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Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

bbc.com

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Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#381

Post by nickpp »

k1musab1 wrote: post #318
bko wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a benefit to having a service tied to the individual receiving the service. For starters it put price pressure and competition on providing the service. When someone else is paying for something you don't have a signal of efficacy, in terms of pricing or quality. To put another way, if I were facing some terminal illness I would want to have full control of picking the service even if it costs money. Sure, I…

Time and time again large competing forces in the market are found to have colluded instead of directly competing with each other to drive price/cost down. What is it that still makes you believe that two (or n-number) of providers won't collude to charge an astronomical amount for a life-saving treatment?

> Time and time again large competing forces in the market are found to have colluded instead of directly competing with each other to drive price/cost down.

Collusion and cartels never work on the long run. It's an unstable equilibrium, the incentive to reduce prices to capture more market is too great.

> What is it that still makes you believe

Competition. It's the only force keeping humans honest. That's why we must treat any barriers of entry in a market with extreme care. The only "failed" or "captured" market is a strongly regulated one.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#382

Post by xgulfie »

jjcob wrote: post #57
throwaw12 wrote: post #34

I have reported these ads to YouTube multiple times, because I tracked down their scam websites, but YouTube didn't delete them anyway. Common pattern they had was: - similar or same domains - same messaging on their website YouTube could have taken action, but it choose not to

I'm still waiting for the tech world to wake up and realise that the online ad machinery and user tracking software that the brightest minds of our generation have been working on are just a way to efficiently connect scammers with their unsuspecting victims.

They already know. Meta estimates around 10% of its ad revenue comes from ads for scams or banned goods. https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortu...

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#384

Post by jgeada »

bko wrote: post #312
tchalla wrote: post #41

The root cause of the problem is that parents and children need to raise funds for cancer treatment in the first place.

There's a benefit to having a service tied to the individual receiving the service. For starters it put price pressure and competition on providing the service. When someone else is paying for something you don't have a signal of efficacy, in terms of pricing or quality. To put another way, if I were facing some terminal illness I would want to have full control of picking the service even if it costs money. Sure, I…

Because when you're dying you have no bargaining position. You can't just wait it out. And you're just a single client, whether you personally die or not does not meaningfully change their bottom line.

So it is a highly asymmetric bargaining situation where all the incentives are poorly aligned. Of course it is exploitative.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#385

Post by JumpCrisscross »

buellerbueller wrote: post #348
interstice wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only this was the actual standard for journalism and not copy pasting half understood content with additional spin.

If what you are typically reading is >[copypasta] half understood content with additional spin then what you are reading is not journalism.

> then what you are reading is not journalism

In most cases, if you aren't paying for it, it is not journalism.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#387

Post by contravariant »

tchalla wrote: post #41

The root cause of the problem is that parents and children need to raise funds for cancer treatment in the first place.

While that is indeed one of the causes, it does feel a bit like whataboutism to point it out on an article explaining the scam.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#388

Post by contravariant »

cheschire wrote: post #187
cluckindan wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then again, maybe we should keep ethics and morals away from law and sentencing, and concentrate on harm and intent. Laws can be based on ethics, but moral judgments really should not be involved in their application. Unless you want to live in a theocracy, of course.

What is the definition of right and wrong if NOT a moral one?

It is a moral one, but laws have no morality.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#389

Post by JumpCrisscross »

cluckindan wrote: post #158
gampleman wrote: post #151

Really makes me think that the justice system should have a wide margin for discretionary sentencing. I get that in some sense fraud is fraud, but there is one thing preying on people's greed, and another preying on compassion, charity and vulnerable children in desperate need. Scams based on greed (or other vices) are in some sense limited crimes, since their success punishes what is low, but scams based on what is…

Then again, maybe we should keep ethics and morals away from law and sentencing, and concentrate on harm and intent. Laws can be based on ethics, but moral judgments really should not be involved in their application. Unless you want to live in a theocracy, of course.

> maybe we should keep ethics and morals away from law and sentencing, and concentrate on harm and intent

Retribution is a real component of justice. When it's ignored, people take the law into their own hands.

Harsher sentences for despicable crimes makes sense. Automatic sentence enhancers are cruel. But automatically giving the judge the power to sentence for longer based on the victim's profile is not.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#390

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Animats wrote: post #8

"The campaigns with the biggest apparent international reach were under the name of an organisation called Chance Letikva (Chance for Hope, in English) - registered in Israel and the US." Chance Letikva is registered with the US IRS as a charity. They've filed a Form 990. Location is Brooklyn, NY. [1] Address is listed. It's a small house. It's also incorporated as CHANCE LETIKVA, INC. in New York State. Address matc…

> Chance Letikva is registered with the US IRS as a charity

At what point do audit requirements kick in for charities?

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