3 ms·

Basically anything that is directly exchangeable for cash or useful goods and services is useful for money laundering, I would imagine. If you can fill one wit

by ska 7y ago

Basically anything that is directly exchangeable for cash or useful goods and services is useful for money laundering, I would imagine. If you can fill one with stolen CC details and then either cash out in a store or sell for a discount, that's a pretty basic launder, no?

drewg123 7y ago
Being able to cash out a gift card seems like an interesting way to get a cash advance on your credit card, without paying cash advance fees. Surely the credit card companies are on to this, and prevent it somehow?
- ska 7y ago
  I'm not sure how many jurisdictions force them to allow cashing out. If I recall correctly California law says they have to, but only for relatively low value ($10 or $5 ?) so not sure how effective that is. So I doubt the CC companies are too concerned. Of course if you are selling them below face value and it wasn't your card, its a different calculus.
- gruez 7y ago
  There's a list of goods[1] that are classified as "cash-like" and are treated like cash advances when you purchase them. They don't really try too hard to crack down on this though, because there's little point. After all, you can always get a cash advance for free by going into a store and offer to pay for someone's purchase in exchange for cash (and a little discount). [1] https://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/spending_transactions/cash-like-transactions https://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/spending_transaction...
gruez 7y ago
>If you can fill one with stolen CC details and then either cash out in a store or sell for a discount, that's a pretty basic launder, no? that just sounds like credit card fraud and fencing[1]. if you replaced starbucks card with something else that's valuable (eg. beats headphones), would you still call it money laundering? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fence_(criminal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fence_(criminal)

by ska 7y ago

drewg123 7y ago

Being able to cash out a gift card seems like an interesting way to get a cash advance on your credit card, without paying cash advance fees. Surely the credit card companies are on to this, and prevent it somehow?

ska 7y ago
I'm not sure how many jurisdictions force them to allow cashing out. If I recall correctly California law says they have to, but only for relatively low value ($10 or $5 ?) so not sure how effective that is. So I doubt the CC companies are too concerned. Of course if you are selling them below face value and it wasn't your card, its a different calculus.
gruez 7y ago
There's a list of goods[1] that are classified as "cash-like" and are treated like cash advances when you purchase them. They don't really try too hard to crack down on this though, because there's little point. After all, you can always get a cash advance for free by going into a store and offer to pay for someone's purchase in exchange for cash (and a little discount). [1] https://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/spending_transactions/cash-like-transactions https://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/spending_transaction...

gruez 7y ago

>If you can fill one with stolen CC details and then either cash out in a store or sell for a discount, that's a pretty basic launder, no? that just sounds like credit card fraud and fencing[1]. if you replaced starbucks card with something else that's valuable (eg. beats headphones), would you still call it money laundering? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fence_(criminal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fence_(criminal)