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How we secure Monzo's banking platform

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Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#71

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

mocko wrote: post #64
porker wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use First Direct. They're designed for boring middle-aged IT consultants. :)

Not disagreeing (First Direct has a far better reputation) but it's really a brand of HSBC. The irony of having to move to a bank suspected of funding [1] actual drug dealing/laundering/terrorism so my accounts won't get frozen over imaginary drugs/laundering/terrorism is somewhat amusing. [1] https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-07-28/mon... / https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/07/16/hsbc-…

They're not suspected, they admitted it, and paid their speeding fine.

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#72

Post by ijonas »

corobo wrote: post #46
mocko wrote: post #28

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here. Do they still have a haywire fraud detection system that randomly freezes innocent people's accounts? It's happened to countless users and the customer experience when they do it ("we refuse to tell you why" and in some cases holding onto their money for months) is a kafkaesque nightmare. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvg7n3/monzo-freezing-closin... https://www.reddit.com/r/U…

My money is on it being crypto related, but that’s because the only people I’ve seen complaining about this publicly were doing some crypto stuff (tx both in and out) and it looked very laundry-esque out of context when you get into the actual details And yeah as others have said that’s not a Monzo thing not telling you, no UK bank would tell you why they think you’re laundering money

I had a similar experience, not crypto-related.

My employer paid me a couple of grand in expenses, which I quickly moved to another account. That triggered an account freeze.

I asked the customer service rep for "why" - couldn't tell me. They then asked me for payslips to prove my story. I told them feck off because they could see the monthly entries marked "Salary" from the same source.

I escalated the matter and it took several hours before my account was unfrozen.

Lesson: only keep a minimum amount of money in UK bank accounts.

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#73

Post by drcongo »

mocko wrote: post #28

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here. Do they still have a haywire fraud detection system that randomly freezes innocent people's accounts? It's happened to countless users and the customer experience when they do it ("we refuse to tell you why" and in some cases holding onto their money for months) is a kafkaesque nightmare. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvg7n3/monzo-freezing-closin... https://www.reddit.com/r/U…

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here too. Froze my account after I cashed out some bitcoin on Coinbase, held on to all my money for over a year and refused to answer support requests. Only got my money back off them when I brought the financial ombudsmen into it.

Don't touch them with a ten foot pole.

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#75

Post by [deleted] »

drcongo wrote: post #73
mocko wrote: post #28

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here. Do they still have a haywire fraud detection system that randomly freezes innocent people's accounts? It's happened to countless users and the customer experience when they do it ("we refuse to tell you why" and in some cases holding onto their money for months) is a kafkaesque nightmare. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvg7n3/monzo-freezing-closin... https://www.reddit.com/r/U…

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here too. Froze my account after I cashed out some bitcoin on Coinbase, held on to all my money for over a year and refused to answer support requests. Only got my money back off them when I brought the financial ombudsmen into it. Don't touch them with a ten foot pole.

[deleted]

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#76

Post by drcongo »

samjmck wrote: post #54
mocko wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but that doesn't explain the sheer scale on which it happens (more than other UK banks and with seemingly worse consequences) or how the system actually works. It's also notable that this post was written a year before some of the news articles, indicating that Monzo really hadn't done anything to improve it. One gets the feeling they're hiding behind the "we can't tell you why" excuse to escape accountability…

> Sure, but that doesn't explain the sheer scale on which it happens How do you know the scale and how are you not sure that it's a vocal minority? After all, Monzo does target more tech-savvy users that might be more likely to voice their frustration online than with other high-street banks. > One gets the feeling they're hiding behind the "we can't tell you why" excuse to escape accountability for a broken system t…

I've switched to Starling. I still use Coinbase yet Starling have never frozen my account or held on to my money for a year.

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#77

Post by maxehmookau »

mocko wrote: post #28

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here. Do they still have a haywire fraud detection system that randomly freezes innocent people's accounts? It's happened to countless users and the customer experience when they do it ("we refuse to tell you why" and in some cases holding onto their money for months) is a kafkaesque nightmare. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvg7n3/monzo-freezing-closin... https://www.reddit.com/r/U…

Yeah, this ended up on Watchdog on UK TV which was entirely unfair. No UK bank can tell you why your account was frozen, it's illegal to do so.

(I don't work for Monzo, but I've been a happy customer since day 1)

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#78

Post by anonymousDan »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #23
anonymousDan wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about you are now exposing yourself to additional risks from e.g. a malicious employee at the cloud provider, or jurisdictional risk from FISA requests to the CP?

Why is risk from malicious employer in cloud provider somehow different from risk from malicious employer in colocation, or even private data center?

Because now you have risk from malicious employees at two organisations, your own AND the cloud provider, instead of just one. Furthermore, you have very little visibility into the cloud provider's security practices. And for anyone saying that cloud providers are inevitably more secure than your own organisation, have a look at the Azurescape vulnerability.

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#79

Post by tawaypol »

YawningAngel wrote: post #39
mocko wrote: post #28

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here. Do they still have a haywire fraud detection system that randomly freezes innocent people's accounts? It's happened to countless users and the customer experience when they do it ("we refuse to tell you why" and in some cases holding onto their money for months) is a kafkaesque nightmare. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvg7n3/monzo-freezing-closin... https://www.reddit.com/r/U…

No UK bank will ever tell you why your account is frozen, and this is why: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/money-laundering-offen... . Source: used to work on Monzo's financial crime team.

This happens in the US too. This kind of thing is why I'm using crypto for as much as I can, I always feel like my bank account might disappear one night and all the money in it will be tied up for a month or so. It's already happened to me once.

Re: How we secure Monzo's banking platform

#80

Post by stuckkeys »

nvarsj wrote: post #65
mocko wrote: post #28

Disgruntled former Monzo customer here. Do they still have a haywire fraud detection system that randomly freezes innocent people's accounts? It's happened to countless users and the customer experience when they do it ("we refuse to tell you why" and in some cases holding onto their money for months) is a kafkaesque nightmare. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvg7n3/monzo-freezing-closin... https://www.reddit.com/r/U…

Happy Monzo customer here with it as my primary account for the last 2 years. Haven’t had any issues, and neither have any of my friends. It’s the best possible banking experience imo. I’m happy they are proactive about suspicious activity.

Sounds like a paid “amazon” review. lul
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