Since July, customers of many banks in China have experienced difficulty withdrawing their money from their accounts. The problem has now spread to Shenzhen.
According to reports in the Chinese media, a number of depositors have shared their stories on the Internet. Bank of China’s debit card holders in Shenzhen have been unable to withdraw cash through WeChat, or transfer funds through Alipay. Their accounts have shown up as “suspended.”
The Bank of China stated that the purpose of freezing the accounts was to cooperate with the police operations to combat telecom fraud and Internet gambling. Holders of the suspended accounts have to go to the bank in person to unfreeze their accounts. Due to the large number of involved customers, people often have to wait more than an hour outside their banks.
In addition to the Bank of China, other banks, including China Construction Bank (CCB), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), are in a similar situation. Long lines of depositors are waiting outside bank branch offices to unfreeze their accounts .
In the middle of July, in Beijing, Shandong, Hainan and in other provinces and cities, a number of bank depositors already had issues with their bank accounts being frozen and they could not withdraw their money.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 14, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202208140056.aspx