Caye International Bank - Did they just scam me? (Caye vs Transferwise)

[travelES]

I set up a BVI company and decided to remotely set up a Belize bank account. I researched some banks and applied to 3 of which Caye International replied promptly. They requested that in order to proceed with the review plus account set up I was required to transfer $1,100 to their Beneficiary Bank (The Reserve Trust Company) which I did. A couple weeks passed and I still hadn't heard anything so I contacted them and they said they hadn't received the money. Apparently Id sent it to the right routing and account number but because it had been sent via ACH the money had been rejected. Fair enough. I then contacted Transferwise (who I sent the money through) and they said they do send USD domestically via ACH but the money hadnt been rejected and returned to them. They requested a recall on my behalf but it was unsuccessful with no reason given : "Funds cannot be returned and no reason was provided". They then requested I ask Caye to provide proof of rejection showing the money being sent back. I asked them three times (very patiently and politely) and I have not received a response. Their last response was simply: "I honestly understand your frustration and wish there was something I could do to assist you." They also refused to give me the name or any contact details of their Beneficiary Bank (The Reserve Trust Company) so I can follow up on the funds myself : "I am unable to give you information of our Beneficiary Bank, other than what I have already provided". Its now been 2 months since I sent the money. Both Caye and Transferwise tell me they dont have it and cant help me.

WTF!?!

Have I been scammed?

 

[Gediminas]

I set up a BVI company and decided to remotely set up a Belize bank account. I researched some banks and applied to 3 of which Caye International replied promptly. They requested that in order to proceed with the review plus account set up I was required to transfer $1,100 to their Beneficiary Bank (The Reserve Trust Company) which I did. A couple weeks passed and I still hadn't heard anything so I contacted them and they said they hadn't received the money. Apparently Id sent it to the right routing and account number but because it had been sent via ACH the money had been rejected. Fair enough. I then contacted Transferwise (who I sent the money through) and they said they do send USD domestically via ACH but the money hadnt been rejected and returned to them. They requested a recall on my behalf but it was unsuccessful with no reason given : "Funds cannot be returned and no reason was provided". They then requested I ask Caye to provide proof of rejection showing the money being sent back. I asked them three times (very patiently and politely) and I have not received a response. Their last response was simply: "I honestly understand your frustration and wish there was something I could do to assist you." They also refused to give me the name or any contact details of their Beneficiary Bank (The Reserve Trust Company) so I can follow up on the funds myself : "I am unable to give you information of our Beneficiary Bank, other than what I have already provided". Its now been 2 months since I sent the money. Both Caye and Transferwise tell me they dont have it and cant help me.

WTF!?!

Have I been scammed?

Hey, send me your details (email of registration and company name) to email or here to PM. I will see if I can get any info regarding this matter.

 

[workthearts]

Reserve Trust from my understanding is where Caye Bank has a bank account in the USA (Colorado)
Funds originating from USA go here .. Im not sure if they then send the funds to Belize or if they stay in USA

 

[travelES]

Reserve Trust from my understanding is where Caye Bank has a bank account in the USA (Colorado)
Funds originating from USA go here .. Im not sure if they then send the funds to Belize or if they stay in USA

Yes. They request you send money to their "Reserve bank" but wont tell you where or what it is. Why they wont disclose that was a mystery until I realized its because they act unscrupulously and criminally. I sent my money unwittingly via ACH (through Transferwise) but instead of rejecting the payment as their instructions clearly state would happen, they just kept the money. In response they just said "Sorry, I wish we could help you", then stopped answering my emails. Its now been over 2 months. Its so outrageous its comical. Sure its Cayes partner bank but ultimately its their operation so they are 100% to blame. Lucky Is suppose I learned this before making a substantial deposit. Ive contacted the CFPB in America and hopefully they get fined. Also contacted the ifsc in Belize. F#$k Caye International.

 

[Fred]

No offense at all but I really don't understand why somebody is still using a Bank in Belize in 2021.

Can't see any advantage.

