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Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

propublica.org

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Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#81

Post by ljm »

csense wrote: post #9

> In October, the U.K. began requiring banks to reimburse scam victims up to £85,000, or about $116,000, per claim when they make a fraudulent payment on behalf of their customers, even if the customers authorized the transfer. How does the bank verify the scammer and the "victim" aren't colluding? I.e. Mal opens a bank account with $100k, it gets cleaned out when he's "scammed" by Eve, then Mal is reimbursed $100k.…

They’re pretty on-the-ball with fraud. People are commonly scammed into being a money mule (basically being sent money and then being asked to send it on to another account, with the promise of payment) and they get locked out.

They’re not going to just take your word at being scammed, either, and the police are going to be involved for it to even get off the ground.

To add to that - there are several barriers to taking out large amounts of cash. You can’t just walk into a bank and pull out £10k, no questions asked, because of the likelihood of it being part of a scam.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#82

Post by throwaway48476 »

mschuster91 wrote: post #6

I've said it before here, I'll say it again: it is high time that our governments follow the money and the scammers. Sanction the source countries of these scams to hell and beyond until they clean up their act and pray in front of us on their knees for forgiveness. And yes, I'd like particularly Narendra Modi to kneel - it's hard to wish anything else after watching more than two Scammer Payback videos. Obviously In…

Scamming is a large fraction of GDP in some countries.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#83

Post by throwaway48476 »

tantalor wrote: post #69
downrightmike wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to look it up: The term "anarcho-tyranny" was coined by writer Sam Francis to describe a situation where a state oppresses citizens' lives but is unable or unwilling to enforce laws that protect them. Francis believed that anarcho-tyranny is built into the managerial system and cannot be solved by voting out incumbents or fighting corruption. He argued that the political left has dominated politics because of a…

The best defense to scams is to not fall for scams.

The best defense to scams is maintaining a high trust society.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#84

Post by throwaway48476 »

commandlinefan wrote: post #53
mschuster91 wrote: post #6

I've said it before here, I'll say it again: it is high time that our governments follow the money and the scammers. Sanction the source countries of these scams to hell and beyond until they clean up their act and pray in front of us on their knees for forgiveness. And yes, I'd like particularly Narendra Modi to kneel - it's hard to wish anything else after watching more than two Scammer Payback videos. Obviously In…

> Sanction the source countries According to the article, this is originating in China - we're sanctioning them pretty hard as it is, and they don't seem to care that much.

Usually Chinese but not located in China proper.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#85

Post by adrr »

unboxingelf wrote: post #4
supportengineer wrote: post #2

I thought that US banks had to know their customers

KYC only hurts law abiding citizens. Criminals just use stolen identities (from breaches of KYC data).

Depends on the level of KYC. If you're just doing social and birthdate, its easy to bypass. You could add additional checks like check phone and email which are readily available from data brokers. You could send a physical mail to the address in the credit report with a PIN. It depends on level of the level friction you want your KYC program to go. When I built a KYC at a neobank, we focused more on verifying that you were in the US. We could detect proxies and if you make the signup in a mobile app, you can pin the cert which will stop automated attacks. We relied on fingerprinting devices but a lot of methods don't work due to mobile OS providers cracking down on them.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#86

Post by throwaway48476 »

keutoi wrote: post #41
_zagj wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's strange how some of these countries don't take action on their own behalf, if only to preserve their international reputation and the reputation of their citizens abroad. India is a great example. Do Indians not realize how much damage they've done to their reputation by allowing scam call centers to flourish? Are they not aware of > DO NOT REDEEM Imagine Americans living in small towns with few to no Indians, a…

_Allowing scam call centers to flourish_. How much control does an average citizen have over these criminal enterprises? Does an average US citizen know/care/take-action when mercenaries from their country topple governments of other countries? As long as the crime is not visible, they just enjoy fruits of their crimes.

India claims to be a democracy.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#87

Post by fallingknife »

downrightmike wrote: post #60
mouse_ wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gotta love anarcho tyranny

I had to look it up: The term "anarcho-tyranny" was coined by writer Sam Francis to describe a situation where a state oppresses citizens' lives but is unable or unwilling to enforce laws that protect them. Francis believed that anarcho-tyranny is built into the managerial system and cannot be solved by voting out incumbents or fighting corruption. He argued that the political left has dominated politics because of a…

The left has done more damage you our education system by removing standards and getting rid of separate schools for the smartest students than the right ever could by cutting funding. Most recently in California they got rid of calculus class in high school. Meanwhile we continue to increase spending and are near the highest in the world and our education system is trash https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd/education-exp...

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#88

Post by alyandon »

danielodievich wrote: post #76

The 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…

You wasted their time delaying them moving on to someone else. Mission accomplished.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#89

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

coderatlarge wrote: post #5
supportengineer wrote: post #2

I thought that US banks had to know their customers

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.

I honestly want slower transactions as a service. If I get hacked, my accounts are going to be drained in milliseconds. Instead, I want specific accounts to have a minimum N days to money extraction. Lots of time for me to be able to put a halt on unexpected money movement.

Re: Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans

#90

Post by fredfish »

Tadpole9181 wrote: post #72
dgfitz wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I had a bank VP tell me Bill Clinton fixed the US' deficit by moving tax settling to be immediate on them. The strings of my little fiddle broke.
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