Preface -

I was messaged by a regular on GP recently whom experienced a concerning situation with his bank, one that sounded all too familiar. If you or anyone you know have had any experiences similar to this please explain the situation so we can figure out what is going on. I-for-one do not want to be breaking federal laws, which I am fearful is the gray line we may be riding.

Story -

About 2 months ago - I received a letter from my bank, the name of which I will leave anonymous. This bank's letter asked for myself to stop in a branch and answer some questions or my accounts would be closed. I immediately called my bank's phone number, the one on the back of my debit card, and asked for more information on this letter. They looked through my account and said there was no notes and that there would be notes and this letter was likely a scam. I left it as is and went on about my business.

About one month ago - I received a phone call from an unknown number which turned out to be the branch manager of one of my banks in the area. He asked me to stop in and answer some questions or my accounts would be shut down within 24 hours.

Later that day I stopped into a local branch and spoke with a manager there. They told me that they needed to see my ID and to answer some questions. As suspicious as all this sounded I agreed to it with a little hesitation and the lady picked up a phone and called some number. She spoke with the person on the other end for a minute or two verifying my identity as well as herself and proceeded to hand the phone to me.

The person on the other end of the phone said the call was being recorded and that they needed to ask some questions. They said it was to due with federal "KYC" laws. KYC is "Know Your Customer". Financial institutions are required by federal law to maintain certain records on their customers to prevent things like money laundering and terrorism.

Anyways, the questions seemed straight forward and were things about my occupation; what I do for a living, how much I expect to make gross income for the year, etc. My thoughts on all this was that they were just wondering what the wire transfers coming and going had been about so I explained that I was a cryptocurrency trader along with other things, such as online marketing, etc. I finished up and left.

Today I received a PM from another poker player on Global Poker which got a letter of due diligence from his/her bank in the same manner as I did. This is clearly not a coincidence. I am concerned about the whole situation and would like anyone else experiencing this situation to come forward and shine light on it. We need to know what is going on here.

I hope GP can help clarify all this. The UIGEA is not something to fool around with.

I would like to be clear that I don't want to spread fear or drive people away from GP. My intentions are to learn more about the situation at hand so that it can be handled effectively and GP ultimately grow. I want to play on GP, I really like the site.

Poker in the US has been a gray area since 2006 and stuff like this is very spooky - a lot of things can be spooky in this online poker climate.

Not sure how your bank would know you are playing on global poker. Are you cashing out lots of money from paypal into your bank account? If so, maybe they are investigating for laundering/ tax evasion.

Something similar happened to me back in the pokerstars days. Every month I was depositing a shady looking check ie no bank name just routing numbers and amounts. I was questioned about it by the bank manager and I told him it was from an "overseas investment." All the checks cleared and I wasn't bothered about it after that.

I am easily spooked too

Would seem the cryptocurrency trading (and the various money ins and outs) is more likely the cause of this than being a customer of Global Poker. I also would assume the banks are concerned whether the customer is violating money laundering rules, because they are responsible for checking on that. Tax evasion is for the IRS, not banks, to investigate. However if the OP is keeping detailed records for tax purposes and paying the appropriate amounts, then that could help show the bank that everything is proper and will likely resolve their concerns. If not then it certainly is more potentially messy with a lot of vague "I do marketing" answers that banks hate, and they kick out customers like that to protect themselves.

It's because you guys are running money through your banks like you're laundering money... the bank's computers probably red flag this and then the bank manager has to check you out. The likelihood is that it has nothing to do directly with GP.

If you don't want to spread fear then don't make a thread title like that.

I pay my taxes and keep very good records.

I wouldnt have even brought up this thread if it wasnt for someone PMing me today asking if i ran into the same situation and it threw up a red flag. I thought it was the crypto but being that its happening to other people spooks me.

How do you guys handle talking to the bank in a situation like this? I understand checks from pokerstars back in the day coming from singapore or canada throwing up red flags but i really dont understand why its happening to GP players. I have deposited checks for years from paradise, full tilt, bodog, bovada, ignition and never ran into something like this.

Appreciate the responses guys

Banking has gotten more sophisticated in just the past five years. I'm certain that their computer systems are better at flagging accounts that look suspicious according to certain criteria. I have a feeling that it has to do with PayPal and not Global Poker.

from the banks perspective is global poker illegal? how can we avoid this? by keeping all money in paypal? this is if we have lots of cashouts mainly I guess

This thread title should be "Banks investigating funds that are coming from PAYPAL".

