Chase UK will soon bar its customers from making crypto transactions due to an uptick in scams

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Chase UK, JP Morgan’s British digital bank, says it will bar customers from making cryptocurrency transactions starting next month — citing an uptick in scams and fraud

NEW YORK — Chase UK, JP Morgan's British digital bank, says it will bar customers from making cryptocurrency transactions starting next month — citing an uptick in scams and fraud.

From Oct. 16 onward, Chase customers will no longer be able to make crypto transactions using their debit card or through an outgoing bank transfer, the bank said Tuesday.

“If we think you're making a payment related to crypto assets, we'll decline it,” Chase said in an email to customers. “If you'd still like to invest in crypto assets, you can try using a different bank or provider instead — but please be cautious, as you may not be able to get the money back if the payment ends up being related to fraud or a scam.”

In a statement to The Associated Press, Chase said that Tuesday's decision was made to help keep customers and their money safe. The bank also pointed to increases in crypto fraud-related losses reported by UK regulators in the last year.

According to London-based law firm RPC, data from Britain's fraud reporting agency Action Fraud shows that the value of crypto fraud in the U.K. increased 41% last year — reaching a record high of 306 million pounds ($372.3 million). The November collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTC notably caused a sharp increase in fraud reports, RPC said when sharing the findings in May, with numbers easing some at the start of 2023.

Still, crypto fraud will probably remain high in the foreseeable future, RPC partner Dan Wyatt and senior associate Christopher Whitehouse said via email. They noted that, while investors are learning more