In February Zimbabweans with Skrill accounts received an email informing them that Skrill would be shutting down their accounts on the 20th of April. No reason was given but we speculated that this could be directly or indirectly because of sanctions.
What Skrill said
We regret to inform you that Skrill will soon cease to provide services to customers registered in your country.
Your account will stay active until 20 April 2021. On this date, your Skrill account will automatically be closed. Until 20 April 2021, you will still be able to transact and withdraw funds from your account, but you will not be able to upload further funds to your account.
Part of the email from Skrill on the issue
This is hasn’t happened yet but…
According to the email from Skrill, Zimbabwean accounts would be closed on 20 April. It’s 23 April, which means that date passed, but the closing of accounts hasn’t happened yet. If you have a Zimbabwean account you can still login, deposit funds, send money to other Skrill accounts and even withdraw from Forex trading and gambling sites.
You shouldn’t continue using your account though. One Skrill user reached out to Skrill to find out what is going on and this is what Skrill had to say.
Dear XX;
Thank you for contacting the Skrill Help Team.
Further to your inquiry, please note that Skrill no longer provide services in your country of residence. This might change in the future as our business is constantly expanding. You are able to send funds to another Skrill Account users, but please note that we do not provide any withdrawal for your country of residence and you might end up with a blocked amount.
We hope you find this information useful.
Kind regards,
XXX
Skrill Help Team
What Skrill had to say about Zimbabwean account
So your account might be working now but if you keep using it there is a real chance that your account will be frozen with your money still in it. In cases like this, it usually takes months for the funds to be unfrozen. That’s a predicament you do not want to find in trust me.
For most purposes, this shouldn’t be a problem as entities like Forex trading platforms usually provide multiple options for you to withdraw including Bitcoin. You can easily withdraw your funds to a Bitcoin wallet instead. Liquidating the funds back to RTGS or USD should not be too difficult as Zimbabwe has a vibrant peer to peer Bitcoin trading community. A fact we explored in a previous article.
What’s your take? Cancel reply