Consumer complaint received 2023-05-05
Company: Winklevoss Exchange LLC
State: LA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Good day, Hope this letter finds you well. I am a customer of Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange based out of the US and is serving US customers. 

The problem that has happened is that I have funds on my account with Gemini which I have been cut access from due to, as they have claimed, accessing my account outside the operation geographic area. 

What have actually happened? I wasn't outside the country. On the XX/XX/XXXX, I was at my computer in the US, logged in to my Gemini account. I've even made a transaction, purchased some USDT as I was looking to purchase education materials where the merchant was accepting USDT as payment method.

While I left my Gemini tab open in the browser on my computer ( I was still logged in at that time ) I used VPN software and connected to a foreign, non-US IP address. Blocking by IP is so omnipresent nowadays ... Once the VPN has connected I started receiving emails from Gemini stating that my account has been frozen and I needed to contact the support. 

I have contacted the support and they responded with a request for verification. I have promptly submitted my selfie along with the proof-of-address ( a bank statement ) and at that point I though the situation should be resolved shortly. I also explained the situation in great detail so that the support didn't have guess for what reason my IP suddenly changed. 

A day later, unfortunately, I had not received a status update. I decided to submit a follow up request. After that I received additional questions related to the past use of the account. The questions held more of in interrogative tone and I politely refused providing details they requested. There is nothing to hide, but it was just awkward and uncomfortable to answer. 

What they have actually asked for was my whereabout back in XXXX and XXXX. Gemini observed me logging in outside the United State and that's what the support wanted me to elaborate on. Sure, I was outside the country at that time but I felt uncomfortable answering the details about my trips because it just didn't strike me as a relevant to the current problem. 

The other question they asked was the reason why I wanted to make a withdrawal transaction and move my funds to another exchange. I, also politely declined to answer to that question as I thought it was a private matter. 

I realize that it is paramount for financial institutions especially ones affiliated with cryptocurrency to exercise the best security practices. But security is not about tightening the bolts but rather about the reasonable ratio between security and functionality of the service. The inefficiency and ignorance Gemini has been showing while working with clients is the glaring sign that their business/security practices have quite a lot room for improvement. 

I have also done my research and discovered that I am no alone in this situation with frozen account. There is a XXXX thread " Gemini Support Megathread '' where I found tens if not hundreds of people experiencing the same issue. Customer accounts become blocked or frozen for something that hardly can be called a reason. After submitting verification documents as per the Gemini support request, the communication stops and the cases linger forever while the funds remain blocked at the possession of Gemini. 

Another interesting thing is that Gemini does not provide a call line which would allow to contact a representative and rectify the issue on the spot, similar how one would do it using traditional banking. So this makes it even more impossible for customers to break through the ignorance wall that Gemini has built to filter out the unwanted noise. 

To summarize the said situation, there is company Gemini Trust Company , LLC that is a financial institution that serves United States area and that harshly mistreats their customers through the poor customer service and blind ignorance. Is it a fraud scheme of some kind that implies locking customers ' funds? I do not have that deep of an insight. What I can clearly see is that the business/security practices of Gemini are not effective if it takes infinitely long to resolve issues that literally cut United States residents from their money. I am not an attorney and I might not have a legal literacy, but I can say that there is a smell. The smell of something going on with this company that is not quite right.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation