Payment Regulatory Insanity Two: A Dog Named Dash

Two weeks ago, we told you the tale of PayPal's Venmo going overboard with compliance efforts, when it delayed any transaction that mentioned the word "Persian." Not wanting to be outdone by any PayPal division, Chase has decided to top Venmo in the craziness department. Chase's entry? It blocked the money transfer of a 55-year-old sufferer of muscular dystrophy, who was paying someone to walk his service dog and the dog's name is Dash. Seems that the bank saw Dash as code for Daesh, the Arabic term for the Islamic State aka ISIS.

A few initial takes. First, Daesh may sometimes be pronounced "dash" but it's never spelled that way. Secondly, really? If I pay someone to walk a dog named SPOT, it's probably not an acronym for Special People Overthrowing Turkey. And third, let's go again with "really?" But wait: this story gets even better with the details.