I had a pretty unsettling experience with Wise recently that completely came out of nowhere. I had just sent a transfer to someone abroad into their local bank account as a deposit for a place I’ll be staying at next month. In the payment reference, I included the name of the city where the apartment is.

Soon after, I got a notification on my phone saying my Wise card had stopped working with my phone's mobile wallet, which immediately made me realize something wasn’t right. When I opened the app, there was a prominent warning message saying they were reviewing my account and would contact me if needed. At that point, I was seriously confused.

Since I had no clue what triggered it, I called support. They told me they had already emailed me and that the issue was related to a transfer potentially involving a sanctioned country, along with a list of questions they wanted me to answer. That only made things more confusing.

Apparently, the system flagged my transfer because the city name I entered also exists in a completely different country that is now under sanctions. They assumed there could be a connection to that location, even though that wasn’t the case at all. Once I clarified that I meant the bigger city with the same name in a Western country, they removed the restriction and everything went back to normal.

What really stood out to me was how fast things escalated. My cards were disabled, the transfer was blocked, and I was presented with a fairly alarming message in the app, all because of a single word taken without any context. I was then asked to answer a series of questions related to that sanctioned country in the email I mentioned, which made it clear what they thought was going on.

The reference field is optional and mainly something I use to keep track of payments I've made for things, so seeing it trigger a compliance review was unexpected. I understand the need for strict checks, but this felt overly sensitive and rather excessive.

This isn't the first time I've run into something like this with them and experiences like this are starting to make me question how much I want to rely on Wise going forward. It feels like they partially freeze your account first and ask questions later. A company that operates like that puts you at risk of having your assets suddenly frozen for no good reason.

I am now considering other options, like Revolut, and I think I’m going to make a change once the balance in my Wise account runs out. Hopefully, with another service like Revolut, there won’t be any unwanted surprises like this.

Don't blame Wise. Blame the Globalist surveillance state governments of the world. They have put in place extremely stringent AML (Anti Money Laundering) regulations that every banking organisation has to comply with, or face huge fines as retribution.

Here's a brief summary of the regulations applicable to your case: "AML laws mandate regulated entities to monitor transactions continuously and report suspicious activities to the competent authorities, often through FIUs. Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) or Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) serve as the primary investigative triggers for law enforcement and regulators.

Entities are also obligated to maintain detailed records of transactions, customer identification, and due diligence steps for prescribed retention periods—usually five to ten years—supporting audits, investigations, and prosecutions."

If you really want to scare yourself, dig deeper here: A complete guide to AML regulations around the world

On a positive note, I'm pleased your situation was quickly resolved by Wise.

Downside, your name is now on a globalist organisations naughty list.

32 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Don't blame Wise. Blame the Globalist surveillance state governments of the world. They have put in place extremely stringent AML (Anti Money Laundering) regulations that every banking organisation has to comply with, or face huge fines as retribution.

Here's a brief summary of the regulations applicable to your case: "AML laws mandate regulated entities to monitor transactions continuously and report suspicious activities to the competent authorities, often through FIUs. Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) or Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) serve as the primary investigative triggers for law enforcement and regulators.

Entities are also obligated to maintain detailed records of transactions, customer identification, and due diligence steps for prescribed retention periods—usually five to ten years—supporting audits, investigations, and prosecutions."

If you really want to scare yourself, dig deeper here: A complete guide to AML regulations around the world

On a positive note, I'm pleased your situation was quickly resolved by Wise.

Downside, your name is now on a globalist organisations naughty list.

Thanks. Thailand is particularly high on the AML radar as well and you automatically have a bad BO profile just for living here. None of that or their naughty lists worry me though. I’ve been through so much KYC over the past few years just for being based in Thailand I could practically write a user manual for it.

I do appreciate that they resolved it quickly, but what doesn’t sit right with me is that it was triggered in the first place. If I’d done something wrong, that would be one thing, but I didn’t.

I could understand them simply blocking the transfer until their questions were answered, but blocking my cards and restricting my ability to spend my own money on normal debit card purchases feels like a bridge too far. I think if all they had done was block the transfer while awaiting more information, I wouldn’t have even been upset.

1 hour ago, BigLek said:

Apparently, the system flagged my transfer because the city name I entered also exists in a completely different country that is now under sanctions. They assumed there could be a connection to that location, even though that wasn’t the case at all. Once I clarified that I meant the bigger city with the same name in a Western country, they removed the restriction and everything went back to normal.

Never let your bank or government know where you are or what you are doing!

It's not their business.

What makes their mistake even worse is that I had already used my Wise debit card multiple times in that same city location last year. That should have made it clear from my account spending history alone what city I was referring to in the transfer reference.

Instead, they appear to have assumed that I was sending money in connection with a sanctioned country and built their entire line of questioning around that, even though I never indicated anything of the sort. They simply made that assumption based on zero facts and without checking with me first, then partially froze my account and sent me a list of questions about my financial connection to that country.

There are close to 60 places around the world with the same city name, so selecting one and treating it as a sanctions issue without doing some due diligence first is entirely ridiculous.

All they needed to do at the outset was send a simple clarification to me to confirm what I meant before sending me a list of financial questions about a country that I know nothing about. From their side, just some common sense and a little bit better homework on my spending history could have avoided their entire mistake.

7 hours ago, Gsxrnz said:

Don't blame Wise.

Disagree. If Wise insist on using a system which is incapable of distinguishing between identically-named cities, one of which is located in a sanctioned country and the other in a non-sanctioned one, then neither the system in question nor, indeed, Wise themselves are fit for purpose IMHO.

7 hours ago, BigLek said:

Apparently, the system flagged my transfer because the city name I entered also exists in a completely different country that is now under sanctions. They assumed there could be a connection to that location, even though that wasn’t the case at all. Once I clarified that I meant the bigger city with the same name in a Western country, they removed the restriction and everything went back to normal.

8 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Never let your bank or government know where you are or what you are doing!

It's not their business.

Agreed, never venture information unless it's requested and required.

@BigLek What city?

On 3/27/2026 at 5:45 AM, BigLek said:

I do appreciate that they resolved it quickly, but what doesn’t sit right with me is that it was triggered in the first place. If I’d done something wrong, that would be one thing, but I didn’t.

Basically their system scans transactions for key words and is set to act on any it finds

Whether the action it's set to take is appropriate, is another question of course.

“AI” blocked your account.

Always have plan B for a surprising moment.

Today Wise is there, will it be there tomorrow?

23 minutes ago, VBF said:

Basically their system scans transactions for key words and is set to act on any it finds

Precisely. You're blaming human individuals for something that was initiated - quite properly - by a machine. A damned nuisance from your point of view but there's no point in getting all upset with the human individuals at the other end of a phone line. Their systems are under ever-increasing worldwide pressure from assorted government agencies to increase security. If there weren't multiple crooks everywhere trying to steal your and the company's money, the excessive security wouldn't be needed.

Something not quite right about your story, the account would have been domiciled in the same country you were staying, so how could WISE get the countries mixed up ?

On 3/27/2026 at 9:13 AM, BritManToo said:

Never let your bank or government know where you are or what you are doing!

It's not their business.

On 3/27/2026 at 9:13 AM, BritManToo said:

Never let your bank or government know where you are or what you are doing!

It's not their business.

...sounds like you're living in the 1960s, everything is digital now and you can't hide, except maybe in the jungle.

22 hours ago, Stocky said:

Agreed, never venture information unless it's requested and required.

I may have mentioned this previously, but my Oz bank, Westpac, now require one box filled in on the Transfer Request labelled "Message to Recipient".

If this is left blank the (OSKO?) payment will not proceed.

So, if it's to WISE, I put in "please add to my AUD account " and off it goes!

If not to Wise, i put in anything that comes into my head. .."deposit for my new Ferrari!"

I'll try "Merry Xmas" or "Happy Valentines" just for fun one day and see how (if ??) it goes...

I notice that inbound transfers to myself in Baht recently have an option "Do you want this transfer marked as an 'overseas' transfer" [paraphrased]..

I guess for the monthly income method of certain visas/ extensions.

6 hours ago, mfd101 said:

If there weren't multiple crooks everywhere trying to steal your and the company's money, the excessive security wouldn't be needed.

Scamming is still huge even with this in place. It doesn't work and just makes life difficult for everyone. It's security theater.

Example: there are some FBI agents in Bangkok right now help them crack down on scammers. That's going to be effective, along with Thailand cutting off electricity and Internet to Cambodia and perhaps having a jet unload on them every once in a while.

3 minutes ago, davb said:

Scamming is still huge even with this in place. It doesn't work and just makes life difficult for everyone. It's security theater.

That may be partially true but there's no point in shooting the messenger. The banks & the other agencies such as Wise aren't given a choice in the matter.

On 3/27/2026 at 4:21 AM, BigLek said:

I am now considering other options, like Revolut, and I think I’m going to make a change once the balance in my Wise account runs out. Hopefully, with another service like Revolut, there won’t be any unwanted surprises like this.

Does a Revolut transfer arrive, as it does with Wise, as an International Transfer if needed for Immigration purposes.

5 hours ago, Tailwagsdog said:

Something not quite right about your story, the account would have been domiciled in the same country you were staying, so how could WISE get the countries mixed up ?

Your question misses the point. Wise flagged a single word I entered in the payment reference, which happens to match a city name in a sanctioned country. That country had nothing to do with the transaction. I am in one country, sending money to someone in another, for an apartment in a third, and the sanctioned country they mentioned is a completely unrelated fourth. Even my own Wise account address is in a different country again. It was simply a system error.

30 minutes ago, wil iam not said:

Does a Revolut transfer arrive, as it does with Wise, as an International Transfer if needed for Immigration purposes.

My understanding is generally, no, Revolut is not as reliable as Wise for this specific purpose. I found the following info:

While Wise has a direct partnership with Thai banks to ensure transfers are coded as "International Transfer", Revolut often uses local clearing systems. This means the money may arrive in your Thai account as a local transfer, which Immigration will likely reject as proof of foreign income. The Key Differences:

Wise: Explicitly provides the "International Transfer" (FTT) status on bank passbooks because they send funds via the THB "Bahtnet" or specialized banking routes.

Revolut: Often routes payments through local Thai partners. Even if the money originated abroad, the bank statement in Thailand may show it as a domestic "Domestic Transfer" or "Transfer," which does not meet the legal requirement for a retirement visa.

7 hours ago, VBF said:

Basically their system scans transactions for key words and is set to act on any it finds

Whether the action it's set to take is appropriate, is another question of course.

That’s exactly where their system breaks down. The keyword they used to trigger the block is just a city name, and there are dozens of places around the world that share that same place name, including in the US and other countries on at least 3 continents. Using such a broad term is bound to produce errors. It’s like setting up a spam filter with overly generic keywords, you end up blocking legitimate messages, known as false positives. That’s exactly what happened here.

Last week, send some money with Wise, sending account already been used before.

Now they wanted to know an email adres of that person. Pure fishing, but HAD to fill in.

Also question of purpose sending money.

Long live bank institutions and governments with their rules.

Long live AI.

Wise and all others MUST have to do checkings and show they do,

otherwise they get penalties of millions of $.

And AI picks on words., doesnt care if you did use receiving account before

About a year ago, in my country, a man made a transfer to family, about 200 euro's

He got in a lot of trouble. The name used, was like a terrorist name in AI's list and therefor

all kinds of alarm bells were ringing and he had trouble. The name was slightly different, but resemblance was for AI enough to alarm and hold. And then the fun begins, as they will ask a lot.

And if you dont comply, they will kick you out and you are marked on a blacklist !

SO your penalty is also very big. See how to pay if you dont have account, as all is digital now.

All money handlings are now in Gestapo ways.

A month ago was checking on e thai visa, probing. so logged in.

After the first 2 questions, passport country and habitat country, I got a red box pop up.

I couldnt go for a visa apply, because "you are already physical in Thailand "

Say what? I send an email to find out what is going wrong. 16 Februari send and no reply at all.

No clue what system will do if I continue, reject after all and paying, loosing money and no visa?

Some one stole my ID? AI drunk? I dont know.

Just checked again and again the pop up appears. Im already in Thailand, NOT !

Already send email to contact about this, maybe I have to resend to embassy.

Though my contact with embassy is harsh. Well all contacts with companies are already sad.

It is fighting windmills.

End 2024 was making a visa apply, couldnt get in a photo, something to do with colors.

Picture was especial made with demands for Thailand !

I stopped with visa apply and went VE. Then I had other problem, as I had to change flying company.

I couldnt fly with them if I didnt had a visa ! No pop ups when doing the booking to hold me back.

I knew there were some issues, so checked everywhere, many checks told me I could go with out visa.

But somewhere deep down inside flying company was said, CANT FLY.

Even contact with flying company, but was blurry about this. But as I said fighting windmills.

They simply could give straight answer.

More and more all is controlled and they dont give a rats*** about you. Just pay and maybe you loose your money, boohoo, sad for you, thanks for the money.

They say, they are checking on terrorist and laundering money.

