4 ms·

Can someone explain to me why doesn't he use his existing cash to buy stuff?

botwriter 6y ago
Would make sense if he withdrew small amounts from an ATM incrementally, but if he withdrew say $5k and then his web footprint went dead it draws a lot of red flags. Although it depends who your adversary is at the end of the day.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  People commonly withdraw thousands of dollars and then disappear from online banking or bank-card use, if they leave to travel for some months in e.g. sub-Saharan Africa or Andean villages where all transactions will be made in cash.
  - krisgee 6y ago
    That's associated with a big travel purchase so you can cut that possibility out pretty quickly.
  - cyberlab 6y ago
    > People commonly withdraw thousands of dollars and then disappear from online banking or bank-card use In fairness, using contactless payments is super convenient and although it leaves a data trail, the sheer convenience of being able to buy a beer without fumbling around in my pockets is great. It's the old privacy versus convenience argument. But then, here in the EU you can compartment your card use with things like Revolut, and you can even secure your card by setting a limit on how much you can spend with contactless (no affiliation with Revolut, I just enjoy their app). Of course in an ideal world, there would be no such (transparent) data trail and you would pay for everything with Monero, over Tor lol
    - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
      Was I not clear in my post above? People sometimes take out cash before traveling because cash is the only way to pay for things in certain parts of the developing world.
      - cyberlab 6y ago
        Sorry, I skipped that part where you meant the developing world. I'm referring to how I spend my money in the EU. Revolut has all these 'neobank' features of limiting contactless spend, creating a virtual disposable card for e-commerce purchases, and also being able to send money to others, etc.
  - majewsky 5y ago
    But this case can be ruled out by the authorities since there won't be a record of them crossing any borders.
hycaria 6y ago
I think he wants to be untracable from start to end, no credit card.
- gruez 6y ago
  "cash" implies physical currency. my guess is that he doesn't want to get the notes from an ATM because those serial numbers can be traced to him (not sure whether banks actually do that). That said, doing a bunch of odd jobs to get $1000 seems excessive. You'd probably have better luck getting change from random shops. something like a farmers market would be ideal because they deal in cash, probably don't have facilities to record serial numbers, and probably don't have cameras around.

Would make sense if he withdrew small amounts from an ATM incrementally, but if he withdrew say $5k and then his web footprint went dead it draws a lot of red flags. Although it depends who your adversary is at the end of the day.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago
People commonly withdraw thousands of dollars and then disappear from online banking or bank-card use, if they leave to travel for some months in e.g. sub-Saharan Africa or Andean villages where all transactions will be made in cash.
- krisgee 6y ago
  That's associated with a big travel purchase so you can cut that possibility out pretty quickly.
- cyberlab 6y ago
  > People commonly withdraw thousands of dollars and then disappear from online banking or bank-card use In fairness, using contactless payments is super convenient and although it leaves a data trail, the sheer convenience of being able to buy a beer without fumbling around in my pockets is great. It's the old privacy versus convenience argument. But then, here in the EU you can compartment your card use with things like Revolut, and you can even secure your card by setting a limit on how much you can spend with contactless (no affiliation with Revolut, I just enjoy their app). Of course in an ideal world, there would be no such (transparent) data trail and you would pay for everything with Monero, over Tor lol
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    Was I not clear in my post above? People sometimes take out cash before traveling because cash is the only way to pay for things in certain parts of the developing world.
    - cyberlab 6y ago
      Sorry, I skipped that part where you meant the developing world. I'm referring to how I spend my money in the EU. Revolut has all these 'neobank' features of limiting contactless spend, creating a virtual disposable card for e-commerce purchases, and also being able to send money to others, etc.
- majewsky 5y ago
  But this case can be ruled out by the authorities since there won't be a record of them crossing any borders.

hycaria 6y ago

I think he wants to be untracable from start to end, no credit card.

gruez 6y ago
"cash" implies physical currency. my guess is that he doesn't want to get the notes from an ATM because those serial numbers can be traced to him (not sure whether banks actually do that). That said, doing a bunch of odd jobs to get $1000 seems excessive. You'd probably have better luck getting change from random shops. something like a farmers market would be ideal because they deal in cash, probably don't have facilities to record serial numbers, and probably don't have cameras around.