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Man who robbed bank to get his own money back hailed as national hero
- polote 4y agoWhy banks can not be sued for false advertising ?
- itake 4y agoWater out of a rock.
- MonkeyMalarky 4y agoBlood from a stone?
- m4jor 4y agoTruth from a politician
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- epgui 4y agoHow is this false advertising? It’s no secret that when you open a chequing or savings account at a bank, you’re loaning them your money. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, I’m just saying that’s how it works, and everyone should know that, because it’s not a secret.
- basilgohar 4y agoIt is absolutely right, but just as absolutely not how most people think, nor how bank accounts are presented to people. In fact, it's considered "foolish" not to store money in a bank account (and, in many cases, it is), but there's also this small chance this kind of thing can happen, but it's never talked about normally – therefore, out of sight, out of mind. It's unfair to blame people for blaming the banks on this, because the banks get a disproportionate benefit from this kind of system, and most people in modern society have no choice but to rely on banking systems. Again, a person avoiding banking systems is scrutinized as backwards and ignorant, but then folks turn around and shame people for not being aware of how the banks truly work. It may not be a secret, but it's far from common knowledge.
- epgui 4y agoI didn’t say banks shouldn’t be blamed, I said there was no “false advertising”. Words have real meaning, and it’s important to use the right words.
- imtringued 4y agoIt should be common knowledge that this is an intended outcome of a permanent money system, it is going to collapse one day and all you can do is delay it.
- sneak 4y agoAs relevant as ever: https://sneak.berlin/20191119/your-money-isnt-yours/ https://sneak.berlin/20191119/your-money-isnt-yours/
- ur-whale 4y ago> it’s not a secret. It isn't, except that ... I would suggest you go and poll your close family and social network and see how many people actually understand that bit. It certainly isn't the first sentence on the "please open an account with us" pamphlet.
- epgui 4y agoEven if financial literacy is poor… does that make it “false advertising”?
- madsbuch 4y ago> you’re loaning them your money. This is mostly wrong in modern economies. In Denmark you are not able to to buy a car with cash (Yor are legally required to use banks when transacting more than DKK 20.000, ~USD 2.700). This has promoted the banking system to nation critical infrastructure, and the money in the bank is not a representation of "paper money". It is the money.
- epgui 4y agoAre you arguing that you can’t avoid using a bank, or that your deposits are not a loan to the bank?
- madsbuch 4y agoI am arguing that it is futile to see it as a loan to the bank. * There is no "lending" risk by depositing your money, only the currency risk (government insured deposits) * Banks provide critical infrastructure to transfer funds mandated to be used by the government. * It is even called deposits when you add money to you account, not a loan. * In Denmark we, still, have negative interests on deposits (at -0.6%, also for consumers) -- lending out is mandated to cost interests as in the tax authorities will force me to add interests at ~2.5% when I give a loan to somebody. All in all, depositing money in a modern bank should not be seen as providing a loan.
- layer8 4y agoHow would you pay your lawyer?
- throw123123123 4y agoBecause banks are part of the government.
- matrix_overload 4y agoBecause the courts are run by the same kind of people as the banks.
- ricardobeat 4y agoWhy is there a need to withdraw thousands? The article only mentions restrictions on cash withdrawal, wouldn’t bank transfers which are purely ledger entries still work normally? If not, the financial system is completely off the rails and any money is as good as lost…
- bitxbitxbitcoin 4y agoThe financial system in Lebanon is in fact completely off the rails. Also, in the article it says the reason for needing to withdraw thousands is to pay a medical bill for his father. Guess the hospital doesn’t want a bank transfer to their own frozen account.
- jokethrowaway 4y agoNo, they can't make transfers
- ithkuil 4y agoWhy? As long as the fake numbers in the bank accounts don't leave the "system" does it really matter?
- felix318 4y agoThe numbers in bank accounts are not fake, if banks could materialize money out of thin air they would not need clients. The numbers mostly stay in the system but the balance betweeen banks needs to be settled everyday, and that can’t be done with fake money. (to be fair, all money is fake but only governments have the power to enforce the value of their fake money)
- ithkuil 4y agoLet's say I have $1000 on a Lebanese bank account. If it's true what they say that they actually spent a good fraction of my money that means that the number is fake, and I actually have only a faction of that ($100?). In fact when I want to actually take it out the bank would give me say $100 but decrease the amount in my deposit by 1000. But, does it matter? If people inside Lebanon could still transact with the "fake" amounts with bank wires and card payments and whatnot, the illusion would work as long as no interaction with the external world (International wires, and cash transactions)
- tifik 4y agoSo I take it Lebanon doesnt operate on the strict islamic system of banking, that I thought was designed to prevent financial collapses like these? Or am I just wrong in assuming that said system is meant to be more robust?
