way we were dealt with. We were told that our treatment was totally unacceptable as we're a high value customer.

We are accepting deposits again with Lloyds TSB (details can be found on the GBP accounts page). Deposits may be a little slower than usual (possibly up to a week) as registration for their online service is underway. Once that's done, we'll be processing deposits immediately. Withdrawals may take longer as we are in the midst of transitioning out of HSBC into Lloyds. We are also in talks with a few other banks who have shown a sudden interest in our business.

Can you explain why the new Lloyds TSB account is owned by a new shell company called "Interteni LTD" ? Does Lloyds TSB know who they're really dealing with?

[genjix]

Can you explain why the new Lloyds TSB account is owned by a new shell company called "Interteni LTD" ? Does Lloyds TSB know who they're really dealing with?

Yes they do. As stated here, it is a temporary company as Intersango LTD is owned by multiple share-holders who have to be present to open the account or be available to a notary abroad. That takes time, but we fully intend to switch the account from Interteni LTD to Intersango LTD in the future. Right now, there are more pressing matters.

Interteni LTD (company number: 07826131) under the Companies Act 2006.
Intersango LTD (company number: 07683978) under the Companies Act 2006.

The certificate of incorporation for Intersango is available on our about us page, and the one for Interteni should be available later today. For now you can download it from here.

We are required before opening the bank account to divulge all information and I was completely open about our activities. The manager was told about http://intersango.com and the full details of Bitcoin Consultancy's operations (which I drew her some diagrams of our company structure to explain to her colleagues). Considering that the Lloyds bank manager was extremely displeased at our prior treatment and took several photocopies of our past statements and letters, they know we are the same people behind Intersango LTD. Our website is on their records, and for us to lie or falsify information is highly illegal and would put me at risk of jailtime.

[MacRohard]

Can you explain why the new Lloyds TSB account is owned by a new shell company called "Interteni LTD" ? Does Lloyds TSB know who they're really dealing with?

Yes they do. As stated here, it is a temporary company as Intersango LTD is owned by multiple share-holders who have to be present to open the account or be available to a notary abroad. That takes time, but we fully intend to switch the account from Interteni LTD to Intersango LTD in the future. Right now, there are more pressing matters.

Interteni LTD (company number: 07826131) under the Companies Act 2006.
Intersango LTD (company number: 07683978) under the Companies Act 2006.

The certificate of incorporation for Intersango is available on our about us page, and the one for Interteni should be available later today. For now you can download it from here.

We are required before opening the bank account to divulge all information and I was completely open about our activities. The manager was told about http://intersango.com and the full details of Bitcoin Consultancy's operations (which I drew her some diagrams of our company structure to explain to her colleagues). Considering that the Lloyds bank manager was extremely displeased at our prior treatment and took several photocopies of our past statements and letters, they know we are the same people behind Intersango LTD. Our website is on their records, and for us to lie or falsify information is highly illegal and would put me at risk of jailtime.

Thanks for the explanation

[sonba]

I'll take that bet too. On Intersango's/Britcoin's side. I've never experienced any problems with their site or services since I first used it way back.

As always, good work genjix. Looking forward to the conference to say hello.

yogi, garyrowe - you don't get the idea - I'm looking for people who bet AGAINST Intersango
On a more earnest note: nice to see that there are quite some people who agree with me that intersango is completely trustworthy!

[nibor]

I think you should assume that your Lloyds account will not last long. 1-2 months I would guess. The Branch Manager may like you as helps them hit their target for new small business accounts, but as soon as the info gets up to the Risk Management / Compliance / Money Laundering / Head Office you will be out.

You should open a few other accounts as contingencies. Maybe try http://www.bocukltd.co.uk/ or some other odd banks as none are going to be your friend.

Or maybe try some offshore accounts.

Not wanting to be a troll, and have used you to buy £150 of btc's (just in time!), but the reputational risk for the bank is significant (hit-man paid in bitcoins extracts cash through Lloyds account etc...) and the income you will generate for them will be small (relative to billion+ profits).

Good Luck - I think this is the one area that is going to be very hard for bitcoin.

[Otoh]

Bitcoin, the straw that broke the camel's back?

