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It was legit when it first came about, I know that much, and was started by well known and trusted people in the tech scene back then, but any platform that has

It was legit when it first came about, I know that much, and was started by well known and trusted people in the tech scene back then, but any platform that has money flowing through it will undoubtedly be found and utilized by folks who aren't legit, looking to scam, or to otherwise move money between hands. I'm not saying AL has that, but it's old enough now to where I'd be surprised if it didn't have that. Same is true for GitHub Sponsors, Patreon, GoFundMe, etc. These platforms are all ripe for laundering imo. Investment or sponsorship funds go in dirty, and come out the other side as clean income complete with year end tax documents. Again, I'd be more surprised if this isn't happening on these platforms, but that doesn't mean the platforms are not legit either.

dartos 3y ago
I feel like that kind of abuse would be easy to spot on GitHub.
- wutwutwat 3y ago
  Yet organizations like these usually have entire teams dedicated to combating such things, governments have entire departments or full organizations tasked with finding and prosecuting such people, credit card companies/banks have internal investigators tracking down who's messing with their money, and countless books and movies have been created to tell the story of unique, hard to catch perpetrators of such fraud. You'd be surprised what lengths people will go to avoid detection, and the sometimes genius people who are involved in money laundering or other types of wire fraud. > Online job marketplaces such as Freelancer.com and Fiverr, which accept funds from clients and hold them in escrow to pay freelancers. A money launderer can post a token job on one of these sites, and send the money for the site to hold in escrow. The launderer (or his associate) can then sign on as a freelancer (using a different account and IP address), accept and complete the job, and be paid the funds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#List_of_methods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#List_of_metho...
  - ipaddr 3y ago
    Or patreon, onlyfans, facebook marketplace, ebay, amazon, godaddy domain sales...

dartos 3y ago

I feel like that kind of abuse would be easy to spot on GitHub.

wutwutwat 3y ago
Yet organizations like these usually have entire teams dedicated to combating such things, governments have entire departments or full organizations tasked with finding and prosecuting such people, credit card companies/banks have internal investigators tracking down who's messing with their money, and countless books and movies have been created to tell the story of unique, hard to catch perpetrators of such fraud. You'd be surprised what lengths people will go to avoid detection, and the sometimes genius people who are involved in money laundering or other types of wire fraud. > Online job marketplaces such as Freelancer.com and Fiverr, which accept funds from clients and hold them in escrow to pay freelancers. A money launderer can post a token job on one of these sites, and send the money for the site to hold in escrow. The launderer (or his associate) can then sign on as a freelancer (using a different account and IP address), accept and complete the job, and be paid the funds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#List_of_methods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#List_of_metho...
- ipaddr 3y ago
  Or patreon, onlyfans, facebook marketplace, ebay, amazon, godaddy domain sales...