It’s not unfair.
Trading has to, at some point, interact with the established financial services sector. Checks and procedures exist for illegality in standard trading. Banks are still figuring out how to guard against all the illegal things which can be done with crypto, so it stands to reason that while crypto trading isn’t illegal per se, it will be difficult to align that with standard banking practice.
That’s just how it is.
There’s an argument to be had that the consequences of engaging in fraud is no access to financial services. I’d agree with this to some extent, provided there is a basic service for those affected to ‘bank’ with, as entirely excluding them from modern society doesn’t seem ideal.
I completely agree that there should be severe consequences for any party of fraud, I also agree that in those situations there should be alternative banks to help in that situation but what I do not agree with is bank account opening processes for under 18s. So under 28s can’t open one without a parent AT BRANCH
Opening the account with a parent doesn’t stop anything.
You could have done that last time and still handed the details over.
It’s probably worth unpacking a few things here:
I’d say it’s pretty cruel.
The money laundering will be directly linked to organised crime, which will involve human trafficking, drugs, firearms and ultimately be sent overseas to terrorist organisations.
This fraud isn’t just a side hustle for the bloke on the other end of the DMs, it’s the “clean” (pun intended) end of a horrible network which kills and profits from suffering.
The current method of the bank essentially ‘ghosting’ the customer doesn’t seem ideal to me. Nor is the attitude toward otherwise naive individuals.
Under 21 financial crime is growing and there needs to be a robust system in place for both those affected and those unaware of the consequences. Financial education is sadly lacking in the UK and its all too easy to chastise those taken in, and I’m guilty of judging these people myself, but no significant impact will be made until the underlying cause is addressed.
I think that your account probably got closed because you’re continuing to do things that you shouldn’t be doing at your age.
Minimum age for Coinbase is 18
Minimum age for a PayPal Account is 18
Minimum age for an eBay Account is 18
Also, there’s loads of random payments on the same day for all sorts of random people. Multiple payments to the same hosting company and payments to another hosting company all look very suspicious.
Monzo took a risk on you with the CIFAS marker and you haven’t really done anything other than show that the risk really wasn’t worth taking and, in my opinion quite rightly, closed your account.
I’m sorry that this is happening to you but you’re not helping yourself and to be honest the willingness to break the terms of service for the services above makes me think you’re not quite as naïve as you’re making out.
I hope you find an alternative, but you do need to take a long hard look at what you’re doing before you end up with more markers to your name.
I find it a bit confusing that we’re berating Santander for allowing a minor to open an account yet parental consent also wasn’t required for the Monzo account either?
Wasn’t that because Santander allowed a 15-year-old to open an account unsupervised, but he opened the Monzo account when 16?
I’m not sure about the parental consent issue. I opened bank accounts under 16 (granted this was now decades ago) and the rule was under-13 for parental consent. Granted, things may have changed but I see no reason why the age should be higher given the importance of banking.
Of course back then it was limited to either ATM cards, Switch, or later Visa Electron. No idea if such limited cards are still offered or are even market appropriate given technology changes.
I’ve had a NatWest account since I was probably about 13 or so. My Mum came with us but I don’t think she needed to, me and my sister both opened an account at the same time.
I had a Solo card at the time, which was similar to Visa Electron I believe. I remember being frustrated because back then, hardly anywhere took it physically and practically no online stores took it!
I think the problem these days is that a MasterCard Debit card is far less restrictive than Visa Electron and Solo was and back then there was less damage that could be done with a Sort Code and Account Number and there was no online banking to make committing fraud so quick and efficient.
As for the paypal, I had made an account about 2 years ago because I had a minecraft network and was making pennies but I needed somewhere to pay that to. Of course the account was under my name but not my dob they found out and closed my account and needed a place to send money so that’s that, the payments to a hosting company were not my fault as there was an issue with the systems and charged me multiple times. For the eBay I bought seeds to grow to start a new hobby.
But you can see how this looks; one thing after another and each with a different excuse.
If you manage to get an account somewhere you really need to think about how you act with your finances no lies at all. To anyone. About anything.
We’ve all done things when young and foolish, but in hindsight perhaps it’s not the best idea to lie about your DOB to providers and then engage in risky behaviour (crypto currency) when a bank grants you an account.
So you’ve committed fraud that led to you getting a CIFAS marker, you’ve committed fraud by lying about your age to another financial institution and think Terms of Service are something to be ignored… and wonder why you can’t get an account anywhere.
We used to have a lesson every week at school entitled “Lifeskills”. Do they not do that anymore? Because no offence, but you seriously need some.
I applaud that you clearly have some entrepreneurial passions that could turn out great when you’re a little older but for now, I’d definitely tone things down quite a lot and wait until you’re a bit more responsible.
the paypal account is about 2 years old and i had money on there that needed to be taken out because that was my only option, so that was no where near recent. I do understand how this looks and i wouldnt be to keen on helping a person like that out myself and now i do understand why it has happened to me. I did have lifeskills at school but that was more like sex education and no means no.
Since we’re discussing the video again, you never answered the above.
You obviously dont have to if you don’t want, but I’m more curious as to what they needed and if this had an impact on them closing your account too.
If your watch the video, the information they need is details of an alternative account to transfer the balance to. Monzo had already decided to close the account.
Until robust financial education is given in schools this will continue happening unfortunately, they do some on the curriculum bit I’m not sure how good it is.
The Instagram generation buy into all these flashy cons which are designed to pretty much legit, it’s ok other people sitting here tapping away to a forum say yeah but it’s common sense or its obvious this is wrong or that’s a con, well it’s actually not to a fairly high number of people