What should I do if my bank card is frozen?

This article analyzes the common reasons and solutions for freezing bank cards, so that you can handle them promptly and effectively when you encounter the above situations.

1. Common reasons and solutions for freezing bank cards

1. Self-freezing

The bank card is frozen while you are using it and you are unable to make transactions.

1. If you intentionally enter the wrong password three times at an ATM/online banking/mobile banking, your card will be frozen

Freezing time: generally 24 hours.

How to deal with it: Basically, it will be automatically unlocked after 24 hours, or you can take your ID card to the bank counter to unlock it, or make a replacement card or reset your password.

2. Contact the bank by phone to report the loss verbally

Freezing time: generally 5 days, depending on the situation of each bank.

How to deal with it: It will basically be unlocked automatically after 5 days, or you can take your ID card to a bank counter to unlock it.

3. Take your ID card and bank card to the bank counter to cancel your bank card.

Processing result: long-term freeze.

(II) Bank freeze

1. Triggering the bank's anti-money laundering system (e.g. large-value transfers late at night, frequent transactions with multiple people, credit card cash withdrawals, etc.)

Generally speaking, banks will not freeze bank cards directly, but will only restrict the bank card's non-counter services or "payment only, no acceptance", that is, suspend some of the bank card's transaction permissions.

How to deal with it: Contact the bank where you opened the account directly and provide your relevant information (usually explaining the reason for the fund flow) as required by the bank.

2. Credit is overdue or margin account is blocked

This situation is often caused by overdue loans from the contracted bank or credit card risks, which leads to the freezing of the savings card or credit card held.

How to deal with it: Contact the bank where you opened the account directly and handle it according to the bank's requirements.

3. Other special circumstances

If the balance is less than 100 yuan and the card is not used for a long time, it will be frozen. For example, the CCB stipulates that if the balance of a bank card is less than 100 yuan for a long time, it will be frozen after three years. If it is not unfrozen within one year after freezing, the bank card will be cancelled one year after the freezing date, which means it can no longer be used.

How to deal with it: Pay attention to the use of bank cards or actively handle it according to the requirements of the meeting bank.

(III) Judicial Freeze

After a civil dispute arises between you and other entities, and you are sued by others in court/arbitration committee or the case enters the execution stage, the court will take property preservation or enforcement measures in accordance with the law based on the applicant's request.

Freezing period: 1 year. After the expiration of the period, the court may renew the freeze based on the applicant's request.

Legal basis: Article 487 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Implementation of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "The People's Court shall not freeze the bank deposits of the person subject to execution for more than one year, seal up or seize movable property for more than two years, seal up immovable property and freeze other property rights for more than three years..."

Processing method:

1. If the account is seized during the property preservation stage of litigation, you can apply to the court for counter-guarantee to release the account, or actively mediate/reconcile with the other party, and the other party will apply to the court to revoke the preservation measures.

2. If the property is seized during the execution stage, that is, the case has been effectively judged by the court, it is recommended to actively fulfill obligations in accordance with the court's judgment.

(IV) Public Security Bureau Freeze

If a bank card is frozen by the public security, it means that a transaction of the bank card is more or less related to certain illegal/criminal acts. In this case, it is necessary to immediately find out the reason for the freeze, collect relevant evidence materials, and handle it with caution to avoid unnecessary impact.

The following situations often occur when the police freeze bank cards. The specific solutions will be described in detail later:

1. Suspected of being involved in criminal activities

If you have participated in criminal activities, the public security organs will often inquire into and freeze the property of the suspects involved after filing a case for investigation.

Solution: The direct consequence of a criminal case is the restriction of personal freedom. If the public security organ's filing of a case is true and a warrant has been issued, it is recommended to consult a lawyer and then surrender to the public security organ to try to reduce the sentencing, or to entrust a lawyer to intervene in the defense as soon as possible.

2. Those who have engaged in online gambling or purchased illegal lottery tickets

Nowadays, many people, in their spare time, use WeChat on their mobile phones to access various illegal gambling websites, lottery websites, or download apps to gamble or buy illegal lottery tickets, thinking that it may just be a leisure and entertainment activity.

However, as long as one "gambles with a large amount of money", it will violate Article 70 of the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law": "If anyone provides conditions for gambling for the purpose of profit, or participates in gambling with a large amount of money, he shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be detained for not less than ten days but not more than fifteen days and fined not less than 500 yuan but not more than 3,000 yuan."

