As much as I'd like computer security to become a solved problem, this outlook is ignoring the banks role in the transaction. In my opinion banks don't go far e

As much as I'd like computer security to become a solved problem, this outlook is ignoring the banks role in the transaction. In my opinion banks don't go far enough to verify identity or to verify a transaction is legitimate. The fact that someone who has never met me can walk into a bank with some pieces of information they got on the Internet and open a new bank account or credit card is scary. That's why it's so easy to refund this fraud, because banks don't want people to realize that their security is just a bunch of meaningless paperwork. I also don't think people losing their life savings will change anything. Ponzi schemes are still a big thing, MLM is still a big thing, Nigerian princes are still a big thing, and people lose it all through those scams constantly. The state of bank security is so bad that every time I write a check, I'm giving the recipient my bank's name, my account number, my home address, and my signature. That's a lot of sensitive information that a phisher could do some real damage with. Ultimately, if a fraudulent transaction clears the bank, it is the bank's fault. It's their job to verify transactions and verify identity before clearing the transaction. In a perfect world, financial malware would cease to exist because bank security was locked down so tight that fraudulent transactions would never clear.