PMorgan’s retail banking division in the UK, Chase, is set to prohibit its customers from engaging in cryptocurrency transactions starting from October 16, due to an increase in fraud and scams.
The company revealed this on Tuesday according to a spokesperson saying the bank was “committed to helping keep our customers’ money safe and secure”.
According to Reuters, the bank said, “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.”
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.
According to data from the UK’s fraud reporting agency, Action Fraud, consumer losses due to cryptocurrency scams have increased by 40% in the past year, exceeding £300 million for the first time.
JP Morgan has attracted over 1.6 million customers to its Chase retail bank in the UK since launching its mobile app-based service two years ago. The bank plans to expand this consumer banking service to other international markets in the future.
In March, NatWest implemented new limits on the amount customers can send to cryptocurrency exchanges on a daily and monthly basis, aiming to safeguard consumers from cryptocurrency-related crimes.
Santander in Spain announced last year that it would prevent UK customers from making real-time payments to cryptocurrency exchanges as part of measures to protect them from scams.
