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Not sure what is more worrying - that people lost $10.3B or that this money is now in the hands of criminals who can do some bad things with it. I understand t

Not sure what is more worrying - that people lost $10.3B or that this money is now in the hands of criminals who can do some bad things with it. I understand this is not just one scammer, but if they pooled that money together, this is kind of level of money that could influence elections in a small country or buy a small army or be used to take over legitimate businesses and use them for further money laundering while paying off politicians and civil servants.

themitigating 4y ago
Is there an indication that this money isn't just spread out to various scammers?
pmarreck 4y ago
India is very poor: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/india-has-pushed-back-poverty-still-home-to-most-poor-people-in-world-undp-index-85502 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/india-has-pus... I doubt all the nefariously-collected money will in turn be used for nefarious purposes. It's entirely likely that a good portion of it would be used to do things like, pay for a decent living space for their family, buy a newer car, possibly buy a business to turn to more legit ways to make money that don't have the risk of getting caught.
- sumedh 4y ago
  One of the excuse Indian scammers give is that the West stole money from India during colonial times now its India's turn to steal that money back.
paulpauper 4y ago
Not sure what is more worrying - that people lost $10.3B or that this money is now in the hands of criminals who can do some bad things with it. It's like when crypto is stolen. It's harder to process ill-gained proceeds than legally obtained proceeds. This means it takes time to launder it; you cannot just buy cars or whether with it; the govt. and police may be looking for it. So this means it likely has a deflationary effect in the short term by taking money out of the US economy that could otherwise be spent, but in the longer-term may have national security implications if the money goes to fund drugs, terrorism, whatever.
cjbgkagh 4y ago
It's a lot of money that can be spent on bribing politicians; https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels-vast-amoral-binary-options-scam-exposed/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels... They outlawed it but when it was going it was ~5-10 billion dollars each year with tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of businesses. It's a huge problem and has massive implications for world politics.

themitigating 4y ago

Is there an indication that this money isn't just spread out to various scammers?

pmarreck 4y ago

India is very poor: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/india-has-pushed-back-poverty-still-home-to-most-poor-people-in-world-undp-index-85502 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/india-has-pus... I doubt all the nefariously-collected money will in turn be used for nefarious purposes. It's entirely likely that a good portion of it would be used to do things like, pay for a decent living space for their family, buy a newer car, possibly buy a business to turn to more legit ways to make money that don't have the risk of getting caught.

sumedh 4y ago
One of the excuse Indian scammers give is that the West stole money from India during colonial times now its India's turn to steal that money back.

paulpauper 4y ago

Not sure what is more worrying - that people lost $10.3B or that this money is now in the hands of criminals who can do some bad things with it. It's like when crypto is stolen. It's harder to process ill-gained proceeds than legally obtained proceeds. This means it takes time to launder it; you cannot just buy cars or whether with it; the govt. and police may be looking for it. So this means it likely has a deflationary effect in the short term by taking money out of the US economy that could otherwise be spent, but in the longer-term may have national security implications if the money goes to fund drugs, terrorism, whatever.

cjbgkagh 4y ago

It's a lot of money that can be spent on bribing politicians; https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels-vast-amoral-binary-options-scam-exposed/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels... They outlawed it but when it was going it was ~5-10 billion dollars each year with tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of businesses. It's a huge problem and has massive implications for world politics.