Comment by Spooky23
3 days ago
I always felt that gift cards are the underbelly of the economy. I don’t think that’s an accident, these things are great ways to move money and pay casual labor without the red flags that cash throws up these days.
3 days ago
I always felt that gift cards are the underbelly of the economy. I don’t think that’s an accident, these things are great ways to move money and pay casual labor without the red flags that cash throws up these days.
One time I got a car detailed, and when I was paying at the end, I noticed that the employee was writing out a receipt and marking that I had paid with a gift card. I don’t remember if I was paying with cash or a credit card, but either way I figure some sort of tax evasion and/or money laundering scheme was happening.
Probably skimming the till.
They return a previous customer’s transaction a refund to gift card, then take your cash and pocket it. There’s a ton of grifts like that.
This book [1] from 2011 by Kevin Poulsen about the carder Max Butler (alias Iceman). Runners would use his copied CCs (which he acquired via cracking into conputers) to buy gift cards in physical stores. Nowadays we got CVV (CVC).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingpin_(book)
What red flags does cash throw up that are circumvented by gift cards?
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs). I’ve also noticed (perhaps this is not recent though) the max cash limit at some ATMs reduced from $500 to $400. If you purchase $1000 or more in USPS money orders, the rep will take a copy of your government identification.
https://www.occ.treas.gov/topics/supervision-and-examination...
https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/shared/CTRPamphlet.pdf
How would gift cards circumvent this? Dollar for dollar I can only imagine a transaction getting more attention if done in gift cards, certainly one over 10k probably isn’t even possible
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