> How is it dealt with differently? I can't speak for Europe. I once griped about the slowness of US banking to an Australian acquaintance who worked in bankin

> How is it dealt with differently? I can't speak for Europe. I once griped about the slowness of US banking to an Australian acquaintance who worked in banking technology in Australia and Britain. Here follows my half-remembered, probably inaccurate understanding. In Australia, a bank has a very high confidence of that a transfer is going from real, physical person A to real, physical person B. This is because of the "100 Point" identity check you need to perform when you open account. To open a bank account, you need to present multiple, independent forms of ID, including at least a driver's licence or a passport and some identification showing your current residential address. It can absolutely be circumvented, but the bar for doing so is significantly higher than casual small-time fraudsters are interested in. In the USA, I can find a small-town bank who will open my account without looking at me too closely, then start issuing dodgy cheques much more easily. In Australia, no matter where I go, I will be required to prove that I am who I say I am. So the ability for banks or police to lay hands on me or my money is significantly strengthened, and consequently the rate of fraud is lower. I see this also with online shopping. In Australia I never once, in my entire life, had a credit card purchase rejected. In the USA my Bank of America card regularly locks up and waits until I login to assure them that it hasn't been stolen.