I thought that US banks had to know their customers
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Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
71–80 of 142 posts
Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
US banks are too busy delaying their customers’ ach transfers for days so they can profit from the float to actually solve customer problems and take responsibility for the many societal benefits they enjoy.
Don't know if this is true, but I read this a few years ago, top answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/se51wb/e...
I've seen a "pay me a few bucks and I'll do it instantly", so pretty sure it's not a technical issue. It's a "we can charge a few bucks if we don't fix it" issue.
Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#73This is an earnest request. Please help me understand the mindset of people who fall for pig butchering scams. The thought of giving money to a stranger who I met via a dating app or other social media platform who shifted the conversation to WeChat and asked me to wire money to a bank account is so incomprehensible to me that the mind of someone who would do that is entirely different to how mine is constructed phys…
The trick is that they don't feel like an unsolicited stranger. The stories you read about these scams summarize away weeks or months of talking, flirting, maybe falling in love a little bit, until they're not a stranger but your very cute and very rich friend. What does work is an absolute, ironclad rule that I do not trust and am not friends with anyone I meet online until we've met multiple times in person. But th…
>What does work is an absolute, ironclad rule that I do not trust and am not friends with anyone I meet online until we've met multiple times in person
That's a good rule and should be common sense for all internet users.
Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#74Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#75This is an earnest request. Please help me understand the mindset of people who fall for pig butchering scams. The thought of giving money to a stranger who I met via a dating app or other social media platform who shifted the conversation to WeChat and asked me to wire money to a bank account is so incomprehensible to me that the mind of someone who would do that is entirely different to how mine is constructed phys…
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Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#76The Economist's Scam Inc podcast (mentioned elsewhere in this discussion too) has fascinating (and very troubling) insights into this.
I have sons heading to college this and next year and I have tried to prepare them for the world of scamming that exists out there. I sure hope I've done enough.
Just a few minutes ago I had a scam text that pig butchering begins. I typically delete them immediately but this time just to see what happens I wrote back in several languages aggressively counter-offering to teach them how to buy crypto. I got a puzzled response, then a picture of a waifish asian woman on restaraunt balcony, I think it's AI generated, but it doesn't matter, and then after me clearly not biting a "Fuck you". I wrote "I feel for you doing pig butchering, but its not going to work here", translated it to Chinese and sent that, and got back another "Fuck you", this time in Chinese. ... Now that I typed this out, I realize this was kind of pointless exchange
Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#77AMLKYC always seemed obviously backward or ridiculous to me. The fact that banks are essentially tasked with enforcing laws is... a crutch to say the least.
Analogies are by definition imperfect but:
1. why not point the finger at ATT and Verizon for allowing phone calls and IP packets that facilitated crime?
2. toll road owners, car/truck manufacturers, UPS, USPS, should they be tasked with "knowing" more about their customers?
All this just ends up blaming the victim and doesn't really fix the problem while having massive collateral damage like folks having their bank accounts closed for no good reason and causing real losses to actual businesses.
What's the solution? I'm not sure. Perhaps it begins with holding countries more to account for the actions of their resident criminals.
Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#78I thought that US banks had to know their customers
The banks have some responsibility here, and the article brings this up. The banks' response involved saying they can't keep up with volume and shifts blame to social media for some reason.
You gotta understand, there's the law, then there's enforcement of laws, then there's punishments for getting caught breaking the law. The banks have done the math. Maybe they've even lobbied to have the penalties/enforcers reduced. It doesn't pay for them to follow this law strictly, so they don't. You'll find this across the legal system. It comes down hard on the poor and marginalized, but gives a lot of grace to the rich, even if at our expense.
Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#79This will continue to happen until all foreign transactions are insured and reversible.
Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans
#80AMLKYC always seemed obviously backward or ridiculous to me. The fact that banks are essentially tasked with enforcing laws is... a crutch to say the least. Analogies are by definition imperfect but: 1. why not point the finger at ATT and Verizon for allowing phone calls and IP packets that facilitated crime? 2. toll road owners, car/truck manufacturers, UPS, USPS, should they be tasked with "knowing" more about thei…
This is what happens when a high trust society suddenly comes into contact with a low trust society. The systems that worked fine can't keep up with the scale of fraud.