​How to lock your Luno account (if you notice suspicious activity)

There are two sides to keeping your cryptocurrency safe. There are the (many) things Luno does to protect your money. Then there’s what you can (and should) do to secure your account.

How to protect your Luno account

Remember, cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible. If someone steals your Bitcoin or Ethereum, it’s difficult to get it back. That’s why you need to be extra careful to protect yourself against scams.

These resources are your first line of defence:

1. Learn how to identify common cryptocurrency scams
2. Secure your email, social and Luno accounts against hacking
3. Learn how to identify phishing scams (especially phishing ads)
4. Enable two-factor authentication (do it now)

If you didn’t take these precautions and have noticed suspicious activity on your Luno account, we now provide you with one additional option: locking your account.

How to lock your Luno account – and why

If you suspect that someone gained unauthorised access to your Luno account (that you’ve been hacked or fallen victim to fraud), you can temporarily suspend your account by locking it. You will see a link in notification emails:

What does account locking do?

Locking your account will disable most features on your Luno account for even days, including:

• Buying, selling or trading
• Sending cryptocurrency
• Withdrawing local currency
• Using the Luno Exchange or API

Once your account has been locked, you should immediately secure it, which we explain in this article.

For security reasons, your account will remain locked for a period of seven days, so you should only use this as a last resort. The Luno Community team won’t be able to unlock it, either. After seven days, you’ll have full access to your account again.

Please see our Help Centre for more security information