A Commonwealth Bank customer has shared tense audio of phone calls between him and staff after he was blocked from transferring his own money.
In August, while cryptocurrencies were rising, Melburnian Andrew Broadbent decided he wanted to invest $30,000.
Mr Broadbent wanted to put his money into Bitcoin and wanted to do it through cryptocurrency broker Stormrake.
He had sent $21,000 through the service a month earlier but when he wanted to transfer another $30,000, Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA) scam specialists asked him to prove he wasn’t being taken advantage of before they unlocked his account.
CBA’s scam team asked him to sell his crypto holdings and return the money as cash into his bank account – so Mr Broadbent reluctantly obliged.
In doing so, he missed out on a steep climb in crypto prices which cost him $3,000.
CBA eventually reimbursed him $476.67, taking into account the fees charged by Stormrake and the falling crypto prices at the time.
Mr Broadbent said he hadn’t been aware there was a $10,000 monthly limit on crypto transfers.
Accountant Andrew Broadbent couldn’t access his bank account because Commonwealth Bank suspected he was being scammed when he wasn’t
‘I have over 35 years’ experience as a financial and compliance professional, and the whole experience blew my mind,’ he told the Australian Financial Review.
Recordings of calls between Mr Broadbent and CBA’s scam team revealed how the bank was concerned about Stormrake.
‘I’m going to be honest with you, just from the conversation that we are having at the moment, I actually do have scam concerns,’ a CBA staffer told Mr Broadbent.
‘Are you now my financial advisor, are you?’ Mr Broadbent snapped back.
‘No, I’m not, but there should be no financial advisors for cryptocurrency since it’s unregulated,’ the staffer said.
‘I’m saying that I have concerns that you might be involved in a scam.
‘Can I ask you, sir, why are you being so aggressive towards me?’
‘Because I have gone to do a transaction of my own money and I openly understand the risks associated with this transaction and yet I am being scrutinised into my own affairs,’ Mr Broadbent said.
Big banks line Commonwealth Bank are trying to stop fraud but are upsetting some customers in the process by blocking access to their accounts (stock image)
‘Why wouldn’t I get my back up?’
‘Can I ask you a question?’ the staffer asked Mr Broadbent.
‘So, if you lost the $30,000 to a scam, would you be mad that I let that go through?’
‘Not if I openly went into the transaction knowing,’ Mr Broadbent said.
The bank staffer hit back with a stunning claim.
‘See, I don’t believe that,’ he said.
‘I reckon you would make a complaint about me just like you want to make a complaint about me today.’
In a second call on the same day, a CBA worker asked how Mr Broadbent dealt with his broker at Stormrake.
The implication was that Mr Broadbent’s funds may not have existed.
‘How do they actually work? Because you’re sending funds straight to them. It’s not going to your wallet,’ the CBA staffer asked.
‘But that’s how brokerage works. You don’t go to BHP and buy a share. You go through a broker,’ Mr Broadbent said.
‘It’s my money. Why do I need to explain that to you?’
CBA eventually apologised to Mr Broadbent, and said its staff thought it was important ‘to do the right thing by warning him of the dangers of crypto investment scams and the risks that he might lose his money’.
CBA has a $10,000 monthly limit for transfers to crypto exchanges, as does ANZ, to stop customers losing their savings.
According to the National Anti-Scam Centre, crypto scam losses fell 74 per cent in the 12 months to March last year after restrictions were put in place.
‘In their defence, banks are genuinely seeing a lot of fraud and are trying to save their customers from losing funds. However, they often block genuine transactions,’ Stormrake chief executive Michael Milmeister said.
Mr Broadbent said the bank was inflexible in the way it dealt with him as he tried to spend his own money.
‘The CBA scam team treated me with disdain and did not provide any solutions, while dismissing any proactive solutions I put forward like signing a waver explaining I took responsibility for any losses,’ he said.
Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh said half of all money lost in scams was likely being sent through crypto platforms, and the best way banks could stop it was to block accounts.
‘Once funds are transferred into a crypto exchange, they are virtually untraceable and the chances of recovery are very low,’ she said.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Commonwealth Bank for comment.