- elashri 4y agoNo, you are basically wrong to assume that Lebanon crisis has anything to do with islamic banking. Lebanon is not even a Muslim majority country. The problems arises from just how bad their reliant on financial sector for decades and how much unsustainable debt they acquired.
- selimthegrim 4y ago> Lebanon is not even a Muslim majority country <citation needed>
- sgt 4y agoI think it is majority muslim, but since there are many secular muslims and muslims who consume alcohol etc, then I guess practically speaking you could consider it that way.
- isr 4y ago> Lebanon is not even a Muslim majority country Excuse me? Perhaps you'd like to go to Lebanon and explain that to them. They could do with a good laugh in such destitute times
- elashri 4y agoYou don't have to go to them. they know that if you include Lebanons who mainly live outside Lebanon they will be majority Christians. The CIA 2020 estimation that Wikipedia and state website report doesn't include them.
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- nootropicat 4y agoThis article is a perfect response to anyone asking 'why do you need blockchain?'. Maybe you live in a stable and developed country. Nice. Those people don't and it's extremely hard for them to open a banking account elsewhere. What they can do is save in usdt or usdc on ethereum. It's empirically much, much safer than holding dollars in a Lebanese bank.
- oarabbus_ 4y ago>It's empirically much, much safer *unless you held your stablecoins on Anchor Protocol or a centralized entity that became insolvent
- nootropicat 4y agoUst was an obvious ponzi scheme, not an actual stablecoin. Irresponsible people losing money on ponzis is sometimes sad - but also definitely deserved.
- traveler01 4y agoMany people were trusting a stable coin to which they had 0 understanding on how it worked. Was sad to see some people finding out that they actually didn't have any backing at all for the UST value (USDT, USDC are examples of cryptos with actual backing, though some people don't trust USDT)
- primax 4y agoPeople who stick all their money into weird schemes like that take on a ton of risk. If you hold btc and hold your keys you're fine
- SilasX 4y agoApparently some are skeptical that cryptocurrency would solve anything here, but a year ago there was a story, posted on HN, about the Lebanese using it for sending money into the country: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28300000 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28300000 Edit: Not saying it's an ironclad defense of relevance to this use case, but your eyes should at least glance there first before resuming their ordinary eyeroll upon mention of crypto.
- neonate 4y agohttps://archive.ph/0dxle https://archive.ph/0dxle https://web.archive.org/web/20220813215554/https://www.unilad.com/news/man-robbed-bank-money-lebanon-20220812 https://web.archive.org/web/20220813215554/https://www.unila...
- usr001 4y agoLebanese here. To answer some of the questions in this thread: - No, Lebanon does not follow Islamic Banking. - No, people can't make wire transfers anymore. All bank accounts are frozen, you can't withdraw your own money. You have to beg and wait in line for weeks to be able to get a tiny amount of your account to be able to buy bread etc. - The local currency collapsed, lost more than 90% of its value. If the bank decides to give you some change (from your own money), they play money conversion tricks so that e.g. your account is down $1,000 but you get $100 only. - This person did not "rob" the bank. He tried asking the bank for money because his father (and some people said his child as well) were in the hospital, needed medical care, and for that the hospital needed money. He had $210K in his account, but the bank kept kicking him away in previous attempts to appeal to them. He came back with a gun, and held hostages. Negotiated until they give back $35K, to his brother who was waiting outside. Then he surrendered without hurting anyone. - He is now in bad health because he's on a hunger strike after they arrested him. (In the negotiation they promised him not to arrest him, but of course they need to make an example out of him.) - Why is this all happening? Bad economic and financial policies for 40 years, rampant corruption. The economy was unproductive, but they kept the local currency subsidized, as it turns out by just spending the money that people deposited in the banks. And it's all gone now.
- ma2rten 4y agoYour description sounds like he robbed the bank to me.
- awb 4y agoI think the point you’re making is that he used violence to coerce the bank. To OP’s point, he was only asking for his own money back, whereas a robbery is trying to take someone else’s money. I guess it all depends on the bank agreement and procedures during a bank run or a default. Sure, you get a statement that says you’re credited with $210k, but you don’t actually own that much money anymore if the bank lost some of it and can’t pay everyone their full balance.
- ClumsyPilot 4y agorobbery means your are taking something that doesn't belong to you. So the bank has robbed him.
- traveler01 4y agoA dark reminder that this could happen everywhere, everytime if your countries bank system collapses.
- skybrian 4y agoBank system collapses aren't equally likely everywhere. A useful risk assessment will take into account local conditions.
- junofan 4y agoHow does that work? For tail risk, you buy what you need. That’s why it’s tail risk. Like, if I’m buying flood insurance, I don’t buy less insurance because I don’t think floods are likely in my area. I buy floor insurance to cover my house.
