Customers up in arms after Aussie stopped from transferring money

Commonwealth Bank customers have been left outraged after an Aussie was stopped from transferring their money because of an ‘outrageous’ cap.

The bank sent a statement to the customer advising them their payment to a cryptocurrency exchange had been declined as they had reached their limit.

Commonwealth Bank introduced new measures in July, putting a $10,000 monthly cap on Aussies to protect them from possible scams.

The outraged customer was informed by the bank they would not be able to make a purchase until the start of the new month.

A Commonwealth Bank customer was notified (pictured) that they're payment into a cryptocurrency exchange had been declined because they transferred to much money

‘Your recent payment to a cryptocurrency exchange has been declined because you have exceeded the monthly cryptocurrency limit,’ the letter read.

‘CommBank has introduced these limits to help protect you from fraud and scams.

‘The payment limit applies across all of your accounts for the calendar month and resets each month’.

The statement from the bank was uploaded to X on Sunday and sparked furious backlash from social media users.

Many accused the bank of trying to control money that rightly belonged to customers.

‘This is outrageous. The bank deciding whether you can spend your money or not,’ one said.

‘Such parenting from bank…which knows “better” how you should and can spend your own money…’ another wrote.

‘I would close my account immediately’.

Others defended the bank saying the restriction was in place to protect customers from losing their money to dodgy traders.

‘CommBank has introduced these limits to keep you within our frauds and scams ecosystem,’ one wrote.

Some chimed in by saying customers were better of trading cryptocurrencies through managed investment funds.

Customers were left outraged by the move to decline the transfer when an image of the statement provided by the bank was uploaded to social media (pictured people withdrawing cash at an ATM)

‘If you really want to buy more bitcoin, then do it through our listed bitcoin ETFs [exchange traded funds], it’s so much better than self custody’.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Commonwealth Bank for comment.

Commonwealth Bank introduced new measures last year in a bid to safeguard customers from being targeted by scammers posing as cryptocurrency traders.

The bank will decline payments to these accounts or hold them for at least 24 hours if an amount worth more than $10,000 is transferred within a one month period.

A cryptocurrency exchange allows investors to buy and sell digital currencies such as bitcoin.

The system is similar to a stock exchange where people trade shares in a publicly listed company.

The latest furore from customers comes as NAB, Westpac and ANZ also made the move last year to stop transfers to digital currency sites in the name of ‘protecting customers’.

Commonwealth Bank introduced new measures last year to protect customers from cryptocurrency scams and fraud (pictured stock image of a bitcoin trader)

National Australia Bank announced in July that it would stop ‘transactions made to high-risk cryptocurrency exchanges’ to save customers from ‘a scam epidemic.’

Westpac also introduced customer protections for some cryptocurrency payments last year while ANZ said it will block some payments to ‘high risk cryptocurrency platforms.’

Critics accused the major banks of stifling innovation in the trade of cryptocurrency.

A report by the ACCC on scam activity in Australia found people incurred the most amount of financial loss through investment scams with a massive $1.5billion lost in 2022.