Recently, there have been anomalies in a number of bank accounts in Australia.
A large number of Chinese bank accounts have been "shut down" for no reason, including Commonweal Bank, NAB and Westpac.
The bank's explanation for the closure of the account was only a few words, "through a commercial decision", which was not convincing to many customers.
It is reported that the bank closure of accounts may be related to anti-fraud, but many Chinese said that Australian banks are "more and more lenient".
In Australia, it seems that your own money cannot be used freely. Previously, a man's account was frozen after withdrawing 2,000 Australian dollars, and it was "difficult to escape" a monthly transfer of more than 10,000 yuan.
图源：Yahoo News
The woman's bank account was inexplicably "blocked", and thousands of Australian dollars could not be used
Recently, "Yahoo News" reported the news that an Australian bank closed its account for no reason.
Tara, an Asian woman living in Australia, had her Commonwealth Bank account closed for no reason some time ago, and all she received was a cold notice.
Tara has been living in Australia for many years, and the same account she opened with Commonwealth Bank seven years ago has been in use until it was recently shut down.
She said she had been using the account for seven years and that it was "the first time she had encountered such a problem." At the time of the closure, the merchant had thousands of dollars in stock and Tara didn't know what to do.
Not long ago, Tara's text messages and emails popped up with a new message from Commonwealth Bank, and the content of the message was the same. In the message, the bank informed her that her bank account had been closed "after a commercial decision".
Tara said she read the message several times and determined that it didn't give a specific reason for the shutdown.
The message also informed her that she had until April 8 to "arrange for the remaining deposits in her account."
Since she had only used one bank account for many years, Tara had not prepared the rest of her bank accounts for a while, and now she didn't know what to do.
Tara said that even her most recent rent could not be automatically deducted due to account problems, and she owed rent as a result.
Screenshot of Tara's shutdown message. Source: Yahoo News
At the same time, she was also unable to log in to the CAB app to make payment changes.
Before her bank account was closed, she had no choice but to transfer all her funds to a friend's account and exchange them for cash.
A few days after receiving the news, Tara went to a Commonwealth Bank in Melbourne to ask about the reason for the closure, and she believed that her account had not been in any unusual way, and that she had not engaged in or involved in illegal transactions, so how could she have been shut down for no reason?
However, even when she visited the bank, Tara still did not receive a satisfactory answer.
Build. 图源:Yahoo News
The bank staff listened to Tara's description and handed her a card with a phone number on it, but Tara said she was never able to make a call on the card.
"The clues I have are just 'business reasons'. Tara, she says, is that her parents, who are far away in Myanmar, often send money into her bank account.
Since Tara came to Australia, her parents in Myanmar have taken on the burden of living expenses. Like many Chinese friends, Tara's parents remit Australian dollars into her bank account from time to time to support her daily life.
It is reported that frequent remittances from Myanmar, Cambodia and other countries will make Australian banks more vigilant. If certain countries or territories have been sanctioned by Australia, not only will people not be able to send money to these countries or territories through their Australian accounts, but money from these countries will also be further investigated.
Source: ABC
According to Tara, she often received investigative calls from the Commonwealth Bank, asking about the use of the money sent to her by her parents, and worried about whether her account had been hacked, when she "didn't care at the time."
She replied that the remittances came from her family, "and my parents would transfer the tuition and living expenses to my bank account." ”
While Australia's sanctions against Myanmar were lifted in 2012, some sanctions were reinstated in 2018. Australian banks have stipulated that money sent to or received from bank accounts in Myanmar can only go to the accounts of relatives.
There is no evidence yet that any remittances from Myanmar are subject to intense scrutiny by Australian banks, but Tara said her account was shut down "perhaps because of that".
Source: CNBC
A large number of Chinese bank accounts are blocked, and their own money cannot be transferred?
Cases of Australian banks restricting transfers on the grounds of fraud prevention are not uncommon among Chinese. A Chinese friend said that he had witnessed the fraud of his Chinese compatriots when he was doing business at the bank.
On the same day, this little partner handled cash business in NAB and met another Chinese person to handle the transfer. The Chinese allegedly requested $200,000 to be transferred to another account.
Upon learning of this request, NAB staff conducted a rigorous review of the transfer, requiring the Chinese to make multiple confirmations to the receiving account, which took a lot of time.
The partner said that during the exchange, the Chinese lost patience many times and told the bank staff, "I can transfer my own money as I want", but the staff still insisted on completing the relevant process.
Source: News
After several rounds of "matching", NAB staff found that the account to which the Chinese tried to send money was a fraudulent account, but the account gave up the fraud under the "repeated bombardment" of the staff.
At this time, the Chinese woke up to the fact that his 200,000 Australian dollars were almost defrauded. He immediately told the bank that he had remitted $600,000 to the account a few days ago and asked the bank for help.
Under the operation of the staff, more than 400,000 Australian dollars remitted by the Chinese were successfully recovered, but the remaining 100,000 Australian dollars were sunk into the sea. The staff said that the Chinese had previously provided false statements to the bank in order to successfully transfer the money.
Fortunately, most of the money has been recovered, and NAB has minimized the loss of the Chinese.
图源：Daily Telegraph
On the social media platform "Little Red Book", a large number of Chinese people shared that their Australian bank accounts had been closed.
