[HN Gopher] My bank asks me whereabouts of Syrian Refugees to re...
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       My bank asks me whereabouts of Syrian Refugees to release my funds
        
       I used CHASE bank pay to send money to a US Based 501(c)(3)
       organization. They had winter aid for different purposes including
       refugees. Affected by tragic pictures of Syrian and Afghan
       refugees, in the memo field I put "Refugee Winterization
       Syrian/Afghan" to cue them on my wish.  The text regexp raised a
       flag, and I was asked to provide detailed purpose of payment. So,
       here is the conversation (in summary, taking away my expletives):
       - CHASE: Remitter is to please cite the applicable
       regulation/authorization and/or licenses.  - Me: This is a 503
       organization providing support for syrian and afghan refugees. (my
       error in mixing up 503 with 501)  - Chase: Please advise of
       location of Syrian refugees  (And they are threatening to
       confiscate if I don't send them a timely message.)  Then I tried
       the following in other payments with the memo fields:  ## Other
       check  - Memo field: "Maya Youssef is a musician from Syria".
       (something I randomly picked from Google)  - Chase's comeback: "1.
       Please provide detailed purpose of payment and advise if there is
       any direct or indirect Syrian involvement in this transaction. 2.
       Please confirm Final Destination of funds and advise if these funds
       are intended to be sent into Syria"  ## Other check  - Memo field:
       "Coffee table style Syrian/Afghan".  - Chase's comeback: "Please
       provide a detailed purpose of payment and explain the meaning of
       Syrian in the payment details. If related to goods, provide country
       of origin.. . "  ## Other check  - Memo field: Sennacherib was an
       assyrian king  (This actually went fine, lol, their regexp looks
       for exact word matches for "syria" and "syrian")  Whose fault is
       it? Bad software that lacks basic NLP? Compliance officers who
       don't understand English? Isn't this a bit discriminatory? You
       should not use the word "Syria" or "Syrian" about anything on your
       memo fields!  And pray Columbia never gets a sanction, 'cause you
       cannot speak of "Columbian coffee" anymore. Or one day your Venmo
       send for "Turkish Coffee" or "Russian tearoom" could get
       "canceled".
        
       Author : tshealthcare
       Score  : 13 points
       Date   : 2022-02-04 21:17 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
       | throwaway23kll wrote:
       | I never use the bank's memo field, ever. As you have found, it
       | will eventually be mis-used by them, and most likely not in any
       | way that benefits you.
       | 
       | The nature of your financial transactions are none of the bank's
       | business. IMO they only exist to "store and forward" the funds.
       | 
       | Use your own local accounting ledger with a memo for your
       | records.
        
       | spraveenitpro wrote:
        
       | duped wrote:
       | There are criminal penalties (fines and jail time) for violating
       | the economic sanctions against Syria, you can't blame Chase too
       | much for being cautious.
        
       | notananthem wrote:
       | The Syrian government committed enough war crimes on Syrian
       | civilians to warrant a spot on the SDN list, this is not just a
       | US block either. Its well known so anyone sending money to
       | anything tagged Syria will be blocked. You can donate money to
       | syrian refugee 501c3's because they're US-based nonprofits. Just
       | don't be a nonce and tag it syria, because banks are legally
       | compelled to reject those.
        
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       (page generated 2022-02-04 23:02 UTC)