The banks have no clue its money coming from a poker site, nor is it any of their business. I would have declined to answer any of their questions, and if they wanted to close my account, tell them to **** off and go find a new bank.

its nice to tell the bank to **** off, unfortunately his assets are frozen, so they need to unfreeze his assets probably before he can start with the expletives I believe..
maybe they see paypal as shady ...

This is most likely crypto related.

No they aren't, this is KYC, not a criminal investigation. If his answers are insufficient for the bank they can close his accounts but they still have to give him his money.

bingo

If you are keeping detailed records then be transparent and do your best to answer their concerns. They may decide that they do not want your business (out of concerns of potential money laundering due to your business sector), and if that is the case then you will need to do business with another bank. The guy who suggested you extend your middle finger to the bank should be ignored unless you put a macho ego ahead of being practical (which some people do), because the bank will be just fine without your business, so this is not an equal impasse.

It really has nothing to do with Global Poker itself other than how the paypal transfers are contributing to the pattern of financial behavior you are doing that is setting off the flags.

How would the bank even know it was Global Poker? None of it makes sense.

First of all, PayPal is a money transmitter and subject to State regulatory rules. Transactions over 10K for sure, but regular transmittals of set amounts will get flag and forms need to be filled out.

Banks do not have the authority to just seize your funds. That is your money and for them to take it, they need to go through the court system and win a lien or garnishment. They can decide to 'freeze' the account in the sense that they no longer wish to do business with you and deliver you a check for the entire amount on deposit. They can temporarily freeze transactions until you have answered questions, usually in writing and signed in front of a bank officer, regarding the account. They cannot seize your funds arbitrarily.

All your business is in and out of PayPal, a regulated money transmitter. Most businesses and pretty much all sweepstakes type companies need pre-approval and legal opinion prior to opening a PayPal account. PayPal then does their standard due diligence in approving the company for business.

Even crypto currency should not raise a flag, unless you are moving sizeable amount of funds. Crypto currency, as of now, is not illegal in the US. If you were regularly receiving and sending amounts that exceeded a certain threshold, then banks would be nosy.

Banks will hold a meeting with the customer if a regulatory agency has asked them. It could be simple random flagging, certain amount of customers have to answer updated questions every calendar quarter to show they are conscious of account activity. You could be doing business with someone that has been flagged for illegal activity, too. There are a myriad of reasons why you could be called in for an interview. Unless you know that you are doing something shady, then it is likely just S.O.P. by the bank. Engaging in online poker is not illegal as a player. The illegality is in the rake, hosting the games for a profit, or enabling the transactions that are needed to facilitate the activity.

I know, it is all common operating procedures. Like I mentioned, unless you know you're doing something shady, it's just a normal banking issue. We have a fair amount if international business and we get this crap all the time. It is the same questionnaire and often the same parties on both sides of the transaction.

My wife bought some craft supplies from iverseas and her credit card was frozen u til she verified it was a legit purchase.

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(lol sorry I deleted my post and reposted it, so it came in below your response)

Believe me when someone gets strange transfers and transfers funds out that are abnormal, the computers are programmed to flag it. I've had my bank stop my credit card simply because I had an abnormal spending pattern for one day, and they use similar algorithms to protect against money laundering. Getting money from PayPal and having a certain pattern of transactions with Coinbase could be something that could get flagged.

True.

You're an idiot if you ever mentioned anything about GP. Surprised you're actually withdrawing large amounts if you did

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If it's Chase, they have been known to close the accounts of gamblers before, even ones who don't play online.

it comes back as a paypal transfer on my statements, the bank cant do or say anything, its not like they can prove that money from paypal isnt coming from something like an ebay sale or something. i would just carry on as usual, or if you are really concerned with them thinking its from gambling or a laundering, then just buy one of the mastercard paypal debit cards

Just going to include my story in here (I'm not sure if this is the same or slightly different)

I received an alert from my national bank that my credit card has been part of a compromise at an undisclosed merchant, and they are sending me a new CC. I have used my CC to make deposits on Global, and have entries on my CC statement that say "PAYPAL *VGWHOLDINGS". I do not invest in crypto or anything like that.

I obviously don't know if the undisclosed merchant is VGW (it could easily be another merchant) but I'm just putting this here. If others experience the same, then I'm sure we can draw conclusions.

I have also withdrawn sweeps cash from Global (not super large amounts). These appear in my bank statement as "PAYPAL TRANSFER". My bank has not contacted me regarding these transactions.

The way Paypal works, Global never gets your credit card information, so they can't compromise it.

A compromise at an undisclosed merchant is likely due to someone broke into their network and may have accessed some of their clients data. If the bank though it was you that was participating in something wrong/shady, they would not cancel your card and then send you a new one. To continue doing the same thing.....