Different places have different definitions of "participating in gambling with large amounts of money", for example:

Beijing stipulates that "individuals who gamble with a fund of more than 300 yuan but less than 500 yuan will be fined less than 500 yuan; those who set the fund between 500 yuan and 1,500 yuan will be detained for less than five days";

Shanghai stipulates that "personal gambling funds of more than RMB 100 are considered large gambling funds";

Hebei Province stipulates that "large gambling funds refer to individual gambling funds of more than 200 yuan";

Shandong Province stipulates that "large gambling amounts refer to an average gambling amount of more than 100 yuan per person or an on-site gambling amount of more than 400 yuan";

Shenzhen stipulates that "personal gambling funds of more than 500 yuan are considered large gambling funds";

Jiangsu Province stipulates that "if the gambling amount is more than 200 yuan but less than 1,000 yuan, a fine of less than 500 yuan will be imposed. If the individual gambling amount or the per capita gambling amount is more than 1,000 yuan but less than 3,000 yuan, a detention of less than 5 days will be imposed";

…

There is no doubt that if one uses the Internet, mobile communication terminals, etc. to transmit gambling videos and data, organize gambling activities, for example, start gambling in a WeChat group or develop downlines to participate in online gambling or buy lottery tickets, it is also easy to be suspected of constituting the "crime of opening a casino" stipulated in the Criminal Law.

Article 303, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "The crime of opening a casino shall be punished by imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and a fine; if the circumstances are serious, the punishment shall be imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and a fine."

Therefore, do not easily violate the criminal law and do not participate in illegal and criminal activities.

3. Engage in virtual currency/blockchain transactions

In November 2019, the People's Bank of China issued an announcement, emphasizing that the People's Bank of China has not issued legal digital currency, nor has it authorized any asset trading platform to trade. "DC/EP" or "DCEP" traded on the market are not legal digital currencies, and the online rumors about the launch time of legal digital currency are inaccurate information.

At present, although there are many virtual currency or blockchain trading platforms on the market, they are not recognized by law. The courts and public security will not protect such transactions, and the server terminals of many platforms are located abroad. Therefore, many illegal criminal gangs, especially telecommunications fraud teams, use these platforms to launder money or transfer funds.

If you frequently engage in virtual currency or blockchain transactions, your frozen bank card may easily receive bank funds transferred by illegal criminal teams and may be easily frozen by the police.

4. Receive transfers from other unknown third parties

In this case, the frozen bank cards often have not participated in or engaged in any illegal or criminal activities, have never engaged in illegal activities such as online gambling, buying lottery tickets, etc., nor have they participated in criminal activities such as telecommunications fraud, but have been frozen by the public security organs.

Then, you need to carefully check all recent bank transactions, especially the incoming transactions. It is very likely that the public security organs have frozen the funds due to the transfer of funds from suspected criminals or platforms such as fraud, gambling, money laundering, etc.

One of our clients opened a courier station in Myanmar. A Chinese man came to him and said that he had run out of cash. He asked his friends in China to transfer money to our client, and the client helped him to give him 30,000 yuan in cash, and got 300 yuan in withdrawal fees. Considering that we are all Chinese, we agreed to help in a foreign country. However, his so-called friends in China were victims, and the money was transferred to our client's account after being deceived by the telecommunications fraud team. There is no doubt that the client's bank card was frozen by the public security organs, and a warrant was almost issued. After investigation and evidence collection and entrusting the police in other places to ask and record, the bank card was successfully unfrozen after deducting the money involved in the case.

Therefore, avoid receiving transfers from unfamiliar third parties to avoid unnecessary trouble.

II. Legal Basis and Duration of Freezing by Public Security Organs

1. Legal Basis

Article 231 of the Regulations on the Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases by Public Security Organs: According to the needs of investigating crimes, public security organs may, in accordance with the regulations, inquire into and freeze the deposits, remittances, bonds, stocks, fund shares and other properties of criminal suspects, and may request relevant units and individuals to cooperate.

2. Freeze period

Article 236 of the Provisions on the Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases by Public Security Organs: The period for freezing deposits, remittances and other properties is six months. The period for freezing bonds, stocks, fund shares and other securities is two years. If there are special reasons for extending the period, the public security organ shall go through the procedures for continuing the freezing before the expiration of the freezing period. The maximum period for each renewal of freezing of deposits, remittances and other properties shall not exceed six months; the maximum period for each renewal of freezing of bonds, stocks, fund shares and other securities shall not exceed two years. If the freezing is continued, the freezing procedures shall be re-processed in accordance with the provisions of Article 233 of these Provisions. If the freezing procedures are not continued within the time limit, it shall be deemed to be automatically lifted.

