From Mugged in 1970s to Scammed in 2020s

Is it as dangerous to go on-line today as it was to walk across Central Park in the 1970s?

Most people I know have been scammed on-line — recently. The banks play stupid and thrive on their customer’s guilt; that is, most people are too ashamed to hold their financial institutions to account. One of the most important roles of a bank is to know your customer (KYC).

This isn’t a rant or hyperbole. This is becoming common-place.

For example (again, I could give many), a relative of mine was scammed by someone claiming to be from Eversource. EV is in the S&P500 . How difficult would it be for Bank of America to screen Zelle so that anytime anyone input a name of a company in the S&P 500 it pops up a warning? Under personal recipient my relative typed in “Eversource Refund” and BofA let over a thousand dollars go through it.

About $25 worth of browser JavaScript code could prevent it.

In order for my relative to get their money back, or anyone who has been scammed similarly, they must hound these banks for months upon months.

The regulators*? I’d have to cover them under Keystone Cops humor. Maybe another day. Our government? Those responsibilities were abdicated long ago. Fraud is rampant because it slips between the cracks of law and regulation. Wink-wink.

It doesn’t matter if Bank of America’s CEO, Brian Moynihan, was paid $24.5 million in 2020. It’s not possible for him, or any banker, to care less than they do — which means there isn’t even a scale of caring they could move up on. Bad press does nothing anymore.

You either have the money to lose and you accept your loss. Or you don’t have the money to lose and probably don’t contest the charge because it’s just too damn depressing.

The only people who get their rightful refund are those who enjoy the game of squeaky wheeling.

Crypto is another area of fraud. Why don’t the regulators put it under their wing? See * above.

For a while, America’s industry was policing, prisons, drugs and the military. Today, the forefront of American business is fraud. PPP clocked in at $1 trillion.

It’s just a matter of time because a movie comes out, titled something like “Scam Wish”, where our hero finds scammers and inflicts all the most gruesome bloody tortures CGI can provide.

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If you’ve been scammed, trust me, your only cost should be embarrassment. The cost to the bank should be your money back.