3 ms·

The FBI should become a virtual credit card issuer and allow anyone who thinks they are being scammed by a phishing/smishing/etc. scam to generate a fake card (

by paulgb 3y ago

The FBI should become a virtual credit card issuer and allow anyone who thinks they are being scammed by a phishing/smishing/etc. scam to generate a fake card (with no balance attached to it) to give to the scammers. Seems like that would give them enough information to track down the bad guys, or at least to track down their enablers.

ronsor 3y ago
People would blacklist FBI VCCs
- tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
  Hard to do if the FBI were to work with several major banks and getting numbers from their ranges. And obviously the numbers would be single/limited use.
e40 3y ago
If they wanted to trace the transactions, it wouldn't require anything as complex as this. They could trace existing transactions with a warrant, which I assume would be easy to get. The truth is, LEO don't give a shit about these types of crimes, because the CC companies have the fraud already built into their business models (e.g., they've priced in losses).
- tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
  Many such scams must work, otherwise they wouldn't keep happening. I suspect CC companies refund the ones who complain, but enough victims of smaller scams never complain and thus it pays off. What would help is shared liability, and mandatory full refunds for all victims, not just those that come forward. For example, a consumer protection agency or association could prove that a certain company was scamming, and get a court order forcing the payment companies to reverse all transactions associated with that company. Suddenly, all those "FREE SUBSCRIPTION *turns into a $49/month, 6 month minimum subscription if not cancelled within 7 days" (with the "free" repeated in huge letters and the subscription terms hidden in the finest fine print) scams would become risky enough that the payment providers would no longer be happy to enable them for a small percentage of the loot.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
WirelessGigabit 3y ago
I thought of the same thing with those automated calls asking to make a donation for breast cancer research, or inured fireman. The whole thing is automated, from asking for a donation, asking you to send it with a credit card vs a letter in the mail, to telling you 'oh I'm a real person' when CLEARLY they're not (or they all talk the same... /s). This money goes somewhere. It's the same voice. It's the same scammer. Nothing is being done about it. You'd think some breast cancer organization would sue them to make it go away.

by paulgb 3y ago

ronsor 3y ago

People would blacklist FBI VCCs

tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
Hard to do if the FBI were to work with several major banks and getting numbers from their ranges. And obviously the numbers would be single/limited use.

e40 3y ago

If they wanted to trace the transactions, it wouldn't require anything as complex as this. They could trace existing transactions with a warrant, which I assume would be easy to get. The truth is, LEO don't give a shit about these types of crimes, because the CC companies have the fraud already built into their business models (e.g., they've priced in losses).

tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
Many such scams must work, otherwise they wouldn't keep happening. I suspect CC companies refund the ones who complain, but enough victims of smaller scams never complain and thus it pays off. What would help is shared liability, and mandatory full refunds for all victims, not just those that come forward. For example, a consumer protection agency or association could prove that a certain company was scamming, and get a court order forcing the payment companies to reverse all transactions associated with that company. Suddenly, all those "FREE SUBSCRIPTION *turns into a $49/month, 6 month minimum subscription if not cancelled within 7 days" (with the "free" repeated in huge letters and the subscription terms hidden in the finest fine print) scams would become risky enough that the payment providers would no longer be happy to enable them for a small percentage of the loot.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

WirelessGigabit 3y ago

I thought of the same thing with those automated calls asking to make a donation for breast cancer research, or inured fireman. The whole thing is automated, from asking for a donation, asking you to send it with a credit card vs a letter in the mail, to telling you 'oh I'm a real person' when CLEARLY they're not (or they all talk the same... /s). This money goes somewhere. It's the same voice. It's the same scammer. Nothing is being done about it. You'd think some breast cancer organization would sue them to make it go away.