- skybrian 4y agoDoes insurance exist for when a country's banking system collapses? (This is different from a bank collapse, where in the US, FDIC deposit insurance should do the job, if you're within its limits.)
- imtringued 4y agoIt is called a negative interest rate and it is the most despised kind of insurance because everyone thinks they are the grifter that will get ahead this time and a negative interest makes grifters pay for the damages they cause to society which means they stop grifting. By grifting I mean delaying the usage of the medium of exchange until the breaking point of the economic system to get concessions from it which is effectively a bribe by society to cease this collapse seeking behaviour.
- skybrian 4y agoSaving for retirement seems normal and expected. Do you mean something else?
- ankaAr 4y agoIt looks like a movie from here La Odisea de los Giles (Heroic Losers [1]) about normal people that was robbed by a bank (in 2001 all banks were not giving back the money to people) and plan to recover the money. 1. https://youtu.be/JLGouIpUrXg https://youtu.be/JLGouIpUrXg
- perihelions 4y agoReminds me of this utterly depressing story, https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1027220125932376066 https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1027220125932376066
- raincom 4y agoFor a broader context, watch the recent documentary by dw: https://youtu.be/RZuKyIYMSEw https://youtu.be/RZuKyIYMSEw
- the_svd_doctor 4y agoGreat watch, thank you for sharing
- PontifexMinimus 4y agoThe man didn't rob the bank, the bank attempted to rob the man.
- muzika 4y agoNot merely attempted - they have.
- dang 4y agoWe changed the URL from https://www.unilad.com/news/man-robbed-bank-money-lebanon-20220812 https://www.unilad.com/news/man-robbed-bank-money-lebanon-20... to one that has more substantial reporting. I'll keep the original (edited) headline to preserve context for some of the context. Other relevant links: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/armed-man-demanding-frozen-deposits-takes-hostages-lebanese-commercial-bank-2022-08-11/ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/armed-man-demandin... https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-lebanon-beirut-21513beb5c8cb077a492a777c9a3c782 https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-lebanon-beirut-21513b... (Thanks to the user who emailed this info!)
- 8bitsrule 4y agoReminds me of this: " Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob the world." — John Perry Barlow
- Tao3300 4y agoWhat can a man rob if you give him a world?
- the_omegist 4y agoThis is not appropriate due to the tough situation Lebanese people are currently living, but your quote was in a very funny chinese bank robbery story : There was this robbery in Guangzhou, the robber shouted to everyone: "All don't move, money belongs to the state, life belongs to you." Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. This is called "Mind Changing Concept --> Changing the conventional "way of thinking". ------------------------------------------------- One lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her "Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!" This is called "Being Professional --> Focus only on what you are trained to do!" ------------------------------------------------- When the robbers got back, the younger robber (MBA trained) told the older robber (who is only primary school educated), "Big bro, let's count how much we got", the older robber rebutted and said, "You very stupid, so much money, how to count, tonight TV will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!" This is called "Experience --> nowadays experience is more important than paper qualifications!" ------------------------------------------------- After the robbers left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. The supervisor says "Wait, wait wait, let's put the 5 million RMB we embezzled into the amount the robbers robbed". This is called "Swim with the tide --> converting an unfavorable situation to your advantage!" ------------------------------------------------- The supervisor says "It will be good if there is a robbery every month". This is called "Killing Boredom --> Happiness is most important." ------------------------------------------------- The next day, TV news reported that 100 million RMB was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count 20 million RMB. The robbers were very angry and complained "We risked our lives and only took 20 million RMB, the bank manager took 80 million RMB with a snap of his fingers. It looks like it is better to be educated to be a thief!" This is called "Knowledge is worth as much as gold !" ------------------------------------------------- The bank manager was smiling and happy because his loss in the CINOPEC shares are now covered by this robbery. This is called "Seizing the opportunity --> daring to take risks!" ------------------------------------------------- Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob the world
- wvlia5 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- teloli 4y agoMy bank account here in democratic Europe was frozen by the authorities for two weeks due to some taxes they didn’t receive. This shit is terrifying.
- mongol 4y agoJust a few days before the event I saw this stellar documentary about the state of Lebanon. Provides great context: https://youtu.be/RZuKyIYMSEw https://youtu.be/RZuKyIYMSEw
- ur-whale 4y agoBTC FTW
- imtringued 4y agoDo I really have to download 400GB of Blockchain to not get blamed for "not your keys not your crypto" just to buy rice or pasta?
- tiborsaas 4y agoEven if you have to download 400GB data (not really) is better than taking hostages in a bank.
- dotancohen 4y agoHe didn't rob the bank. This was not a robbery.
- throwawa-y123 4y agobanks are a Ponzi scheme. a legalised and watered down Ponzi scheme, but a Ponzi scheme nonetheless