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Many responses state that "government should do something" or "there would be net positive payback if we only hired a team of experts to hunt these scammers dow

Many responses state that "government should do something" or "there would be net positive payback if we only hired a team of experts to hunt these scammers down". But consider the IRS. They are supposed to go after millions of tax cheats who "scam" the rest of the taxpayers by failing to pay taxes they legally owe[0], but Congress generally does whatever they can to prevent the IRS from enforcing the tax laws. So why would they be interested in going beyond that to pursue scammers that prey on those who are not ultra-sophisticated? [0]https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-the-tax-gap https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-the-tax-gap

kube-system 4y ago
Congress does not have the ability to enable the IRS to collect many of these taxes even if they wanted to, as many of the scammers live outside of the US. The only real way to address the issue is to either force domestic intermediaries (banks, telecom) to put up roadblocks, or have law enforcement do their best to corporate with foreign law enforcement.
- Zuiii 4y ago
  The US gov could pull a FACTA if they really cared: Institutions and employees found to process more then a specified percentage of scammed funds/giftcards get sanctioned, thereby cutting them out of the defacto world financial system. This approach works extremely well for FACTA, so much so that some foreign banks bend local laws to comply. Scammers would get absolutely destroyed if this was implemented.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    There aren’t any legitimate foreign companies involved in gift card scams, just the scammers stealing otherwise legitimate gift cards issued for US companies and selling them on secondary markets. Google doesn’t really have any way to manage what people do with a physical Google Play gift card, nor does the grocery store that sells it. If you were to make those parties responsible for fraud, they’d simply stop selling them. Gift card are neither of their primary businesses. Scammers could also just move on to cryptocurrencies, which are already subjected to sanctions in some cases with varying degrees of success. Banks are easier to sanction because they have a more tangible physical presence.

kube-system 4y ago

Congress does not have the ability to enable the IRS to collect many of these taxes even if they wanted to, as many of the scammers live outside of the US. The only real way to address the issue is to either force domestic intermediaries (banks, telecom) to put up roadblocks, or have law enforcement do their best to corporate with foreign law enforcement.

Zuiii 4y ago
The US gov could pull a FACTA if they really cared: Institutions and employees found to process more then a specified percentage of scammed funds/giftcards get sanctioned, thereby cutting them out of the defacto world financial system. This approach works extremely well for FACTA, so much so that some foreign banks bend local laws to comply. Scammers would get absolutely destroyed if this was implemented.
- kube-system 4y ago
  There aren’t any legitimate foreign companies involved in gift card scams, just the scammers stealing otherwise legitimate gift cards issued for US companies and selling them on secondary markets. Google doesn’t really have any way to manage what people do with a physical Google Play gift card, nor does the grocery store that sells it. If you were to make those parties responsible for fraud, they’d simply stop selling them. Gift card are neither of their primary businesses. Scammers could also just move on to cryptocurrencies, which are already subjected to sanctions in some cases with varying degrees of success. Banks are easier to sanction because they have a more tangible physical presence.