Turkey Becomes Latest Country to Join Global Bank Account Crackdown

The Turkish government is drafting legislation to expand the powers of its financial crime watchdog, Masak, allowing it to freeze and restrict access to bank and cryptocurrency accounts.

The bill is designed to curb money laundering, fraud, and “rented” accounts used for illegal betting, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources.

Intergovernmental watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has issued anti-money laundering standards, which saw Turkey removed from its “grey list” in June 2024.

Crypto Accounts Targeted

If passed, the legislation would enable Masak to close bank accounts, impose transaction limits, suspend mobile banking, and blacklist crypto addresses that it deems linked to crime.

The new law is also focused on “rented accounts” or “mule accounts,” which are accounts that criminals pay individuals to use for activities such as illegal gambling, financial fraud, or scams.

Crypto trading remains legal in Turkey, but the government is tightening regulations and control. In July, Turkish financial regulators blocked access to several crypto platforms offering “unauthorized” digital asset services, including the PancakeSwap decentralized exchange.

Turkey is not the only country tightening up its control over bank accounts.

In November, Indian authorities froze 450,000 mule accounts that they suspected were linked to money laundering and cyber fraud.

In April, Nigeria froze hundreds of bank accounts that it suspected were involved in “suspicious forex flows.” Ethiopian authorities have also been recently targeting bank accounts linked to alleged illegal foreign exchange activities.

Asia’s Big Banking Crackdown

Banks in Thailand and Vietnam have been freezing innocent people’s accounts recently as they become victims of a massive mule account dragnet.

Thailand has frozen as many as 3 million bank accounts this year, many of which were innocent citizens or businesses, as the country grapples with a scam call center endemic. The country has also imposed stringent transfer limits, in-person KYC for all mobile banking apps, and has been debanking foreigners.

Thailand also blamed crypto for its abnormally strong currency, but this couldn’t be further from the truth, as trade volumes in the Kingdom are tiny and crypto has been outlawed for payments.

Earlier this year, Singapore empowered police to freeze bank accounts in a scam crackdown. In early September, Vietnam froze 86 million bank accounts for noncompliance with new biometric requirements.

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