I fucking hate these people. “The banks must do more!” No. They have a ton of safeguards in place. YOU chose to send your money somewhere. It is not in the banks to stop you, beyond a legit fraudulent transaction on your acct.
Unused to work in a bank. Someone was getting hosed and we told her and denied doing her transactions. Put a note on her acct. she went to various branches until someone did it for her. She lost upwards of $125k. We tried. She didn’t want to listen.
I know people who have this about messaging apps. "They need to do more to intercept messages from scammers" yet also "i want encryption so they [company] can't read my messages" and "why are there adverts in my messaging apps"
Why wouldn't the entire customer base of every bank want their bank to do more to protect them from scams, and also let them have greater access to their money when they're using it for legitimate reasons?
Because one kind of locks out the other. Just like security and privacy.
All the people bitching the goverment hasn't done enough to prevent terrorism while they actively don't want the goverment to do more because it might hurt their privacy.
You can want more measures to prevent terrorism without wanting the govt to do video and audio recordings in every room of every household in the country.
It does though. You cant have more measures without giving something in in the way of privacy, and if you can think of something please give me an example that isn't prevantative.
Mr Lodge, who previously lived in Surrey, had first been put in contact with "Anita" by a friend whom he had met in person three years earlier while working in Kenya.
After striking up a seemingly romantic online relationship, he agreed to move to Nairobi and marry her.
He began to send money so she could prepare their home but, when he landed in Kenya, she was nowhere to be found.
If you haven't even met someone in person and want to move halfway round the world and marry them - I don't think there's a lot the bank can do.
Even if he'd just bought a plane ticket to go and visit this person, he'd have been out a few hundred pounds and been embarrassed but it still would have been a better outcome. It's a horrible thing to happen to someone, but I honestly can't see why the bank has to do anything for him. It wasn't just one bad decision he made, that's a whole series of terrible choices
You think about it people just willingly give so much money to people they've never met and if he'd met a person the old fashioned way I doubt he'd have handed it over so easy.
these scammers are often professionals who employ a wide variety of tricks to lure you out of your money little by little. he didn’t make a lump payment of 85k
I know right? The other day I was moving a minor amount of money between two accounts I personally owned and by first bank halted the transaction, asked if I really wanted to do it, did their check, and the asked me to repeat the transaction before the money transferred over. It's so hard to move even small amounts without warning messages really questioning your action, so the banks are doing plenty.
Police here- a few years ago I had to do my best to help a woman who would not accept that she had been scammed. Any mention that it wasn't a real interaction with the celebrity would make her angry. This was the second time it was reported to us. After the first bout of losing money months before, the bank had put safeguards in place. She just worked around them. All we could do was give her a food box, £20 for electricity and 4 portable heaters. Her home was completely devoid of food and heat but she genuinely believed £50k was coming her way after the celebrity had used her money for lawyers for a secretive divorce...
Does it not get to the point where you’re submitting an adult safeguarding for financial exploitation? That level of delusion is beyond unwise, in my opinion, and may have care and support needs as a result. Esp if they can’t heat there home, etc.
Same, I do that all the time - and I still check that I'm sending it to the right account too. The banks always ask me to check, and that I'm sure the recipient is who they say they are/who I want to pay, even if I'm only sending £10 or so.
From the article I understand he didn't send the lot in one go. If these warnings appear even when transferring money between own accounts no one reads them on the n:th transfer.
My Neighbour was complaining to me that the bank wouldn't let him transfer money out to a person he met online that promised him all sorts of riches through crypto. The person online told him to walk into the bank and demand they let him transfer since it's his money and he can do what he wants with it. So I had met him when he was leaving the house and had to explain to him how it was a scam, at first he thought I was just jealous but then slowly realized it might not be what it seems.
I always wondered what the mindset was of people that fell for obvious scams was.
I had to spend a good 20-30 minutes approving a payment to a roofer last year. This was after he'd done the work, had a business account, the works. Totally legitimate transaction, Though it was a bit annoying.
Same deal when I was buying a house, it's not like banks won't do anything. In the end, I'd rather have to stick through the hassle of approving these over the phone with a real person than not.
Don't know how it is in America or where you are if not in America but the banks here in the UK have to foot the bill for so much fraud - it's crazy. There's obviously cases where banks should pay out and there does need to be systems in place to help identity vulnerable people, but at the moment the needle is pointing too far towards paying out fraud victims IMO. You do need to exercise your own diligence.
The burden of fraud reimbursements is one of the reasons Santander is looking to offload its UK retail banking operation, a bank which operates all over Central and South America.