Lloyds boss goes sick with 'stress': Shock departure eight months into job, 3rd Nov 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056474/Lloyds-CEO-Antonio-Horta-Osorio-takes-medical-leave.html

[Otoh]

 and the income you will generate for them will be small (relative to billion+ profits).

Good Luck - I think this is the one area that is going to be very hard for bitcoin.

um, about those billion+ profits...

£3.3bn loss for the six months to 30 June 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14399176

"It may be many years before taxpayers' £20bn investment in Lloyds can be privatised - unless the chancellor is prepared to take a loss on the sale”

[genjix]

Update 04 November 2011:
We now have gained access to our HSBC records from last week. Missing deposits will be credited this weekend. A change in the format of the records means there is a slight delay in us important the statements. Accounts should be credited on Sunday. Withdrawals are still delayed, but the backlog should start and finish next week. Apologies for any delay.

"It may be many years before taxpayers' £20bn investment in Lloyds can be privatised - unless the chancellor is prepared to take a loss on the sale”

Yeah, Lloyds is partly owned by the public sector. The nice thing about that is that as a consequence they have a sane Terms & Conditions that doesn't entitle them to do whatever they want. Also Lloyds is a very play-it-safe bank and doesn't unnecessarily over-expose themselves to high risk assets like some other crazy banks.

The downside is the inefficiency that comes from being partially of the public sector.

[nibor]

um, about those billion+ profits...
£3.3bn loss for the six months to 30 June 2011

Ok you got me there!

Should have been:

and the income you will generate for them will be small (and make no dent in their billion+ losses).

But my general statement still stands, and the fact that they are Government owned possibly even re-enforces it. Once the top management find out what you are doing your account will be closed. Maybe they will give you the 2 months notice in the T&C, but I am sure they will find some small print about money laundering they will use to close it like HSBC did (not that I am saying you are a money launderer).

[jonathan]

I just wanted to drop in to say that following a short, apparently HSBC induced black-out, intersango got me all my money back a few days ago, as I always expected they would. And I am now some number of bitcoin to the good :-)

Thanks guys :-)

[joeyjoe]

I already found a vulnerability within their site that could of allowed me to steal the entire balance of BTC... I reported it.

Us accidentally sending you bitcoins when we first newly setup the site, does not consitute a 'hacking' but is a human error, and then theft when you refused to pay the money back.

It was a change-over error which was controllable. The compensated loss was controllable due to the measures in place such as offline wallet for the actual site balance.

  LOL @ the 'vulnerability' then. Had me thinking he was the next uber hacker. ;p
  thanks for the update.

No it wasnt a hack, and you didnt accidently send me coins. You couldnt even work out how i was able to do it untill i showed you via teamviewer. I didnt expect you to be stupid enough to not correct my account after the demonstation, but after you fixed it, said nothing, no thanks or anything. So I kept them, that is not theft.

[sadpandatech]

I already found a vulnerability within their site that could of allowed me to steal the entire balance of BTC... I reported it.

Us accidentally sending you bitcoins when we first newly setup the site, does not consitute a 'hacking' but is a human error, and then theft when you refused to pay the money back.

It was a change-over error which was controllable. The compensated loss was controllable due to the measures in place such as offline wallet for the actual site balance.

  LOL @ the 'vulnerability' then. Had me thinking he was the next uber hacker. ;p
  thanks for the update.

No it wasnt a hack, and you didnt accidently send me coins. You couldnt even work out how i was able to do it untill i showed you via teamviewer. I didnt expect you to be stupid enough to not correct my account after the demonstation, but after you fixed it, said nothing, no thanks or anything. So I kept them, that is not theft.

   Ahh, but of course, there are 2 sides to that coin. Thank you for the update.

    Cheers

[joeyjoe]

just realised your getting me mixed up with another time when you sent 512 coins to someone.

[molecular]

my bank just called me, asking wether the sepa to intersango was ok? because, "well, uhm, that account has - let's say - caught our eye before".

just thought I'd let you know this fun fact. The bank is ING-DIBA.

EDIT: it get's even better:

I was just going to verify I had entered the SEPA details correctly, only to discover my online login had been disabled.
I called ING-DIBA and they told me the login had been disabled due to suspicion of pishing and that I probably had malware on my computer.