Some how true, but it is more important to know where your money is.

A very big group is going to die and they are overall quite wealthy.

Gouvernments want your money, ok old news, but now it is real big.

Just red article in my country, the baby boom is having 1000 billion euro and will be released in time.

Data they have and use to confiscate. Where is your money, how much and how to lay hands on that.

Tha tha thats all folks.

16 minutes ago, BigLek said:

Wise: Explicitly provides the "International Transfer" (FTT) status on bank passbooks because they send funds via the THB "Bahtnet" or specialized banking routes.

WISE transfers will only show as FTT in Bangkok Bank, and if you click For Long Term Stay and have the receiving account Tagged.

Other banks show Bahtnet needing a Credit Advice from whichever bank they used.Well that's my experience. WISE to BKK every month for over 10 years, no cock ups....................YET!

10 minutes ago, wil iam not said:

WISE transfers will only show as FTT in Bangkok Bank, and if you click For Long Term Stay and have the receiving account Tagged.

Other banks show Bahtnet needing a Credit Advice from whichever bank they used.Well that's my experience. WISE to BKK every month for over 10 years, no cock ups....................YET!

I actually don’t know much about it since I’ve never needed to use it. But if it’s working for you, I wouldn’t change anything unless it stops working.

On 3/27/2026 at 5:45 AM, BigLek said:

If I’d done something wrong, that would be one thing, but I didn’t.

You are assumed guilty until proven innocent.

49 minutes ago, BigLek said:

That’s exactly where their system breaks down. The keyword they used to trigger the block is just a city name, and there are dozens of places around the world that share that same place name, including in the US and other countries on at least 3 continents. Using such a broad term is bound to produce errors. It’s like setting up a spam filter with overly generic keywords, you end up blocking legitimate messages, known as false positives. That’s exactly what happened here.

It reminds me of the supposed AOL "Scunthorpe" problem where people who lived in Scunthorpe had the town part of their address rejected by the registration form.

6 minutes ago, BeastOfBodmin said:

You are assumed guilty until proven innocent.

Yes, indeed, sir. Part of the unfortunate beauty of the world we live in.

2 minutes ago, BeastOfBodmin said:

It reminds me of the supposed AOL "Scunthorpe" problem where people who lived in Scunthorpe had the town part of their address rejected by the registration form.

There is nothing inherently wrong with automation, but it is only as good as the people designing and implementing it. In the example you mentioned, that kind of issue would actually be a very straightforward fix from a coding perspective.

In my case, though, the system ideally should have picked up on additional context. For example, I had already made debit card purchase transactions in that subject city using my Wise account last year, and then they would have realized that the city I included in my reference is not located in any sanctioned country.

Admittedly, building systems that can cross reference that kind of information requires more effort and thoughtful design. That said, with modern AI tools, implementing this sort of logic is becoming very feasible.

Ultimately, I think the bigger issue is not just technical capability, but whether the right considerations are being made by the humans involved during the design stage in the first place. Which brings us back to the PEBCAK rule.

49 minutes ago, wil iam not said:

WISE to BKK every month for over 10 years, no cock ups..

Ditto.

1 minute ago, BigLek said:

There is nothing inherently wrong with automation, but it is only as good as the people designing and implementing it. In the example you mentioned, that kind of issue would actually be a very straightforward fix from a coding perspective.

In my case, though, the system ideally should have picked up on additional context. For example, I had already made debit card purchase transactions in that subject city using my Wise account last year, and then they would have realized that the city I included in my reference is not located in any sanctioned country.

Admittedly, building systems that can cross reference that kind of information requires more effort and thoughtful design. That said, with modern AI tools, implementing this sort of logic is becoming very feasible.

Ultimately, I think the bigger issue is not just technical capability, but whether the right considerations are being made by the humans involved during the design stage in the first place. Which brings us back to the PEBCAK rule.

I worked in banking in Switzerland for the better part of 20 years. I was never involved in compliance as they call it. However the different banks, despite being subject to the same regulations, albeit sometimes in multiple jurisdictions, managed to implement their compliance checks in their own way. I can't speak for Wise, but in the companies I worked for the aim was only to avoid getting open audit points from the regulator.

We can all look forward to the time we have our personal digital identities linked to our personal accounts at our favourite central bank, denominated in its centrally controlled CBDC programmable money, governed by AI software scanning and adjudicating all transfers, with the algorithmic power to freeze or confiscate all your funds without due process.