Banks don't like your jokes about drugs or weapons in transfers

"My bank has called me to ask for explanations for a concept that I put in a Bizum yesterday," Raúl AB, a 24-year-old opponent and graduate in psychology, explained at the end of January. Bizum is a system of instant payments between individuals and shop purchases. He, as an internal joke, sent a bank transfer to a friend with an ironic text that explained the reason for the payment of 11.50 euros: "Weapons for the holy struggle in Syria." The money movement was rejected and received a call from its bank.

An employee of the entity, Banco Santander, explained in a telephone conversation that they receive notices from the central offices to monitor these types of messages, Raúl AB tells Verne by telephone. "At all times, the woman at the bank understood that it was a joke. From now on, I will do it less often. Or at least, they will be more white jokes," he says. According to one of his tweets, he has already begun to implement his goal of maintaining a more harmless mood.

My BANK has called me to ask for explanations about a concept that I put in a Bizum yesterday JAJAJAJAJAJA

This was the concept: pic.twitter.com/1CJsFPisin

I inform you that the money arrived, huh. A Rulix always pays his debts.

I changed the concept pic.twitter.com/lGkLCFdE2R

I have been called from the bank by the names of the Bizum that I receive. That you know that putting "Al Qaeda" as a concept does not make Santander very funny.

The limits of humor are marked by a multinational. Cushioning.

very funny putting drug or mandanga as a concept in the bizum but now I want to look if I have paid a thing and I can not find it

He is not the only one who thinks twice what to write when making a transfer. In Spain, more than 1,150 million bank transfers were made throughout 2017, according to the Statista statistics portal. Some of them have found themselves in a similar blocking experience because of a joke.

In 2016, user @adrpz already explained that PayPal's Compliance department rejected a transfer and left it under review. The payment service asked the client in writing to explain the meaning of the reference to Iran in a payment concept that made a play of words ironic with the lyrics of the song of the 70s Because you leave : "All the memories of me love will Iran, capital Tehran, with you. Because you're leaving. "

Neither the NSA nor @paypalspain like Jeanette. And, well, how do I explain this. pic.twitter.com/0T83Lnv484

Who dictates the rules

Both PayPal and several banks have declined to comment on Verne about the conditions of use that it imposes on its users or why it asked for explanations from one of them by including the words "Iran" and "Tehran" in its transfer. Mario de la Peña, a member of the law firm Auratech Legal specialized in data protection and prevention of money laundering, explains to Verne by phone that these measures are part of the PBCFT regulations (prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing) .

There are two agencies (with very complex names) responsible for controlling that there are no monetary transactions that commit these two crimes. On the one hand, a national one, SEPBLAC (Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offenses) and, on the other, an international one, FATF (International Financial Action Task Force). "As it is almost impossible to control all movements, the law makes each company in the commercial sector (either a bank, a traditional trade or a service like PayPal) responsible for monitoring the transactions made through them," says De la Pain. "If they find an indication of crime, they are obliged to communicate it."

To control the enormous flow of movements and to be able to give the alert, companies turn to Artificial Intelligence. A software detects transactions that, for one reason or another, do not meet the parameters of the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and paralyzes them. From that moment, it is when a human analyst intervenes, who decides whether to give the green light to the transfer. Often, those electronic tools give false positives that a human has to correct. It is a system similar to that applied by social networks with the nudes, but applied to the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Public petition to stop the jokes

The volume of work when reviewing these transfers is such that, on occasion, banks have come to ask their clients for help so that these processes do not slow down their work. This happened in Germany in the summer of 2018, the DPA Agency then counted. Financial institutions asked their clients to stop making such jokes. "Indicating a funny concept can lead to a greater workload and also to delays," said Stefan Marotzke, spokesman for the German Association of Savings and Money Banks (DGSV). Some of the ironic concepts in transfers from German clients are "For cocaine," "Thanks for the kidney" or "Plutonium suitable for weapons," the agency said.

Another controversial concept is to write "for sexual favors," as a German Twitter user commented in 2016 in a message similar to Raul AB's. His online bank refused to accept his transfer with that message. In the United States, some users of Venmo, a secondary Paypal service, also resort to humor when filling in the transfer concept with the same result. Abroad, similar situations occur to what Raúl AB recounts

Mein onlinebanking verweigert die Annahme einer Überweisung mit dem Betreff "Für sexuelle Gefälligkeiten"

Humorlose Bande.

"My online bank refuses to accept a transfer with the theme For sexual favors . People without a sense of humor."

if you don't use your venmo “what's it for” as pure, unadulterated comedy, why even exist in 2019?

"If you don't use the concept space in your Venmo to make pure comedy, why even live in 2019?"

I made a joke in a Venmo payment "what's this for" line and now it's "under review" what have I done

"I made a joke about the concept of a Venmo payment and it is now under review. What have I done?"

Now I live in fear pic.twitter.com/QK11zoZSZO

Raol: I'm going to make you a bizum to pay you the bottle. Concept? drunkenness of the weekend.
Me: Raol looks to see what my mother sees later.
Raol: pic.twitter.com/ewQWg3Sec7

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