You can't have it both ways! It seems to me like Etsy's silence is the opposite of an accusation, and whatever investigation they're doing, they don't want these sellers to flip out any more than necessary!
Also, these sound like reasons to me:
> Etsy's payment policy states the reasons for putting money on hold include a sudden increase in sales, a shop having only made its first sale recently, the shop committing a "policy violation" or "other risk factors".
Etsy's interest in fraud prevention goes to their reputation as a marketplace, and their relationship with legitimate sellers, buyers, and their payment processor, and any other third-party services in the loop. If Etsy doesn't accurately detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, then their bank and payment processors will ban Etsy for fraud, and I think that would really suck for 100% of sellers!
It is not easy for Etsy to bank-switch. They can't just POKE a register.
Also, some of those reasons aren't necessarily fraud, just indicators. It's a "Yield" sign to slow things down until they can check it out. I mean, do you realize the scale of this platform?
Personal gain, my foot.