Online bank Bunq has been contacting its social media critics directly and, in several cases, threatening to cancel their accounts, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday.

Wikipedia editor Alyx Buckmann was contacted by the bank and found herself in a lengthy conversation with one of its employees after she made a few criticial edits to Bunq’s page on the online encyclopaedia.

Despite editing the page from her anonymous account, the bank apparently figured out Buckmann’s identity because she uses the same username on both Wikipedia and in the Bunq app. She says the employee wanted to know why she was criticising the bank and kept asking her questions for over an hour.

Buckmann reached out to the bank’s legal team and helped launch an investigation on Wikipedia as she looked into how Bunq determined her identity.

That investigation suggested the bank may have used its own anonymous editors to remove her edits and those made by others during a effort to remove critical content from the site.

However, in an email to Buckmann, Bunq’s legal chief denied these claims. “We adhere to Wikipedia’s guidelines for editing,” she was told.

The site’s rules dictate that companies are not allowed to edit, delete, or add content to their own Wikipedia pages. Accounts affiliated with those that do are typically blocked.

Bunq’s current Wikipedia page includes all the criticism which has been made against it.

Other critics have reported that they too have been contacted by Bunq’s employees. An anonymous Reddit user said they received a chat message after complaining about the bank’s poor customer service. They say the employee demanded that both him and his colleagues at Bunq be treated with more respect.

“If you don’t, our relationship with you will be terminated,” the employee said. “We hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Pieter Wolters, an associate professor at Radboud University who specialises in online privacy and cybersecurity told the NRC Bunq is allowed to use customer data under certain conditions. “But you have to weigh the interests of the bank against the interests of the customers involved,” he told the paper.

Criticism

Bunq has courted negative attention in recent years for allegations that have included allowing criminals to use its network, and widespread fraud among its users. Its poor customer service and lax security have also been criticised.

Last June, a report in the NRC showed that several of the bank’s employees had snooped into customer accounts to learn the salaries of colleagues and keep tab on former lovers.

Bunq took legal action against NRC following the report, but lost in court.

Also in June, Bunq was forced to up its security measures after an investigation by broadcaster NOS and the NRC found dozens of people had lost millions of euros to scammers from their Bunq accounts.