Consumer complaint received 2025-09-28 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Payward Ventures Inc. dba Kraken
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
XXXX Hello. 
My name is XXXX 

Brief summary of issue : Im XXXX XXXX XXXX and last month I decided to invest in crypto for the first time. 
I funded a new crypto investment account in XXXX. 
{$10000.00} I purchased roughly {$5000.00} in XXXX successfully and had an open order for a roughly {$5000.00} purchase of XXXX filled. 

The next day I tried logging in to check my positions and received a message that my account has been closed. 
I sent an email to kraken via their portal-no customer service phone number.

This led to over a month of waiting for them to investigate.

This morning i received an email stating their investigation is over and they have cancelled my account permanently-they will not be returning any of my funds-again amounting to roughly {$10000.00}. Case closed.

No recourse to the consumer-no speaking to a human-just take my bank transfer-lock me out-and say goodbye.

Im looking for an attorney who will provide justice.

I believe there is mandatory arbitration written into their user agreement.

Below is a detailed chain of events and emails and screenshots attached.

Thank you for your time.

1. I opened a brand new kraken account on approx XXXX using my business email address : XXXX XXXX. I transferred via ACH a small starting balance to my kraken account from my business checking account that had a very small balance-to be safe. 
bank name : XXXX business name : XXXX {$160.00} on XXXX XXXX. I bought {$50.00} in XXXX on XXXX -- no issues. 
4. I felt more comfortable so I used my personal checking account next, to make a larger deposit. I tried transferring via ACH {$100000.00} from my personal XXXX XXXX account to kraken but kraken had a limit blocker placed for newer accounts or ACH transfers so I tried the maximum they would allow- {$9800.00}. remember I already transferred {$160.00}. I believe their limit was {$10000.00} in total per month if using ACH. This time PLAID-the intermediary company that kraken uses for ACH transfers kept giving me an incomplete transfer message-3 different times I believe. I tried one last time the next day XXXX this time plaid worked correctly and transferred {$980000.00}. 
5. With roughly {$990000.00} cash account balance, I made a purchase of XXXX for very close to {$5000.00} on roughly XXXX or XXXX. 
6. On the same or next day I placed a XXXX purchase limit order for close to the cash balance I had left-approx {$4900.00}. it did not get filled that day. So my account on that day would have held {$4900.00} cash and {$5000.00} worth of XXXX. 
7. On XXXX I opened my account to check if my order had filled. It gave me this message and had be locked out : Account closed This account was closed. Create a new account or contact Support for details. 
8. I immediately thought I was hacked bc if a business was going to hold your account while they perform a standard check into your transactions-they would say something like-your account is temporarily suspended while we look over your transactions-NOT-account closed.

9. So I contacted kraken support through their site portal. They provided no support phone number-no human interaction-no way of communication past a machine operated portal message. NOTHING to confirm that they were running a check on your account or if your account was in fact hacked and they had nothing to do with it being closed.

10. A couple hours later, their system sent me back a canned broad response-probably used for most any issue that a customer inquired about. It gave me a list of general items to perform when there is a security issue. I performed them and responded with the email response they told me to send : I hereby confirm that I have followed the above instructions and secured my Kraken account password, my email accounts and my devices.

I couldnt change my kraken password bc I was locked out.

11. No further communication from them that day. I expected to hear from them with immediacy and concern when a customer contacts them with a potential hacking issue. At least to say no you were not hacked. This is our company checking into your transactions common operating procedure. But no. Nothing from them. So Im still sitting here thinking that I was hacked hoping that theyre going to find the hacker. Remember this is my first time ever investing into crypto.

12. Because there was no communication from them, I started searching online for this similar issue with other people. Theres a mountain of online conversations about kraken doing the same thing to thousands of other people. So after reading this, my thought of being hacked changed to this is kraken the company doing a check on my transactions to make sure everything looks good. And theyll contact me anytime telling me everything looks great and heres my money.

13. The next day-still no wordXXXX-I sent a follow up email asking where my money was? No reply. 
14. The next day-still no word-XXXX sent a follow up email asking where my money was? 
15. Later that day XXXX, they sent another canned generic response : We are currently experiencing a higher than normal volume of tickets. Our dedicated Account Security team is working hard and will get back to you with an update in regards to your request as soon as possible. 
16. I immediately replied with a longer response demanding human communication today. No response from them. 
17. Their next reply was XXXX describing that they are doing required XXXX-know your customer. No idea what this was so I googled it. After reading about XXXX, I felt this email was affirmation that kraken did in fact put a block on my account while they look over my recent transactions. And that I was not hacked. Mind you this is almost 2 weeks after the initial block. So they kept me worrying about this and upset for two weeks before giving me this email that they couldve gave me the very first day. Or explain themselves the very first day. Nonetheless, I felt that I was close to the tail end of this background check and I would have my account released soon. I followed their instructions of what they requested. A photo with some information written on a piece of paper and my passport, all taken with a camera and sent back to them. I followed their instructions and send it back to them the very same day.

18. they confirmed receipt of the items they requested on the same day XXXX. 
19. The next day XXXX, they sent me a new email asking for bank statements of my deposits made to Kraken. I felt very, very, very uncomfortable sending them this information, but I had no choice if I wanted to ever get my funds, returned. So I took screenshots of the deposits from both my found account and my xxxx Bank account and sent them in. Same day requested.

20. No communication from Kraken for another week. At this point, I was absolutely XXXX and boiling over and beyond frustrated at the entire situation. Again, keep in mind no human communication whatsoever with them. They will not allow you to speak to them in person. 
21. On XXXX. I sent them a new email completely XXXX off demanding to have my funds released. No response. 
22. On XXXX. I sent them a new email completely XXXX off demanding to have my funds released. No response. 
23. Approximately XXXX, I tried signing into my account again trying to gain access to their internal chatbot- and it gave me the same closed account message. And after reading it again, Create a new account or contact Support I decided to create a new account to see if that would allow me back in to use their internal XXXX to speak to customer service. 
24. So I opened a new account using another email address this time XXXX It did in fact, allow me access back in to use their chatbot. I contacted customer service and gave them the entire story. The computer XXXX replied that this was out of there field of expertise and they were escalating it to somebody higher. And that they will be in touch. Nothing after that. 
25. Today XXXX, I woke up to receive the latest email from them : we regret to inform you that we have made the decision to close your Kraken account, effective immediately.

There are no funds available in your Kraken account.

26. I immediately tried to sign in to my new account to use the chatbot. But they had me locked out with a closed account message again.

27. I replied to their email demanding my funds be returned yet again-and attaching both of my bank account deposits and my IRS paperwork showing that void services XXXX was my company XXXX-again. All of which I had previously given to them when they asked for my bank statements. No reply from them. 

Kraken has STOLEN {$10000.00} from a XXXX XXXX  without communication-remorse-regret and will continue to do this to people until they are stopped and punished.

Imagine this nightmare happening to you or anyone in your family or anyone that means anything to you in your life. Imagine how you would feel.

Thank you.

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 explanation