I - Account EMI

#42
Seeing as quite a few people seem to have an issue with IAccount / LIRI, here is my update - in case it helps or if someone has additional useful comments.

I used I-account with moderate success for a while, after they were recommended by one of the London agencies I've used before. Currently I'm in the same situation with many other people with funds stuck and outbound SWIFT payments either becoming 'cancelled' or 'failing' after about 1 month.

I've been talking to the HK regulator (Money Service Supervision Bureau, Customs and Excise Department), who offer a chance to 'report' the company, but have no conduct guidelines or enforcement process.

I'm not very optimistic about recovering my funds, however a claim via courts seems to be most practical option. Anyone local to HK could use the small claims tribunal for costs <= 75k HKD. Not an option for me, so have discussed the District Court route with a HK solicitor. District Court would allow reclaiming court fees, and having it handled remotely by a solicitor. Main objective is ensuring the companies running 'I-account' have assets in HK, so in case of obtaining a default judgment against them the funds could be recovered from them via a control order.

I account is run by PAYEDGE LIMITED (the registered MSO) and LIRI HOLDINGS LIMITED. The directors hold foreign passports (Japanese, St Kitts and Nevis) , which might indicate nominees. Some do have HK addresses. It might be fair to assume they hold their funds outside HK, in which case HK litigation would be ineffective.

My current plan is to arrange a control order before starting any litigation, to ascertain what assets said companies have in HK. I'm been told by a HK solicitor this can be done, and am currently waiting on further feedback.

I'll also report them for financial crime as per the regulator's instructions, as it seems there is evidence they are fraudulent in misappropriating customer funds and not providing advertised services. I'd advise others do the same - Email – crimereport@customs.gov.hk; or Crime Report (CED358) that can be accessed vide http://www.customs.gov.hk/filemanager/common/pdf/pdf_forms/ced358.pdf
 
Reactions: kaz1987 and afrishore
#43
Are your cancelled or failed funds "visible" in your I-account or did they completely "dissapear"? I'm asking because in my case the failed outbound wire was "in process" during 4 month after the amount was "restored" in my balance. I'm now in doubt how to transfer my funds out of I-account.
 
#44
Hi - a quick update for anyone still stuck with this is that I've manged to recover my funds fully. Heavy pushing via the regulator and HK police did the trick (see my previous post).

In reply to afrishore - yes the funds disappeared and were visible under pending payments as 'BEING PROCEEDED' (sic). They were finally paid out via various banks into my bank accounts.
 
Reactions: Trudy Trees, afrishore and Nyep
#45
@Henri T : what exactly means "heavy pushing via the regulator and HK police" in your case? Did you just threaten them to contact regulator and police or did you inform the regulator/police and they then put pressure on I-Account?
 
#49
UPDATE: We received our money a few weeks ago. We had to send original corporate documents, a Source of Funds declaration and PROOF but we got our money. We were told that the HK regulator had instituted new regs in October 2018 which iAccount had to satisfy before being able to resume biz. I know of another company still waiting for their money though. So, guess we just had all the right paperwork. We have left a small balance there and hope they can regroup as the service was quite good when it was working. The iAccount rep said they hoped to have everything back to normal by May 2019.
 
Reactions: Henri T and afrishore
#50

Hi Henri, a quick brief about my story. A transfer was done from the i account in december 2018 was never been credited on the beneficiary account. During 3 months, i have done withdrawal with the icard several time and then the money was back again on the i account at the same time they put the icard on hold which means i couldn't do any transaction and withdrawal. I want to get all my money back. Can you please advise me what to do since it is a very stressful situation and do you have any contact?
 
#51
Hi,

Same problem here with i-Account corporate account. We have tried to send several transfers since December 2018 which were cancelled. We tried to close the account but they said we needed to make a transfer out first. Now they want a signed declaration with the following (which we have replied to these questions many times).

1. Business nature of the beneficiary
2. The relationship between the client and the beneficiary
3. Payment purpose
4. Source of funds for the transfer
5. Supporting documents (invoices, agreements)

What is "source of funds" on an outgoing transfer? (Isn't the "source" our company?) Our incoming funds where from several sources (sales) from back in early 2018 and we have made many outgoing transfers since then so how can we know from which "source" these exact outgoing funds are from? We are trying to close the account and send the funds to any one of the directors accounts but they just keep running us in circles. Any advice? Thank you.
 
#53
@JC0307 Thanks. I understand the "source" (for our incoming funds) is from assets we sold, but these incoming funds were from several clients and from over a year ago. But since then we made several outgoing transfers and only now are they asking for the source of this last outgoing transfer, so I am not sure from "which" asset sale they want as the source? Should we just pick one? (Shouldn't they be asking the "source" or KYC on the incoming transfers a year ago?)

What happens if we simply tell them "No" and tell them we won't provide any further information? Shouldn't they close the account? If they close the account, they have to send the money somewhere, right? I had to provide all my KYC information to have the account open, why are they now acting like I need to prove who I am? (or why do they act like they do not know me?). Thanks again for the advice.
 
#54

Yes you can just pick one as an example. I advise you to send all requested documents. Yes I got the same question about the reason. They want to make sure it is not money laundering or from an illegal business.

I've just sent a crime report form to the customs and excise department concerning this matter.
 
#56
mrgreen said:
It appears that there’s a way to withdraw the funds. I just use my card. Have you guys tried it?
Click to expand...
We were using the i-Cards to get our money out however last week they blocked them and have asked us to provide a mountain of docs to have the hold lifted, some of the requested information is excessive and difficult to provide. I see they are adding new products to their lineup which seems to indicate that they are operating ok to some degree, however it has become apparent since we opened our account early 2017, that they are geared more to South East Asian based customers who use instant transfer services rather customers wanting to operate using regular bank to bank wire transfer business.
 
#57
Did you try to make outward transfer from your i-account?
 
#58
Seems to just be getting worse. Black hole sounds about right. I also see they (i-Account/Payedge) are getting a lot of very bad reviews in the past month. Anyone have any info?
 
#60
They still don't allow money transfer because I saw on a review website: Clients transfer prohibited.
They allow me to withdraw some money from ATM, but for how long? We must join all of us. You can send an e-mail to scamalert.payedge@gmail.com.
All people are joining together to sue them if they are still blocking our money.
 
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