 

[workthearts]

Yes. They request you send money to their "Reserve bank" but wont tell you where or what it is. Why they wont disclose that was a mystery until I realized its because they act unscrupulously and criminally. I sent my money unwittingly via ACH (through Transferwise) but instead of rejecting the payment as their instructions clearly state would happen, they just kept the money. In response they just said "Sorry, I wish we could help you", then stopped answering my emails. Its now been over 2 months. Its so outrageous its comical. Sure its Cayes partner bank but ultimately its their operation so they are 100% to blame. Lucky Is suppose I learned this before making a substantial deposit. Ive contacted the CFPB in America and hopefully they get fined. Also contacted the ifsc in Belize. F#$k Caye International.

It sounds like you did a more complicated procedure than a regular SWIFT transfer that works just fine. I hope you get it figured out, sounds frustrating. Reserve Bank address is clearly mentioned in the wire transfer instructions, they are not trying to hide it.

 

[travelES]

No offense at all but I really don't understand why somebody is still using a Bank in Belize in 2021.

Can't see any advantage.

Can you recommend a stable, trustworthy bank that will allow a BVI company that invests in crypto?

 

[travelES]

It sounds like you did a more complicated procedure than a regular SWIFT transfer that works just fine. I hope you get it figured out, sounds frustrating. Reserve Bank address is clearly mentioned in the wire transfer instructions, they are not trying to hide it.

I did an ACH transfer. A perfectly normal, common, understandable mistake. Their instructions stated in the event of an ACH transfer the money would be rejected. In addition, they do not provide the real name of the bank they request you send too. They refuse to provide it. Even when they said they cant help getting my money, I said can you please give me the name and contact details of your reserve bank and Ill follow it up myself. They stopped replying. Like I said: F@#k Caye International. They are either incompetent or scammers, and certainly unaccountable and lacking integrity.

 

[Fred]

Can you recommend a stable, trustworthy bank that will allow a BVI company that invests in crypto?

Words like stable and trustworthy bank together with BVI and Crypto doesn't fit in 2021.

You will end up with some kind of s**t banks like Caye International or some russian laundromats like Migom Bank.

If you don't want to burn more money go with a reputable offshore jurisdiction like the UAE so that you will be able to get the company, residence and bank accounts within the same jurisdictions. Of course you have possibilities for the crypto here as well.

 

[travelES]

Words like stable and trustworthy bank together with BVI and Crypto doesn't fit in 2021.

You will end up with some kind of s**t banks like Caye International or some russian laundromats like Migom Bank.

If you don't want to burn more money go with a reputable offshore jurisdiction like the UAE so that you will be able to get the company, residence and bank accounts within the same jurisdictions. Of course you have possibilities for the crypto here as well.

Crypto is now mainstream. Governments are accepting it for tax, people receive it for salaries, its a multitrillion dollar industry and company's like Tesla are holding it on their balance sheets instead of cash. In addition, the BVI is one of the worlds oldest and most respected offshore juridiscatons and houses more than 600,000 companies. Im not saying you are wrong at all, but I just dont understand what the apprehension is about. Like you said, its 2021 - its not 2011.

 

[workthearts]

Can you recommend a stable, trustworthy bank that will allow a BVI company that invests in crypto?

Please explain in further detail "invests in crypto" do you mean trading and you plan to send profits to the bank, or you want the bank to accept crypto and deposit in your account -- convert into currency USD EUR etc

 

[lavel]

What's the problem to find a bank to work with binance the worlds largest crypto exchange?

 

[Fred]

Crypto is now mainstream. Governments are accepting it for tax, people receive it for salaries, its a multitrillion dollar industry and company's like Tesla are holding it on their balance sheets instead of cash. In addition, the BVI is one of the worlds oldest and most respected offshore juridiscatons and houses more than 600,000 companies. Im not saying you are wrong at all, but I just dont understand what the apprehension is about. Like you said, its 2021 - its not 2011.

