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Comment by mschuster91 | Hacker News Reader

> They also went the extra-mile to block Iranian developers, they didn't have to do so much police, and probably tried to buy their redemption.

US sanctions, even the threat thereof, are serious business. To this day, US nationals or US tax persons are having a really hard time finding a bank in Europe that is willing to deal with them because many banks don't want any exposure to the US FATCA they can avoid.

I had an ex-girlfriend who was born in Germany to US and Greek parents. Quite the shitshow with paperwork.

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I'm curious how they discover this if they are trying to stay so distant from US authorities. If you have EU citizenship which is what I assume here then presenting the Greek passport and supporting local documents isn't enough? Or, is it the case that something local like a missing local tax number, or even an accent telegraphed the situation.

With the US, it feels like everything is much more uniform with the tie back to a federal social security number. The SSN is universally requested for many types of financial and insurance setups.

In some places the family name tips them off. Like here in Thailand a Thai woman who is married to a westerner and has his last name will have to fill out a form stating whether or not they are a US person.

Lying to your bank is typically not a good strategy when it comes to compliance. You can get asked on a form and if you lie, they have a very good case later on to close your account.

Every bank I've opened an account with in recent years has asked multiple specific questions about any ties to the US during the account opening process. One even asked if I'd ever had a US telephone number or mailing address.

On bank forms you are asked to provide all your citizenships, tax IDs and explicitly if you are an "US person" covered by FATCA.

Lying on these forms is punishable under our AML/KYC regulations and exposes you to civil liability for damages.

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