I put "Crimea" in a venmo transfer to my own wife and they will no longer allow me to transfer funds to her.

I'm American. I went on a trip to Cuba for a free software conference, and someone from the conference borrowed a few Cuban Pesos from me to get some food before going to the airport. Later he sent me USD on Venmo for "Cuban cash transfer" and they threatened to close his account, but he managed to convince them that he was sending me money for lunch at a Cuban restaurant in the US. Ever since then, I'm cautious about descriptions when I Venmo people money.

For some real fun start quoting koranic poetry and start listing random sites in yemen and pakistan.

Get ready for your account to be closed suddenly without warning over the next few years.

Never forget.. It's not personal. It's just a process who wants to shed potential liability by applying pressure on individuals involved. Wouldn't be necessary if we had banking secrecy.

Vice did a writeup where a reporter did this just to see what happened and it ended with the associated funds effectively seized.

Maybe they've gotten more permissive but don't do this with money you can't afford to lose.

I'm an American and so I totally get what you're saying and in principle you're absolutely right, but that's not the way I roll anymore.

I want to be as under the radar as I can be when it comes to stuff like this. My attitude is that the bank already knows too much about me, why give them more rope?