It looks liek this entire article has been deleted after he changed the post content
Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
151–160 of 180 posts
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your assertion regarding adult CNP risk is incorrect, they do in fact have much higher levels of fraud and chargebacks. The card networks came down on this category because of chargebacks, not because porn is bad. I would also point out Adult CNP is far from the only category to get this treatment, but they are one of the only high risk categories that have four major banks more than happy to take their business. Tra…
This analysis is still missing something essential. "Adult merchants are more likely to have chargebacks" is akin to saying "Blacks are more likely to commit violent crimes". In terms of overall statistics, it's factually true, but there's still something reprehensible about judging individuals this way. When I was at kink.com (10 years ago), our chargeback rate was tiny - lower than most online businesses, and nowhe…
I think your complaint is fair regarding being lumped in despite a history of good citizenship, and I agree and add that the card networks were definitely a bit thoughtless during the adult crackdown in 2002. They have since offloaded most of this risk management process to specialty processors that do take good citizenship into account, rare as it is in Adult CNP. All high-risk means now is a couple thousand dollar startup fee and quicker turnaround through chargeback/fraud remediation programs.
Also, banks aren’t limited by anyone to a certain percentage of high risk merchant accounts currently, I am not sure if they had that limitation 10 years ago. There are certain banks, that I have interviewed extensively for my cases, that almost exclusively process cards for high-risk accounts.
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
The elements for federal and state money laundering charges would be there. Lying to a bank, in a tri-partite merchant account agreement, email, or phone call, and then obtaining services from that bank, can come down on you as bank fraud, wire fraud, or mail fraud. Once you’re buttoned up on fraud, subsequent transfers of funds can be charged as money laundering. This is true for most states and under federal law. I…
Bundling a physical good with a digital one has been done before, so if I understand correctly the only problem here is that the usage of a t-shirt is purely to circumvent the ban from the bank (due to high chargeback rate)... In that case, and theoretically, bundling the physical good with a digital access right from the start would be perfectly legal right? It would still be a dodgy way to reduce chargebacks, but a…
Yes, good faith bundling is just fine, just a business decision as far as I’m concerned, and if it reduces your chargebacks, good!
Circumvention and deception (which require clear intent, hence the emails) are the issue.
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work on money laundering cases. What the poster admitted to doing, particularly in the comments section, reads like money laundering. I have used emails more vague than this write-up against defendants in money laundering cases. The underlying crime would be bank fraud, wire fraud, or mail fraud, or all three, depending on how a particular merchant account was opened, how transactions were processed, and who the pa…
You created your account 3 hours ago, with a creative name and then annonymously post you work on money laundering cases ... As if that is supposed to add credit or show some sort of background. You are anonymous, don't try and take some high ground to reinforce an invalid argument.
Fair criticism regarding anonymity. You can disregard my comments if that is an issue, but I would prefer to engage on this topic on equal footing and put aside any claimed background, if that works for you. Can you explain what it is that you think is invalid regarding money laundering with fraud as the underlying crime? Or, if another point I made was invalid, what that was?
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is “the credit card database?” What country is this? In the US we only have credit reports, which are tied to SSN. Do you mean you had to give your SSN to receive a prepaid card? That doesn’t seem right.
Yes, this was in the US. And yes, I had to give SSN. As far as I understand this requirement was added sometime around 2011.
I bought a prepaid visa after such time and had no requirement
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#156Mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20180809104802/https://dev.to/jw...
Thanks! I arrived late to the party.
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, definitely. I barely use Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies at all (because USD works great for everything I do), but cryptocurrencies are perfect for this industry because they are - fast enough. 15 minutes to validate a transaction is sufficient for a porn site. - as certain as wiring money. There's no chance a customer can force money back from you once paid. - anonymous. Your wife won't find out in a bank st…
> anonymous. Your wife won't find out in a bank statement, so less chance of "fake-angry" customers trying to force money back. Right, she'll think you're buying drugs instead when she sees the charge for cryptocurrency.
You can just say you heard about all this cryptocurrency craze and wanted to try and get rich too.
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is “the credit card database?” What country is this? In the US we only have credit reports, which are tied to SSN. Do you mean you had to give your SSN to receive a prepaid card? That doesn’t seem right.
Yes, this was in the US. And yes, I had to give SSN. As far as I understand this requirement was added sometime around 2011.
I’ve never had to give a SSN when buying prepaid Visa cards as gifts. I’ve ofter given them to minors as gifts.
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#159Update: I found an archived link [2] as I scrolled further below.
I may have missed the boat as this is what can be seen on the original post:
"I've deleted the post because some of you are [insert expletive]. The client I do work for is not doing anything illegal. There's no money laundering going on. It's a more legit business than some big-chain stores I shop at."
Anybody care to provide a gist of what was originally posted? Tried cached version [1] but contents are still the same.
[1 https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qqZZR3... [2] https://archive.is/mP6Ky
Re: Programming in the Adult Entertainment Industry Is Broken
#160We're what's broken. Our prudish approach to adult entertainment. "Joe" would have a happier life if he and his wife were open about how much money they were each spending on porn. They might learn something about each other. Hiding it in layers of shell billing companies isn't just ridiculous at the technical level described here, it's unhealthy . Also needs to be noted that —as others have said— card processing com…
Your assertion regarding adult CNP risk is incorrect, they do in fact have much higher levels of fraud and chargebacks. The card networks came down on this category because of chargebacks, not because porn is bad. I would also point out Adult CNP is far from the only category to get this treatment, but they are one of the only high risk categories that have four major banks more than happy to take their business. Tra…
> they do in fact have much higher levels of fraud and chargebacks
Sorry, but [citation needed]. I don't agree with your assertion. I've seen horrible chargeback rates in apps and non-adult VoD. As high as 4.something percent at one point for one developer. The problem: kids. The lack of control over the payment process was killing him.
And that's the thing, it's not 1999 any more. You can improve chargeback rates by collecting more data, forcing 3DS, forcing AVS, SMS verification, doing statement charge verification (old school), fingerprinting every authenticated transaction. If my business and my processor's continued business depends on it, I can get beyond reasonable doubt and prove it's you making a transaction. That means a lot more drop-off (AVS alone can be 5%) but chargebacks past that are either your fault or stupidly simple to refute with evidence.
But many processors are still just unwilling.
The only way things become more reasonable is that we stop forcing otherwise legitimate adult content sites into the arms of companies that coast along on decades-old tech, making the good actors pay to offset the bad actors' actions.
Until then, when we can have mainstream processors allay risk fairly, putting a spur-of-the-moment sub-$1 micro-transaction through isn't viable and that's where porn's going to explode.