‘Sick as a dog’: Aussie man’s bank account frozen over tiny detail
An Aussie man has revealed the horrifying moment he checked his bank account only to see no money in his accounts.
An Aussie man has claimed he was left feeling “sick” with worry after discovering all his bank accounts were empty because he forgot to update a tiny detail.
The man, who goes by the username Rossey_Adventures on TikTok, took to the social media platform to share his horrifying experience of checking his banking app, only to discover that all his accounts looked like they had been drained.
“I checked my bank account this morning. I bank with Heritage Bank, and all my money was gone, every single account was at zero,” he said.
“I just felt instantly sick, sick as a dog, every cent I had was gone!”
The Aussie claimed that he immediately rang his bank and waited on the phone for 10 minutes, while he continued to feel extremely anxious.
He then claimed he spoke with a customer service representative, who asked him some basic identification questions and then confirmed he was not scammed.
“She goes, ‘your account has been frozen’,” he recounted.
“I said, ‘Why has my account been frozen? She said, ‘Because you have not updated your residency status.’”
The Australian government does require banks and other financial institutions to report your residency information in order to comply with the Australian Taxation Office.
Rossey was baffled, as he explained that he had barely been overseas, “let alone moved overseas,” and he looked visibly shocked that this would be something the bank would freeze his accounts over.
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Rossey added that, from his perspective it didn’t appear as though his bank account was frozen, it looked like his accounts had been drained as he could still access them, however there was no money in them.
“I said my bank account is at zero, not frozen, there is no money in there,” he said.
He also claimed that a bank employee then told him that his accounts would be unfrozen immediately if he answered the residency question.
“So she asked me the question, ‘Do you reside in Australia or do you have residency overseas?
“Yes, I reside in Australia. No, I don’t have residency overseas.”
Rossey said once he said those magic words, the customer service agent said, “thank you, I’ll unfreeze your account now.”
A spokesperson for Heritage Bank said that while they understand how “concerning” it would be to see an unexpected change, they cannot comment on individual customer circumstances.
“We understand how concerning it would be to see unexpected changes to an account, and we apologise for the worry this caused,” the statement reads.
“In general, there are times when we are required to temporarily restrict access to accounts if certain customer information needs to be confirmed, and customers are contacted to request that information before action is taken.”
The bank did stress that it always does its best to help customers with any issues or general problems.
“Customer funds remain secure at all times, and access is restored as soon as the required details are updated.
“Any customer with questions about their account is encouraged to contact us directly so we can assist as quickly as possible.”
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In Rossey’s case, he claimed he immediately got access to his accounts and money back, and it was a relatively quick fix.
The Aussie bloke was still not happy and had a brutal message for the bank.
“I was feeling sick for 15-20 minutes, sick as a dog! Thinking I’d (lost) all my money and that is it, that is it? Heritage bank. Go f**k yourself.”
Rossey’s TikTok video has now amassed over 100,000 views within 24 hours, and while most Aussies were just straight-up horrified, one commenter said she works at a bank and defended the decision.
“It is government compliance. Do not blame the bank … banks are at the mercy of government legislation to support anti-money laundering concerns,” she said.
“Always ask your bank why, and they will try to explain.”
Rossey replied that he understands, but said he has an issue with “the way they went about it”.
Online, there were plenty of Aussies that shared his outrage.
“What the heck,” one raged.
“Cash is king,” another advised.
“Close your accounts and move to another bank,” one said.
“It is disgraceful how they can control our money,” another wrote.
While someone else informed Rossey that he was not alone, because the same thing had happened to him with another financial institution.
