Bank account getting blocked after a P2P deal is very common these days. Bank chain dispute is a new form of scam which is going around making life miserable for all P2P users, at times ordinary people who are not related to crypto are also affected by this scam.
Why Bank Account gets Banned after P2P ?
After doing a P2P deal, the other party calls their branch and tell them their account has been hacked/compromised and the payment may be reverted. This blocks the payment and majority of times your account gets banned.
Why P2P Merchants do that ?
P2P merchants don’t do that necessarily, A merchant deals with a normal user for buying/selling crypto. Afterwards the same merchant deals with you. When the “normal user” files a dispute , the merchant account gets banned and all user account with whom the merchant did a P2P trade. So a merchant with 100% feedback and active trades does not mean that you will not end up with this scam.
Let’s assume User A sends money to a p2p Merchant and Merchant sends money to User B and User C. When User A makes a bank dispute claim , Bank account of Merchant, User B and User C will all be blocked thus “bank chain dispute scam“.
But P2P Exchanges are Legit, How Scammers are doing this ?
Scammers buy verified accounts from users for $20-$50 / account. The accounts they buy are KYC’d, after buying such account they select a merchant and then make trades with them and after buying USDT they dispute the payment amount after withdrawing USDT from their crypto exchange account. So if you see anyone selling/buying such accounts be very mindful to educate everyone how dangerous it is.
Precautionary Measures
While there is no fool proof method to stay safe from such scams, what all we can do is follow some precautionary measures to minimize the risks :
- Don’t receive payments in your main bank accounts
- To avoid a bank chain dispute on your main account
- Use EMI (SadaPay , NayaPay , Easypaisa etc)
- As they are relatively easy to open and can easily be only used for p2p if you have to
- Do not send money from EMI to your main account
- Sending money from EMI to your main account can also result in your main bank account getting the dispute if a dispute is received on EMI account
- Follow standard buying/selling tips
- Try to use crypto for your payments directly without the need of p2p with this service
- Get RedotPay Physical Card for cash withdrawals from ATM directly
- Use Tevau as an alternate crypto credit card
- Avoid P2P and do OTC deal through Crypto Awaz Discord (DVA)
- DVA avoids p2p and connect retail users ensuring safe deals.
- Use Binance Direct Sell Feature, which doesn’t make use of P2P
User Experience of Account Ban after P2P
The excerpt text below has been extracted from this post tagged as guide in “Legal Aspects” on Cryptocurrency Pakistan Facebook Group also go through latest relevant posts.
All you have to do is be careful in this regards and avoid third party payments. Moreover must take mobile number and CNIC of buyer before releasing assets. If your account gets block no need to worry about that and simply put pressure on your bank to activate your account. If bank delays unnecessarily give them a written notice to activate the account or payment. In written notice mention to the bank that you will take legal action against bank if issue is not resolved shortly.
No payment can be reversed if you have received them in your bank account and scammers got nothing in the end. They just claim to the bank that someone hacked their account and withdraw the amount. So all p2p traders need to be careful in this regard.
Keep in mind FIA is not involved to trace your bank transactions. They only get involved in fraud cases when someone makes a complaint with them with valid prove or if the merchant is flagged in money laundering cases.
Read if FIA Notice Received after Crypto P2P Payment
Another Post shared how it’s important to put pressure on P2P exchange if you want to get your case resolved:
Contact customer support and place file a complaint based on your order ID with the merchant and file a dispute. After several verifications binance will freeze the your funds with the seller so he can not withdraw them till the issue is resolved however it is time taking and I have had no benefit other than binance making him communicate and respond back to solve the issue. But they have reassured that my funds have been frozen and they will remain frozen with the merchant unless he takes his dispute back
Bank Account Blocked, Now What ?
While I strongly recommend reading the linked posts above, as they provide real life context on the topic. Some actions you can take if your account got banned based on user experience is summed up below :
1. Appeal Merchant : Appeal to P2P Exchange and report the merchant you dealt with. Tell them that after the deal your bank account got banned. The merchant will say that his account also got banned/blocked but it does not matter as you dealt with him and he is responsible. Reporting the merchant will ensure that he also take interest in getting your issue resolved during these Chain Bank Disputes.
3. Lock Disputed Amount : Visit your bank branch and ask them the reason for blocking the account and request them to first unblock the account and only lock the disputed amount rather then blocking the complete account.
4. Share Written Complaint : Ask your Bank manager to share the complaint / issue in writing and share details of user who initiated the dispute in writing. You will need to share this evidence with P2P Exchange as they ask for written dispute details. You can always approach Sunwai from SBP to complaint against your bank if they do not share it with you.
6. Justify Payment to Bank : The Bank will ask you to justify the payment and ask details about the payment – that why this amount was transacted. There is a difference of opinion as found from user feedback, some say to share truth and tell them it’s a P2P trade while others say they did tell the actual reason (P2P trade) that resulted in trouble and while some got away when they shared a bogus details like selling mobile etc. You may go through the comments on above linked posts or even get legal advice before proceeding here.
Merchant Statement on Stamp Paper
This step is critical and has resulted in people getting back their accounts. Please read the complete FAQ entry as a sample stamp paper has been shared which can show you how to proceed with this step, click the link below to access the FAQ:
What is the Procedure to get Stamp Paper Statement if Bank Account is Blocked ?
