(This was posted on a alternative news site by the person it happened to recently)

Bank locked my account until I disclose the names and employers of my family members

You guys wanna hear about how my bank locked my account until I disclose the names and employers of my family members? Here's the summary of the support chat. This is Revolut, backed by Metropolitan Commercial Bank of NY in the US.

*bank account locked*

Me: Why is this locked?

Support: What are your parent's names?

Me: Why would you ask that? I've never provided that to you before. My account's been good since I opened it last year. Why is is locked now?

Support: You must provide your parent's names to fulfil our legal obligation under Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules.

Me: Show me that law.

Support: Links to company policy saying I must provide ID to open a bank account.

Me: That doesn't say I have to give you information about my family members. You already have my name, address, ssn, two IDs, and facial recognition. Please restore access immediately.

Support: Sorry, you have failed to provide ID, account will remain locked.

Me: Show me the law or policy that says I have to give details of my family members to access my bank account.

Support: Links to policy that they may lock an account in cases of suspected fraud, money laundering, or to meet their legal obligations.

Me: Do you suspect fraud or money laundering?

Support: No, but we need to know your source of funds and in case your family sends you money, we want to know who they are.

Me: I self-funded the opening of this account. No one else will ever send me money. I opened this once, a year ago, to use for travel, but since covid haven't had much opportunity to travel. All the cool stuff is closed. I haven't had any issues or any even any transactions. I met the ID requirements when I opened it and since then and nothing has changed. What law or policy gives you the right to lock me out of my bank account?

Support: Sorry, you have failed to provide ID, account will remain locked.

Me: You said there's a law or policy requiring my parent's names to access my account. Why can you not show me that law or policy?

Support: We want to know if you or any of your relatives have/had any politically related occupation or a public function.

Me: Show me the law or policy that requires me to provide the names and employers of my family members.

Support: Sorry, you have failed to provide ID, account will remain locked.

Me: Please stop closing the support request and comply with your own policy that says I will get an answer without delay as to why my account is locked.

Support ...

It's been 3 days. This is where we are. It's an online bank, so there's no office for me to go to. There's no door to bang on. There's no sidewalk to picket. There's not even a phone number to call. There's just a shitty chat function in the app and an email box. This is the second time I've been shut out of an online bank account. It's the third time I've been blocked from accessing my own money at a US bank. In every case it took either days or weeks to resolve and has been a hassle, but not the end of the world. I've never gotten an answer as to why.

Who is behind this? Big tech just figured they're untouchable now and can do what they want? Government put in some law requiring banks to identify your family members before you can access your bank account? Is my friendly, neighborhood FBI agent having a laugh? Biden sign another EO without reading it?
Verdici Populi

Note: Sources are claiming that the bank is using depositor's money to draw interest while their account is automatically locked down due to the computer's algorithm. (Description of complaints below.)

Posting source:
https://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message4695832/pg1

More info on Revolut Bank:
Revolut is a British financial technology company headquartered in London, England, that offers banking services. It was founded in 2015 by (Russians) Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenk..

Controversies:
Automated suspension of accounts
Revolut, in common with traditional financial institutions, uses algorithms to identify money laundering, fraud and other criminal activity, but unlike the rest of the banking industry, Revolut's algorithms additionally trigger an automated suspension of accounts. Revolut explains that "the system is programmed to temporarily lock an account and place it in a queue, until one of our compliance agents can review the case".[33]

It is increasingly reported that Revolut's algorithms suspend a growing number of accounts in error for weeks or months at a time because Revolut does not have sufficient compliance agents to review the automated suspensions, and that while Revolut pays no interest on the large suspended balances, Revolut can earn interest on the funds in wholesale money markets. Customers whose accounts are suspended are blocked from contacting Revolut's usual support channel and instead receive automated responses from a chatbot.[34][35][36] The Daily Telegraph reported that Revolut suspended an account containing £90,000 for more than two months[37] and that another customer travelled 500 miles from Auvergne in France to Revolut's London offices in an unsuccessful attempt to recover £15,000 in an account that Revolut had similarly frozen without any justification being given.[38] In a further case reported by The Times, Revolut suspended and subsequently closed a business account containing €300,000 belonging to Priorité Energie, which "helps low-income families in Paris to insulate their homes under a government initiative", preventing the company from paying its staff.[39]

According to Finews.com, Revolut's public internet forums contain almost 500 complaints by customers about locked accounts and a lack of response from Revolut's support team.[40] Finews also reported that Revolut asked a customer to provide to Revolut her tax statement and subsequently tax statements of people who had sent her small amounts of money, and that when she failed to provide the tax statements of those third parties, Revolut blocked her account without giving due notice.
(Unquote)
source from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolut