Consumer complaint received 2023-02-13
Company: Luno US, Inc.
State: OH
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
INFORMATION REGARDING LUNO THEFT OF FUNDS. 


Luno is a Cryptocurrency seller and is located in XXXX. At the time of purchase I believed Luno was a American based company because they have a shell corporation in Connecticut. After they stole my funds I started researching the company. I discovered they are actually based in XXXX and have done this to many other people. 

I had used Luno numerous times to purchase smaller amounts of cryptocurrency specifically Bitcoin. I had kept my purchases to small purchases because I was not completely comfortable with this company. After several smaller purchases without incident I made a larger purchase for XXXX. This purchase was made on XX/XX/2022. I only started using Luno two months earlier. See attached Screenshot *1 to show on XX/XX/XXXX I purchased XXXX in bitcoin, the screenshot will show the sale as XXXX to include Lunos purchase fee. This purchase was made using my XXXX debit card. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I made the purchase of XXXX dollars for Bitcoin. Normally when I made a purchase, I could use the Bitcoin immediately and either invest it or transfer it to my personal wallet. However, after purchasing this Bitcoin I noticed when I transferred it to my wallet it did not transfer. After several hours I contacted their support using the online chat link who told me my funds were being held until they identify me. Luno sold me XXXX in Bitcoin and has refused to release the funds to my personal wallet and have cut off all correspondence. They have locked my account so that I can no longer access my account. They have stolen the funds and now ignore all attempts made to recover my funds. 

I filed a theft complaint with my bank which I used to make this purchase. I used my XXXX debit card attached to my personal bank account. XXXXXXXX XXXX  notified me they were unable to recover my funds. XXXX advised me that made numerous attempts to recover my funds but the company has refused to release the funds. They advised me they could do nothing further to recover my stolen funds. XXXX advised me to seek legal recourse to recover my funds. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted their online support, the customer service agent was unable to tell me why the Bitcoin I had purchased did not transfer to my personal wallet. She said it could just be delayed and to check later. Later that night I contacted them again using their online chat option. They have no phone number listed for contact, this time I was told my funds were locked until one of their agents could contact me. I demanded my funds be released or refunded. I was told they would contact me later. 

I had gone online to see if anyone else had these problems with this company. I found several people complaining of the same thing saying they never received their funds. I found that many people had their money stolen by this company. There are numerous complaints about this company telling people to make changes to their account and log off and log back on. When these people tried to log back into the Luno system their account information would be gone with no recourse for these people. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted support again using their online link. I told them to release or refund my money immediately or I would file a theft report. I was told someone would call me. Shortly after that I received a call from a blocked number and was contacted by a person who identified himself as XXXX. He told me they would look into this and someone would contact me. I demanded my funds be refunded immediately. He would only say someone will contact me. I received a message in the Luno App with instructions on how to reset my account. If I followed the instructions it would delete my account and I would have no way to access proof of my purchase. 

The following day I was contacted again by a blocked number and this person did not identify themselves. I told them to refund my money immediately. This person told me to log off and log back on and see if that fixed it. I told them I would not log off until my funds are released and I had found where they have done this to others who lost their money. This person was asking me personal questions that I refused to answer. After several minutes of demanding my money be returned they disconnected the call. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted support again using their online chat feature see attached screenshot # 2 and *3 to show my attempts to contact support to get my funds returned. 

The morning of XX/XX/XXXX I tried to log into the Luno app to check the status of my funds, I was able to see the funds but could not access them. If I tried to transfer the funds I would get a message that my account was locked and to contact support. I contacted support using the chat feature. I was told in the chat conversation my funds would be returned to me but I need to give it some time. They told me to read the term of service to see how my funds would be returned. But instead of returning my funds I found they have locked the account so I can not access anything anymore. They have refused to refund my money or allow me to transfer it to my wallet. They fraudulently trick people into using their service so they can steal their money. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted support again and sent them a letter advising them I was filing theft claims against them for the theft of my funds. During this chat they said they would refund my funds to the bank and to follow the directions in the attached message. See Screenshots 4, 5,6,7,8 and 9. They advised they were closing my account and the funds would be return manually. I sent the requested information to them as directed in this message. I never received the funds and I am no longer able to access support at all. They locked the account so it does not function anymore. In this message they say my account in being closed. 

What I have learned is they have told others they have done this to that some terms of service were violated or they were doing something through third parties. From what I learned none of these people did anything Luno said they did. I have not been given a reason for my theft but there is no way they can say my account was misused because the funds went directly to my personal wallet. 

I noticed my debt card was being tested with XXXX purchases that XXXX has declined but I believe this XXXX be related to this company and what has happened. Other people have mentioned they noticed the same activity. 

This company needs to be stopped form stealing others money. They already done this to numerous people.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief