Sold a few grand worth of Bitcoin on Local Bitcoins - someone reversed a transaction and now Barclay's have ruined me. Can't get mortgage, overdraft, mobile phone etc for 5 years.

Throwaway account as I'm still dealing with this.

Background: I saw an opportunity for arbitrage between Coinbase (buy) and LBC (sell) in late 2018. From memory I think I bought about 2-3k worth (GBP) and sold in small batches (to ID and phone verified LBC customers).

I first knew something was wrong as I couldn't log in to my Barclays mobile app, it provided a code and I called customer service who wanted to discuss a transaction.

I was 100% honest and sent correspondence and statements. About a week later I receive a notice telling me to take everything out of my account (had the account since childhood) and find a new bank. This was stressful enough and I lodged a complaint with Barclays, that was not upheld, then asked the Financial Ombudsman Service to step in and help me. Turns out that one of the transactions for less than £200 was reversed by the buyer, so Barclays took this money from my account, and returned it to the account holder.

Fast forward nearly a year and I've forgotten about this ordeal. I'm a bit in my overdraft but as my credit is pristine I apply for a small unsecured loan (it makes sense as will be paying less interest) 95% probability I'd get the loan according to the comparison website.

I'm turned down. They refer me to CIFAS, the UK fraud prevention agency. This happens once more as the first time I just assumed I was just unlucky.

I put in a 'subject access request' to CIFAS and request all info they have on me. About a week later I receive a letter.

Category 6 Fraud Warning - First party fraud - false instruments paid in.

This blew my mind. I had no idea that Barclays viewed the selling of BTC so seriously. The irony is that Barclays are the bank you must deposit money in to buy BTC in the UK, but when I sell my BTC they close my account and ruin me financially. This is now being looked into by the FOS and as of last week I've placed a complaint under the EUs GDPR (under accuracy mainly as I cannot challenge Barclays' decision).

TLDR - sold small amount of Btc on local bitcoins, Barclays bank closed my account, accused me of fraud and now I can't get a mortgage, loan, mobile phone, overdraft or any other item of credit for another 5 years.

Submitted September 16, 2019 at 07:19PM by PunishedByBarclays https://ift.tt/2IbyfBo