My bank (Barclays UK) blocked my transfers, froze my mobile banking app, and locked my account due to my "Crypo Investments"

Yesterday evening I made a bank transfer to my crypto_dot_com fiat wallet. This is something that I`ve done many times in the last few months with very little problem and I even have them as a saved payee. Occasionally I`ve had to complete anti fraud checks; such as responding to my banking app or a SMS notification to confirm that it was me making the transfer. However, last night my balance didn't update, so I assumed that I`d not hit confirm and so made a smaller test payment. This time I received an error message "RPS01" that said their have been issues with the payment system and to check again in 4hrs. I made a payment to another card account to see if it was their system or specifically CDC and those went through fine. I opened up a chat with them and was told a similar message, that they couldn't confirm the status of the transfer but they're normally resolved in 4hrs. I was also able to use the CDC visa card top-up from the same source. This morning I went to login to my mobile app to check the status and found that I was locked out. The same with my online banking. I had an error code (RG21M) that suggested that my account did not exist and a message to phone them. The number took me through to their anti fraud, so I thought that perhaps they'd been a bit heavy handed but it would be a simple case of confirming that I`d made the payment. Instead, after confirming my ID and explaining the circumstances surrounding the payment, I was told that they'd escalate my case to another department. There where I was told "your account was locked due to the nature of your activity being related to cryptocurrency purchases or investments" and that they would now read me a statement. To reinstate my account, I would have to answer a series of questions that could take up to 30 minutes and that my responses would be digitally recorded. I had no choice but to agree, and thankfully it took much less time than that due to me pre-empting some of their questions. I was told that if I continued with the payment then I was not protected by them. At the end of the call, I asked whether my account would now be free to send further payments to this account and was told that it was likely that future payments may get flagged. To give you an idea of some of the questions that I was asked... - What research have I done into Cryptocurrencies? Am I aware of the risks around them? How long have I been purchasing Cryptocurrencies? - Why did I pick this particular exchange? Why did I trust them and what due diligence had I done? - Who had advised me to invest? Was I investing on behalf of anyone else? What was the source of my funds for the investment etc etc submitted by /u/_s79 [link] [comments]