Tradehill sent me an email (full text below) requesting paperwork to confirm my identity (something that wasn't required when the account was originally created).
is, but I can certainly believe that they were requested to do this by their Australian bank. I'm not unsympathetic to Tradehill's position here (although I'm dubious that it's an actual legal requirement for them to gather this info), but there's no way I'm sending any of this info that's ripe for identity theft (and certainly not in an unencrypted email as requested), and I've emailed them asking what will happen to my account/funds as a result.
TradeHill Info
info@tradehill.com to bcc: me
Dear customer,
IMPORTANT: We are using sendgrid in order to send this email to hundreds of users. Please do not send us any information to this email address as it will not be received by our team. For reference, we have also posted a blog post with summarized information here:
www.TradeHillblog.com.
We have been working to improve our processes to comply with Australian regulations, which has resulted in a few changes that we need to communicate, so we have two updates for our Australian customers.
1-In order to comply with Australian AML policies and our new bank's fraud prevention policies, we will have to verify the identity of our customers. This will be a simple procedure and will be required only once for each account. We have taken every precaution to make this process as agile and painless as possible without interrupting our service.
To begin this process, we will need your full name, any service bill with your name on it (or another document to provide proof of address) and ONE of the following items:
a) Scanned copy of your driver license
b) Medicare number and reference
c) Scanned copy of your passport
Please send this information to
info@TradeHill.com from the email address you used to sign up with us and DO NOT reply to this email with the information.
Also, the bank account(s) that you use for deposits and withdrawals, will have to match the name registered in the TradeHill account. In case you require to make a withdrawal to a third party (either to pay for a service or fee) please let us know in advance as we will also have to verify that account.
2-We have opened a new bank account for our customers and the old one at Commonwealth bank will be closed. Please see details below:
Account name: Business Zero Account
BSB: 302-100
Account No: 1794808
Account mailing address: 40 Daley Rd Acton, ACT, 2601
BIC (SWIFT): BKWAAU6P
Please note that the account verification is a requirement from our bank. Non compliance with this may result in our account falling at risk of being frozen or closed which would force us to interrupt service for our customers. Therefore, our goal is to verify all Australian TradeHill accounts by September 15th 2011.
As usual, if you have any queries or concerns, please send us an email to
info@tradehill.com.
Best regards,
TradeHill Team