Devine’s Transferwise account frozen

Andy Devine is very, very, VERY angry, and he doesn’t care who knows it. Yesterday, in a live-streamed Facebook video, he announced that his Transferwise account had been shut down, and he is none too pleased.

Devine, who lives in Greece, originally set up the account to receive “donations” from people in the UK who wished to purchase shares in John Wanoa’s fake tidal energy scam—the idea being that since the shares weren’t quite ready to be issued, Devine would “hold” the money until they were. Devine claims that he placed some of his own money in the account as well.

The shares, which Wanoa, Matt Taylor, and Devine have been hawking relentlessly, are being advertised as a “two for the price of one” offer, a deal which we are quite certain would not meet the standards of New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority.

Some of the donated cash, Devine said, would go toward funding Wanoa’s historic 28 March trip to…was it London or somewhere in Ireland? We forget, as the Wanoa Looniverse shifts at such a great rate. In any case, he claims to expect to take over the monarchy upon his arrival. Or spark a civil war. Or something. Oh, and also: a magic flag features in there somewhere.

It will probably come as a shock to those who have decided to flush their hard-earned cash down the Wanoa/Taylor/Devine loo that people cannot just decide to sell shares in a non-existent product which has no chance of ever being built. There is a word for this type of cosplay, and that word is “illegal”.

You can watch Devine froth at the mouth on this video:

What is Transferwise?

Transferwise bills itself as a low-cost, easy, and fast means of transferring money between bank accounts in different countries, and has excellent ratings from its users. However, any money transfer platform must be extremely cautious about becoming involved in potentially dodgy financial deals.

So when they heard from a concerned citizen who reported that Devine was using his Transferwise account in the above-mentioned manner, they took swift action.

According to the person who reported the account, the company responded within 24 hours:

And 24 hours after that, Devine’s account had been frozen.

According to Transferwise’s terms of service, there are a number of reasons why they might choose to suspend an account:

Reasons can include “any breach of applicable law or regulation”, potentially fraudulent activity, money laundering, terrorism financing, or other criminal or illegal activity.

We’ll leave it to our readers to decide which, if any, of the above might be the case.

And remember they only start firing when we’re over the target. Also, keep smiling!