According to the above regulations, the public security organs can freeze personal bank accounts according to the needs of investigating crimes. The freezing period shall not exceed six months. The freezing can be renewed before the expiration of the six-month period. There is no limit on the number of freezing times.

In practice, when public security organs deal with cases involving telecommunications fraud or money laundering involving a large amount of financial transactions, they may first apply to immediately freeze all relevant bank accounts for about three days, and then review whether they are relevant within three days. If so, they will be officially frozen for six months.

3. Common Misunderstandings after Bank Cards are Frozen

Misconception 1: The public security organ will only freeze the data for 6 months, so you just have to wait for 6 months and it will definitely be unblocked.

In fact, if the public security organs have frozen the funds but have not found out whether they are involved in any crime or how to deal with them, they will often re-freeze the funds after the expiration date. Now it is very convenient for public security organs to seal accounts, and they can renew the freeze by simply operating on a computer.

Misconception 2: The public security agency said that the blockade will be lifted once I pass through it.

If you confirm that you have never been involved in any illegal or criminal activities and there are no abnormal fund transactions in your financial account, you can go directly to the public security agency for communication and processing as required.

However, if you are suspected of certain illegal activities or have abnormal financial transactions and you go there directly, you may encounter certain unfavorable situations, such as administrative detention or criminal detention.

Misconception 3: Public security organs can only freeze first-level accounts, but cannot freeze second-level and third-level accounts.

Public security organs in various places have their own internal regulations on which level of bank accounts to freeze. Some public security organs can only freeze first-level accounts, but some can freeze fourth-level accounts.

IV. Correct steps to handle bank cards frozen by public security organs

1. Implementation of freezing related information

If you learn that your bank account has been frozen, go to the bank where you opened your account immediately to learn the detailed freezing information and print out the bank statement for the past year.

For example: information such as the reason for freezing, freezing time, freezing unit, handling personnel, contact information, etc. Try to ask the bank to provide a written document of the freeze (a photographic version will do).

(2) If the bank shows that the freezing period is three days, you can wait and see whether the freeze is lifted when the expiration date comes. It is recommended not to proactively contact the public security organs for the time being.

(III) If the funds have not been frozen for more than three days, check the bank statement and analyze the reasons for the freezing.

1. Suspected of being involved in criminal activities and for whom a warrant has been issued

It is recommended to consult a lawyer and surrender yourself to the public security organs to seek a lighter sentence, or to entrust a lawyer to intervene in the defense as soon as possible.

2. Those who have engaged in online gambling or purchased illegal lottery tickets

Provide a reasonable source of the funds received in the bank card, and entrust a lawyer to communicate with the public security organs on the handling plan to avoid the public security taking administrative detention measures.

3. Have conducted virtual currency/blockchain platform transactions

Before finding out what the abnormal funds are, do not hastily report all the virtual currency/blockchain platform transaction records. At the same time, you should promptly provide the reasonable source of the bank card payments and entrust a lawyer to communicate with the public security organs about the handling plan.

4. Receive transfers from other unknown third parties

First, figure out what abnormal financial transactions led to the freezing, and immediately communicate with the corresponding party to collect evidence, promptly provide the reasonable source of the funds in the bank card, and entrust a lawyer to communicate with the public security organs about the handling plan.

V. Conclusion

Among the frozen bank card cases handled by the Lvben lawyer team, some were unfrozen within 7 days after accepting the commission, some were unfrozen 3 months after accepting the commission, and some were unfrozen by the bank itself after the team communicated with the public security organs and submitted application materials for unfreezing. But without exception, it is often necessary to actively communicate with the public security organs and cooperate in submitting materials, or take other measures to cooperate with the public security organs in handling the cases involved. Otherwise, you can only wait until the public security organs take the initiative to investigate and determine whether to unfreeze according to the situation. There are many people involved in such gambling and fraud cases, and the processing cycle is generally long, so the waiting time is also unknown.

Therefore, when a bank card is frozen by the public security agency, it is recommended to actively communicate and handle the matter as soon as possible, or entrust a professional lawyer to intervene.