JP Morgan owned UK-based retail bank Chase moves to impose a ban on all cryptocurrency transactions made by customers in the UK due to an increase in crypto fraud and scams targeted at these customers. The bank said the ban on Crypto purchasing would be effective from October 16, 2023.
According to a statement by Chase’s spokesperson on Tuesday, the bank is committed to helping keep its customers’ money safe and secure.
“Customers will receive a declined transaction notification if they do attempt to make a crypto-related transaction… This has been done to protect our customers and keep their money safe.
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“We urge all consumers to ignore phone, text or internet requests for money or access to their computer or bank accounts. Legitimate companies won’t make these requests, but scammers will,” Chase said.
Reuters reported that the bank said its decision to ban crypto transactions was due to the increasing level of crypto scams targeted at the UK citizens.
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of crypto scams targeting UK consumers, so we have taken the decision to prevent the purchase of crypto assets on a Chase debit card or by transferring money to a crypto site from a Chase account” Reuters quoted the company as saying.
According to Vanguard, several other United Kingdom banks have placed restrictions on crypto-related transactions, but this move is one of the first outright bans on the asset.
Citing data from Britain’s fraud reporting agency Action Fraud, Vanguard reported there has been a 40% increase in consumer losses to crypto fraud in the past year, surpassing the £300m for the first time.
“JP Morgan has generated more than 1.6 million customers to its Chase retail bank since launching the mobile app-based service in Britain two years ago, and plans to roll out the consumer bank in other international markets over time,” Vanguard said.
