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U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#91
post #25

Cryptocurrency enables a big part of this. Not saying that there weren't any wire scams before crypto, but crypto has made it much easier for average people to make anonymous international money transfers that can't be reversed. Not to start a big argument, but to my eyes the main usecases of cryptocurrency are to bet on them as a speculative asset or to use them for various forms of crime. Someone will probably tell…

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Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is, crypto makes irreversibility a fundamental part of the system, making it impossible for any party to unilaterally reverse a payment without having to first take over the entire chain. With regular fiat money and banks, such reversals are perfectly possible on a technical level. The banks are usually unwilling to do them, and an individual may not be able to force them to in practice, but it's still…

> The banks are usually unwilling to do them, and an individual may not be able to force them to in practice, but it's still possible in a way it's not possible with crypto. Generally they're unwilling to do that because it involves losing money for them. Transfers work in a multi-step process to ensure money isn't created. You tell Bank A to transfer money to person X at Bank B. Bank A tells an intermediary bank C t…

Right. Still, the whole thing is plugged into society at large, including court system, so ultimately the courts have the power to force anyone in the chain to give money back and eat the loss or argue to take it from elsewhere.

To the unending dismay of crypto fans, the same is true about cryptocurrency - but its design fundamentally gives the law less leverage and actual points an intervention could be made. That, plus the whole thing is very new. But that's just a transient state; this kind of immutability is not compatible with society or real life, so the only cryptocurrency-based systems that'll survive long term will be the ones that give up on the whole cryptoanarchy thing.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#93
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The banks here have said that if you get scammed and money has been transferred (no cryptocurrency involved), there's nothing they can do. It was a bit surprising to hear since you only hear cryptocurrency transactions being irreversible.

The difference is, crypto makes irreversibility a fundamental part of the system, making it impossible for any party to unilaterally reverse a payment without having to first take over the entire chain. With regular fiat money and banks, such reversals are perfectly possible on a technical level. The banks are usually unwilling to do them, and an individual may not be able to force them to in practice, but it's still…

Stellar XLM has reversibility but no one seemed interested in that

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#94
The US does not do enough in this space to punish companies. It feels like such low hanging fruit too that would significantly help the elderly population.

Reported to Vercel a bank phishing site weeks ago, no response still. It’s amazing how little companies care.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#95
post #25

Cryptocurrency enables a big part of this. Not saying that there weren't any wire scams before crypto, but crypto has made it much easier for average people to make anonymous international money transfers that can't be reversed. Not to start a big argument, but to my eyes the main usecases of cryptocurrency are to bet on them as a speculative asset or to use them for various forms of crime. Someone will probably tell…

use them for various forms of crime

It's not a coincidence that a guy who was found liable for financial fraud is reducing regulations around crypto currency and then launched a meme coin.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#96
post #25

Cryptocurrency enables a big part of this. Not saying that there weren't any wire scams before crypto, but crypto has made it much easier for average people to make anonymous international money transfers that can't be reversed. Not to start a big argument, but to my eyes the main usecases of cryptocurrency are to bet on them as a speculative asset or to use them for various forms of crime. Someone will probably tell…

Reason of most scams is the absurd level of trust existing in Western countries. When i first saw Upwork where hours were paid by the tracker in a guaranteed manner and people SIGNED for it, i knew West was doomed. I still find it hard to believe people can be that easy to dupe. Level of trust in the Western societies needs to be radically reduced through government propaganda, church and other channels. The world ha…

I think the underlying concept you're looking for is corruption versus rule of law. Blaming the victim versus expecting consequences for the perpetrator etc.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced the same thing in my family. It sucks. I still haven't fully forgiven them (the supposed victim). As much as I agree it's partially mental decline, it's hard for me to imagine it's not at least also partially a character flaw that would get you into this situation

I, tiptoeing here, kind of agree. Am I missing something or do these scams operate on a person's greed? To be sure, I invest in order to see a return. That's greed, I guess? Or maybe not? I think having (unrealistic) expectations of doubling your money in anything shorter than ... about a decade ... should be sending up red flags for anyone. "Make money fast" should fire the same neurons as "Put it all on zero and sp…

Scams operate on any character flaw, with varying degrees of effort required. They exploit the human mind. They might target greed, or loneliness, or insecurity, or even fear of loss.

But we all have character flaws. Everyone. So we are all vulnerable. Not to the same scams, but to some scams.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#98
post #4

Don't fall into the trap: Government penalizing private parties without due process can be appealing when it's a private party you don't like, but even those people deserve due process - that's the point, everyone does. Also it's arbitrary, unchecked power that is used for corrupt purposes, and by supporting it in a situation where you like to see it, you are legitimizing that power in every case. Edit: It's tough to…

Seems like some process was followed here to me.

FBI investigated a bunch of scams and found somebody assisted scammers. It's not like they pulled a name out of a hat and sanctioned them.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A high trust society is actually a good trait, not a bad one. It’s rather easy, lazy even, for a culture to devolve into a low trust minima. That’s basically the default state that people have endeavoured to evolve out of. I think it’s also the kind of thing that can easily overwhelm anxious minds. The kind where “what if it’s a scam?” leads them to never taking a risk, donating to a cause, doing someone a favour. No…

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Why would they come here for those reasons? We actually have decently functioning courts and relatively much lower corruption. If they wanted to get rich dishonestly, they would be much better served paying off regulators and politicians in their home countries where those practices are more normalized and less subject to enforcement agencies given some measure of independence through public service unions.

Re: U.S. sanctions cloud provider 'Funnull' as top source of 'pig butchering' scams

#100
post #25

Cryptocurrency enables a big part of this. Not saying that there weren't any wire scams before crypto, but crypto has made it much easier for average people to make anonymous international money transfers that can't be reversed. Not to start a big argument, but to my eyes the main usecases of cryptocurrency are to bet on them as a speculative asset or to use them for various forms of crime. Someone will probably tell…

Whether you see international money transfers outside of the government control as a positive or negative force largely depends on how much you trust your government. How much it should limit things for your own safety? I suspect that for majority of the earth population the trust level is rather low, even though in some countries it could be different.

For the majority of the earth population, this is not a concern. Yes, things may get fuzzy around an inflection point, but for most people, their concerns fall way short of that.
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