You need to understand that there are no real retail banks available for BVI if you don't live in BVI or at least in the Caribbean. Banks like Caye Bank struggle even without Crypto transactions to keep the correspondence banking relationship. I'm with you. I just telling you that you look into the wrong things for your needs. If you want stable and trustworthy banks for a BVI company you have to look into Private Banks with minimum 7 figures relationship amounts. And then again for what. Just go with a offshore jurisdiction that's still able to get normal retail banks like in the UAE. Banks in the UAE are old fashioned so if you use them right you can easily make crypto transactions looking like normal business earnings so you don't get overcharged from any private banks.
Till last year OCBC in Singapore was a workaround for BVI company if you were able to travel there and have min. Balance on each currency account of 25.000USD or currency equivalent. But this stopped this year. Already in the past it heavily depended on which type of business you had and for sure they never accepted a stright Crypto business.

 

[Fred]

What's the problem to find a bank to work with binance the worlds largest crypto exchange?

It's not the problem to find the bank that is willing to work with Binance. The problem is to find a bank that is willing to onboard a BVI company and then allows you to send and withdraw from Binance.

I can only refer to this thread and say from our experience with clients that there is much money stuck in EPB for crypto related transactions:

https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/threads/euro-pacific-bank-is-a-scam.30470/page-2#post-163092
EPB and Caye Bank are from the same type of old school offshore banks that will sooner or later stop working simply because of loosing all correspondence banking relationships.

 

[travelES]

Please explain in further detail "invests in crypto" do you mean trading and you plan to send profits to the bank, or you want the bank to accept crypto and deposit in your account -- convert into currency USD EUR etc

Yes. Simply trading and investing in Cryptos, and staking those that can be staked. Just want to be able to transfer cash to and from and exchange and bank.

 

[workthearts]

A bitcoin loadable debit visa card might be a solution

 

[bizniz]

It shouldn't be any problem to open an account for your BVI company that can transact with Binance.

If amounts are smaller, use a European EMI and transact with Binance in Euros or GBP (Binance use ClearJunction for both)

If larger, go for one of the Liechtenstein private banks that are crypto friendly and will also transact with Binance.

 

[travelES]

If larger, go for one of the Liechtenstein private banks that are crypto friendly and will also transact with Binance.

Thanks for the tip. Any specific banks you can recommend?

Btw, for anyone interested, I got this email from Caye on the 15th apologizing to me (after about a month of silence), telling me to expect my money to be returned in 24-48 hours and encouraging me to contact them in the event it isnt. It wasn't returned and 10 days later still hasn't been. I sent three polite emails (19th, 23rd, 25rd) alerting them to this fact and no reply. I sent the money on December 9th so its now been over 2.5 months. Its truly unbelievable! Imagine having a business and a prospective client wants to buy from you so you give them your account details, they deposit some credit, and then you simply dont contact them, dont return the money, apologize and say you cant help them retrieve the money, and then dont reply to contact emails. Its absolutely f#$king ridiculous, especially when its an offshore bank and trust and transparency is everything. I shudder for anyone who has an account there with significant funds.

I apologize again on behalf of CBIL as this is not the norm and we pride ourselves in providing the best customer service. It was my belief that you had received your funds back, reason for me going silent.

My superior has reached back to me regarding this issue and has advised that you should receive funds back in the next 24 – 48 hours. If, and I hope this is not the case, you do not get your funds back in the next 48 hours please feel free to email me.

Have a great day and week.​

 

[MagicMatt]

I have used Transferwise to send money to Caye International Bank in Belize with ZERO problems. In fact, some of the most painless international transactions I have done in 25 years.

Transferwise are great, and no wonder they are experiencing amazing growth.

The transfers I make are in Euros.

 

[travelES]

I have used Transferwise to send money to Caye International Bank in Belize with ZERO problems. In fact, some of the most painless international transactions I have done in 25 years.

Transferwise are great, and no wonder they are experiencing amazing growth.

The transfers I make are in Euros.

Ive also never had problems with Transferwise and have exchanged and sent money in a multitude of different currencies to different banks. They are amazing and I highly recommend them. The problem I have had is entirely with Caye. Also, I was transferring USD to Caye, not EUR.