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Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

nofreelunch.co.uk

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Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#161

Post by toss1 »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #149
belter wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in finance and I am not aware of jurisdictions that mandate 2 weeks time off. Can you mention one? I am aware of some recommendations but I have worked up to board level, and never see this being more than an excuse to not miss the next golf tournament.

I worked at a Wall St. trading firm (albeit not in the trading area), and a lot of the back office/audity type people were required to switch roles every so often, so that any little unforeseen way to steal money somehow wasn't overlooked and "hoarded" by one person. In addition to multiple people having to sign off various things, etc. IIRC, there were mandatory PTO/vacations required as well, so that everyone's job…

Yup, control counts a lot! Working at IBM just our of college, someone several levels up was getting a promotion for discovering an interesting loophole. Apparently, he'd discovered a way that four people could collaborate to exfiltrate just under $25 million (several decades ago) on Friday, and could be out of the country by Monday before it was noticed. The controls were previously good enough that it would take no less than 4 people cooperating. Obviously, he reported it, and this was good for a skip-level promotion.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#162

Post by npteljes »

nicgrev103 wrote: post #82
npteljes wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So, when it's the bank doing it it's ok but a bank employee doing it independently for personal gain it's an issue. Yes, this is correct. The bank does it in a somewhat government controlled fashion, with checks and balances, which the world has been fighting for a millennia, if not more. And the guy inside does it with stolen money, for personal gain. Consent, for one, is a difference between the two actions, if we…

I'm not sure how many people know this is what the bank is doing with their deposits, making consent difficult.

I believe that people have the opportunity to learn about banks' dealings, which is to an extent mandated by law. This can't be said about the person stealing the funds for their high-risk investment.

Consent is a difficult topic though, I agree. For example, what choice does a person have, not use banks at all? I don't think that's realistic.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#165

Post by whycome »

toogan wrote: post #14
sherlock_h wrote: post #11

Too bad it doesn’t say how he actually got found out. I imagine he could have gotten away with it if he had gradually reduced his theft of coins over 2-3 years, then quit the job and moved somewhere else. I’m pretty sure there’s tons of schemes like this that aren’t ever found out.

> Too bad it doesn’t say how he actually got found out. Hm? It does: > In 1993, with the red flags mounting up, the city authorities hired private investigators to observe Kara, which finally caught him in the act.

That's fairly vague though. What red flags? How were they novel?

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#166

Post by [deleted] »

hoseja wrote: post #75
npteljes wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So, when it's the bank doing it it's ok but a bank employee doing it independently for personal gain it's an issue. Yes, this is correct. The bank does it in a somewhat government controlled fashion, with checks and balances, which the world has been fighting for a millennia, if not more. And the guy inside does it with stolen money, for personal gain. Consent, for one, is a difference between the two actions, if we…

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#167

Post by stephen_g »

nicgrev103 wrote: post #66
mrtksn wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually pretty common criminal activity in banking, where an employee will take money from accounts of clients and "gamble" it on high-return short term investments. Obviously I won't be naming Banks here but what usually happens is: 1) If they succeed in their investment they put the money back and walk out rich. Their venture can be detected during an audit some time later but if there's no money missing th…

Isn't this literally what banks do? Take peoples deposits paying a minimal interest rate and then invest that money to earn a return higher than the interest rate they pay the customer (they actually will also borrow more money on the back of your deposit). So, when it's the bank doing it it's ok but a bank employee doing it independently for personal gain it's an issue. The book deal aspect was interesting also. So,…

It’s what investment banks do, but it’s not how retail banking works.

Retail banks hold their assets in various forms (central bank reserves, bonds etc.) but can’t really ‘invest’ because they can’t accept the risk.

They make most of their money on lending, but can’t actually “lend deposits” because they are on the wrong side of the balance sheet. The bank levers up capital (money that shareholders have put in as well as retained earnings from previous years) to lend from.

Deposits do count as liquidity and are a fairly inexpensive form of it, which is why banks want you to move money into them and pay interest to encourage you to not transfer them out.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#169

Post by whycome »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #160
whycome wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like all current Canadian coins can be picked up -- $1, $2 .25, .05, .10. (couldn't test pennies as Canada hasn't had them for a while). I suspect US quarters would have the same makeup

US quarters cannot be picked up by magnets.

Interesting that they exist interchangeably in all vending machines, etc in Canada.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#170

Post by _heimdall »

mrtksn wrote: post #69
nicgrev103 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this literally what banks do? Take peoples deposits paying a minimal interest rate and then invest that money to earn a return higher than the interest rate they pay the customer (they actually will also borrow more money on the back of your deposit). So, when it's the bank doing it it's ok but a bank employee doing it independently for personal gain it's an issue. The book deal aspect was interesting also. So,…

Yes but banks do it within a legal framework that moderates the risk(at least in theory) and people know what they are signing into and what are their guarantees. You don't see too many banks collapsing, don't you? When it happens, its a big deal like with the SVB earlier last year. It's also what Sam Bankman-Fried and others did in exchanges that acted as unregulated banks. The system is not perfect and there are ma…

I'm not so sure most people know what they're signing up for when opening a bank account. I also don't think banks particularly hide it, but I'd be surprised if the average person realizes that their checking and savings accounts are only IOUs or that money lent out for a mortgage likely didn't exist until they signed closing documents.
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