(Yicai Global) May 11 -- China Construction Bank, a major lender in China, has responded to several clients' inquiries about "frozen" bank accounts for security checks.  

The state-backed bank has denied a broader regulator-led freeze as instead the precautionary measures were taken by local branches, Yicai Global learned from a customer service employee. 

Several people in Yunnan province recently posted on Weibo that the Beijing-based lender has frozen their accounts. The bank worker said that such precautionary measures take place more in the southwestern province as it is near the border.

Cardholders should come to their banks to apply for reopened access with their IDs and other necessary documents, the staffer said. However, if judicial or public security departments have indeed frozen the account, the cardholder should call the lender's customer service to find out more about the reason.

Banks tend to halt transactions or change the upper limits of owners of cards that have not been used for a long time, show suspicious transactions, or lack complete identity information, the person added. 

Several authorities, including the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the central bank jointly launched a campaign in October 2020 to crack down on illegal sales of SIM and bank cards to prevent fraud and money laundering.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi