2 ms·
In the US the same requisites are used for both directions of the transfer. If you give your account number and routing number to receive a deposit, the same nu
by pandaman 4y ago
In the US the same requisites are used for both directions of the transfer. If you give your account number and routing number to receive a deposit, the same numbers can be used to withdraw from your account. Coincidently, these numbers are on any check you cut. Banks provide protection (requiring authorization for every withdrawal or disabling withdrawals all together) to business accounts but the consumer accounts do not have this even as a paid service, at least in the major retail banks.
The government is supposed to come after any fraud here with heavy criminal charges, it's essentially a check forgery but I don't think it's too busy or too successful doing this.
- palata 4y agoMy way feels so much simpler :-). It's a bit like public/private key: when I use my credit card, I know I'm paying. And if I pay from my bank, I do it from my e-banking and it's super clear. I can allow a company to withdraw directly, but still it's clear I'm doing it (and I don't use that, I hate that feature). Feels like it just prevents such scams. Of course then you can still convince people to "lend" you money ("send me 5k to leave my country and when I'm safe I send you 2M"), but that's slightly different.
- pandaman 4y agoA whole bunch of American infra is protected only with the fear of law. On one hand it makes things much simpler: you can do many things over the phone instead of filing signed and sealed forms in multiple places, on the other - the law enforcement is the common breaking point and it's not very well protected itself.