I inquired how exactly this flag was triggered and asked if they had a IP of the supposed pisher. They couldn't give me that info and said the lockdown had been activated manually.

I reported on the call I got earlier about the intersango SEPA and asked wether that might've triggered the lockdown. Answer: probably.

So probably something in the past happened with a SEPA from ING-DIBA to intersangos account at BANK ZACHODNI WBK SA. Maybe someone tried a chargeback and claimed pishing...?

interesting.

[BTCurious]

my bank just called me, asking wether the sepa to intersango was ok? because, "well, uhm, that account has - let's say - caught our eye before".

just thought I'd let you know this fun fact. The bank is ING-DIBA.

EDIT: it get's even better:

I was just going to verify I had entered the SEPA details correctly, only to discover my online login had been disabled.
I called ING-DIBA and they told me the login had been disabled due to suspicion of pishing and that I probably had malware on my computer.

I inquired how exactly this flag was triggered and asked if they had a IP of the supposed pisher. They couldn't give me that info and said the lockdown had been activated manually.

I reported on the call I got earlier about the intersango SEPA and asked wether that might've triggered the lockdown. Answer: probably.

So probably something in the past happened with a SEPA from ING-DIBA to intersangos account at BANK ZACHODNI WBK SA. Maybe someone tried a chargeback and claimed pishing...?

interesting.

My bank is the Dutch version of ING (The same company, even the logo).
I tried to send money to MtGox' UK address, and first my TAN function was blocked due to "a rootkit" (Didn't find anything after exhaustive search, and the internet tells me they "detect" this when a TAN code is used twice or something).
After getting that working again (call them etc etc, wait 5 days, go to local office to pick up code, go back home to fill in code in computer -.-), I tried sending to MtGox again, but after 5 days got the money back because the Fraudmanagement department said that address could not receive money. Calling customer service revealed no further information.

I'm beginning to suspect that either the ING is anal in its fraud detection schemes, or they are actively trying to stop Bitcoin transfers.

[molecular]

my bank just called me, asking wether the sepa to intersango was ok? because, "well, uhm, that account has - let's say - caught our eye before".

just thought I'd let you know this fun fact. The bank is ING-DIBA.

EDIT: it get's even better:

I was just going to verify I had entered the SEPA details correctly, only to discover my online login had been disabled.
I called ING-DIBA and they told me the login had been disabled due to suspicion of pishing and that I probably had malware on my computer.

I inquired how exactly this flag was triggered and asked if they had a IP of the supposed pisher. They couldn't give me that info and said the lockdown had been activated manually.

I reported on the call I got earlier about the intersango SEPA and asked wether that might've triggered the lockdown. Answer: probably.

So probably something in the past happened with a SEPA from ING-DIBA to intersangos account at BANK ZACHODNI WBK SA. Maybe someone tried a chargeback and claimed pishing...?

interesting.

My bank is the Dutch version of ING (The same company, even the logo).
I tried to send money to MtGox' UK address, and first my TAN function was blocked due to "a rootkit" (Didn't find anything after exhaustive search, and the internet tells me they "detect" this when a TAN code is used twice or something).
After getting that working again (call them etc etc, wait 5 days, go to local office to pick up code, go back home to fill in code in computer -.-), I tried sending to MtGox again, but after 5 days got the money back because the Fraudmanagement department said that address could not receive money. Calling customer service revealed no further information.

I'm beginning to suspect that either the ING is anal in its fraud detection schemes, or they are actively trying to stop Bitcoin transfers.

Interesting. At least the service people where friendly to me and everything was resolved by phone quickly in my case.

If they tell me the same thing, that the address is somehow fraudulent and can't receive money (as if it's the receivers fault), I'm going to be really pissed and it also might give us some hint as to wether or not they specifically block bitcoin. That would be a biggie if we could proove that.

[randomguy7]

That adds up nicely to some weird behavior I detected when I recently made a transfer to the same account (I'm in the sepa zone). Usually transactions immediately show up in the transaction history, but this time it did not. After reading this I think the transaction was flaged for manual review (didn't know something like this exists within online banking, feels like paypal) for some reason. I was sending from Germany using an account at DKB. I'll keep you guys updated.