A small partner said that once, he made a small transfer because he needed to exchange currency, "I transferred one dollar to him, and then he transferred five yuan to Alipay......"
However, the next day, his bank account was frozen. The little friend said that he did not disclose any information and felt inexplicable about this matter.
Source: Little Red Book
Another friend said his friend had been scammed and his bank account had been blocked by Commonwealth Bank.
And he was also implicated in this incident, and his account was blocked because he "transferred 100 dollars" to a friend.
Source: Little Red Book
Another friend said that she "suddenly received three emails", and the bank said that her account was about to be removed.
At first, she thought it was a scam and ignored it. But then I found that I couldn't log in to my banking app.
She said that she did not violate any illegal acts, and that the bank card was only used for normal purchases, and the amount of each purchase was several hundred Australian dollars.
Source: Little Red Book
Recently, Australian banks have been closing accounts more frequently, and the reason is even more ridiculous.
Previously, the famous Australian writer Crispin Rovere also encountered a similar experience.
He said on social media that on one occasion he tried to withdraw $2,000 in cash from Westpac Bank, only to have his bank account blocked.
It is reported that when he entered the "2000" amount at the ATM, he "did not get a penny", which was replaced by an on-screen prompt informing him that his account had been frozen and urging him to contact bank staff.
图源：Daily Mail
Bank officials said Rovere had to explain what the money was used for, or the account would remain blocked.
But Rovere argues that the bank has no right to question the use of his own money. He then took a hard line and brought out the content of his previous news report on the conflict with Westpac, which made the bank manager panic and offered to unblock his account for him.
Even so, he waited more than 40 minutes.
图源：Daily Mail
Crispin Rovere had already clashed with Westpac more than a year ago, when his bank account was frozen.
The difference is that he wanted to save money at the time, and according to the Australian government's regulations, deposits of more than $10,000 were required to be reported, and the amount of money he saved was significantly lower than the value of $10,000.
However, it may be that for anti-fraud reasons, Westpac Bank still froze his account.
Source: Reuters
In addition to this, Commonwealth Bank has previously announced plans to limit monthly transfers to certain accounts and merchants, with the aim of protecting customers from scams and fraud.
According to the Daily Mail, Commonwealth Bank said it has emailed specific restrictions on transfers to customers to inform them that they will be implemented in early September or within 30 days of the notice.
The limit is $10,000 per month.
The email reads:
"We're rolling out new measures to help protect you from scams and fraud. ”
"We may limit the amount you can pay to certain accounts or merchants, such as those we believe are relevant to cryptocurrency exchanges, to no more than $10,000 in total per calendar month from all of your accounts. ”
图源：Daily Mail
Meanwhile, in the revised terms and conditions, Commonwealth Bank also said that the bank may "suspend or close your account, cancel or suspend your card or other means of access," aiming to stop allowing customers to participate in crypto-related payments.
According to reports, banks have the right to refuse to "process or block the processing of a transaction or transaction, or a particular type of transaction or transaction", without prior notice to the customer.
Source: Bloomberg
It is reported that last year, the Australian banking industry announced a platform that will help banks act quickly to freeze funds that are transferred to scammers by allowing near real-time reporting of fraudulent transfers between banks and banks.
The Australian Banking Association has announced a new Fraud Reporting Exchange Platform (FRX) that will facilitate quick reporting of fraudulent transfers when they are transferred to another bank. The association said in a statement that the move would increase "the likelihood that funds will be frozen and returned to customers."
The new platform will give banks the ability to block multiple transfers as part of the same scam, share intelligence to assist in loss prevention, and streamline the return of funds where possible.
Source: Times
So far, 17 banks, including the Big Four, have signed up to the platform agreement, and one trial showed that the time to resolve fraud cases has dropped by more than half.
Anna Bligh, chief executive of the Australian Banking Association (ABA), said consumers must report fraudulent or fraudulent payments to their banks as soon as possible.
In 2022 alone, Australians lost more than $3 billion to fraud, and in many cases it was difficult to trace because the funds were transferred through different banks.
The government on Monday announced $58 million in funding for the National Anti-Fraud Centre, which will report fraud and disseminate information to banks, law enforcement and vulnerable communities.
Consumer advocacy groups welcomed the new platform but felt it wasn't doing enough to prevent scams and called on the government to implement a policy that would allow banks to compensate victims of scams.
Source: ABC
It is reported that the bank account of an Asian girl was suddenly closed, and the thousands of Australian dollars in the account were deposited without knowing what to do.
She said that before the closure, the bank sent only an email as a notice, saying that the shutdown was due to a "commercial decision", without giving specific details.
The girl suspected that her account was considered risky because her parents, who were in Myanmar, often sent money to her bank account.
In order to combat fraud, the bank closed its own accounts.
Source: Reuters
A large number of Chinese friends have also encountered a similar situation, some people's small-value transfer accounts have been blocked, some people's normal exchange accounts have been blocked, and some people's withdrawal accounts have been blocked......
Recently, Australian banks have stepped up their anti-fraud enforcement efforts, resulting in many obstacles for customers to conduct cash operations.
If you encounter a similar situation, you must contact the bank as soon as possible to avoid fraud.