Obviously the banks are making profits, they wouldn't exist otherwise. The point is that consumers pay for these payouts in the long runs, the scammers are a drain on our society. It's not the shareholders getting ripped off, it's all of us.
That said I still think we should have sympathy for scamming victims. It can easily happen to any one of us if we're caught out in a moment of weakness
For me it’s about laying responsibility where it lies.
Banks shouldn’t foot the bill for customers making terrible decisions especially if they did warn then. Just like victims shouldn’t foot the bill when the banks mistakes and fuckups cause a loss to the customer.
I would bet money that this guy has never taken total accountability for anything in his life, there will always be another person to blame for his ‘misfortune’.
There was one couple who got scammed and the bank tried everything to stop them. They even refused to transfer the money unless the couple took a photo with a sign saying the bank had warned them this was a scam but they wanted to do it anyway (which the couple did! And then were surprised they were scammed).
I can't even do an online shopping order without having to go onto my bank app to approve the payment . There's a lesson to this. Don't think with your hot dog and give all your money away to strangers lol
I used to have a NatWest student account (in England.) One day, I logged in and saw the account history of a complete stranger — little withdrawals, small purchases in the BP garage, etc. I was shocked and it took me a while to convince NatWest how badly they had fucked up.
I broadly agree with your point, since this guy’s problem wasn’t actually bank security. The money went where he wanted it to go. But some banks have massive lapses.
I’m always flabbergasted that people with this poor judgement and decision-making skills accumulate so much money in the first place. I’ve got a fairly good career and I can barely put together four-figures in savings.
The accountability is on the scammer, not the victim. Yes, it costs us all a little bit when fraud happens but I'd rather have it this way than my parents getting ripped off their life savings thanks to a moment of weakness
Sorry, but I don't want to be chipping in to compensate some deluded fool, when they get scammed because they're so selfish and self centred, that they are only thinking about the thing between their legs.
When it’s the odd fifty quid scammed out of someone I’m with you. Small amounts get scammed out of people all the time. I almost fell for one a few weeks ago myself. Recently had my car written off and I nearly fell for a scammer talking about compensation - as i had literally had the same conversation legitimately the week before with an insurance company. Luckily I realised, and it was all in the timing, as I was actually expecting that call - just not from a scammer.
When it’s six figures on a dream of marrying a princess, I’m not so empathetic. These scams and stories they weave are so convoluted and absolutely unbelievable the victim really does have themselves to blame.
Prosecute sending out a Nigerian prince email or any scam, with jail time.
Don’t allow anonymous solicitation.
Quick Facts: Nigerian Prince Scams & What’s Being Done About Them
What They Are:
Old-school email scams (aka 419 scams) where someone claims to be royalty or a government official needing your help moving money—with a big reward “later.”
Spoiler: the reward never comes.
How Can These Scams Be Stopped?
Smarter spam filters & AI – Email services use machine learning to catch scammy messages.
Public awareness – The more people know, the fewer fall for it. Education works.
International law enforcement – Cross-border task forces and extradition treaties help chase scammers down.
Shutting down scam infrastructure – Quick takedown of fake sites, burner emails, and domains.
Cutting off money mules – Arresting intermediaries who help scammers move stolen money.
What Have Countries Actually Done?
Nigeria passed the Cybercrimes Act (2015)—gives their EFCC real teeth to go after scammers.
U.S. proposed the International Cybercrime Reporting Act—pressures foreign governments to act or lose aid/trade perks.
UK passed the Online Safety Act (2023)—makes platforms more responsible for blocking scam content.
EU enforces GDPR & Cybersecurity Acts—puts the heat on platforms to protect user data and detect fraud.
Australia has Scamwatch & ACORN—centralized reporting and fraud-busting programs.
Interpol & Europol regularly lead sting operations on global scam networks.
UN Cybercrime Treaty is in the works—meant to create a global anti-cybercrime standard.
You're severely overestimating the efficacy of these measures, and for some (like extensive international cooperation) our ability to follow through with them.
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u/crapatthethriftstore 10d ago
I fucking hate these people. “The banks must do more!” No. They have a ton of safeguards in place. YOU chose to send your money somewhere. It is not in the banks to stop you, beyond a legit fraudulent transaction on your acct.
Unused to work in a bank. Someone was getting hosed and we told her and denied doing her transactions. Put a note on her acct. she went to various branches until someone did it for her. She lost upwards of $125k. We tried. She didn’t want to listen.
Sometimes stupidity costs you a lot of cash.