A British bank, Starling Bank, has apologized to a customer after wrongly accusing him of being involved in a scam and freezing his account.
A Kafkaesque Experience
Professor John MacInnes was trying to send $16,789 to a friend in Austria, someone he’s known for over 20 years. Starling immediately flagged the transfer as “suspicious” and demanded a series of explanations and evidence from MacInnes.
The bank even requested a recording of a Zoom call between MacInnes and his friend, suggesting that the conversation could have been generated by AI scammers. MacInnes found the entire experience “Kafkaesque” and felt like he was being treated like a criminal.
“Completely Mad”
Frustrated by the bank’s demands, MacInnes tried to close his account, but Starling had already frozen it, claiming that doing so would prevent him from making the transfer through other means.
MacInnes was furious, saying, “It was completely mad… I understand banks have to vet payments, but asking for personal correspondence to prove a friend is more like the Stasi than due diligence.”
Starling’s Apology
After the Guardian investigated the situation, Starling Bank issued an apology. The bank admitted that they went “too far” in their requests for information and that they had wrongly associated the transfer with a common romance scam.
Starling unfroze MacInnes’ account immediately and promised to investigate the incident to improve their procedures for future customers.
