Please BAN currency / money / paypal / egold exchanges!

The GC (and other) forums seems to be filling up with 'Member-xyz SCAMMED me!' threads. Mostly the cause appears to be Paypal / eGold / Other exchanges where one member sends money from their account and gets shafted in return.

Sometimes this happens directly via DP PM's but for the most part, as far as I can tell, it happens because a member gets contacted via Instant Messenger, having requested an exchange on DigitalPoint, and is led into believing whoever they are talking to via IM is a member on DP. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. I believe it would be better all round if these currency exchanges were BANNED ENTIRELY FROM DP. If people want to exchange money in this way they should do so somewhere else.

Some recent examples:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=572612
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=573592
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=572865
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=567927
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=572581
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=573333
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=569272

There are plenty more examples...

 

There are more successful then there are not. I tell people never to do it over IM, yet they still do and whine afterwards.
I don't think it should be banned.

 

Despite numerous warnings, people still fall prey to these exchanges.

There has been a considerable rise in the number of such threads- I agree with that. It might not be a bad idea to stop such threads. The honest dealers will suffer, but that's the way things go.

 

its illegal, as i understand it you have to be registered with a national finance authority to trade in both precious metals and currency or other financial services like pensions ans investments.

in the uk

The FSA's Enforcement Division investigates when firms breach our rules or the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
FSMA also gives us powers to take action under the insider dealing provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2003.

 

That's what I thought but I've no idea on the legality in the US or India or elsewhere.

 

I dont think it should be banned from dp , a lot of honest members use the money exchanges , and it helps a great deal of people out on the forum , but members need to be aware/use common sense when dealing with money exchanges , i made a post earlier = http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=574508 , hopefully people will read it and take note of a few things

 

from what i read of the US Patriot act, any institution that allows its services to be used by terrorists in the movement of funds, is committing an offence against the state. and it goes one better, it states that all institutions have to know who their customers are.

it does not state it has to be a bank, but banks are also institutions, so maybe DP could fall under that. and it's a $500,000 or 20 years in jail or both.


hope shawn personally knows mustafa from kabul and can prove he's not a terrorist

 

Sounds like it could arguably prove to be very thin ice.

 

the UK goes one better than the usa. the limit on movement of funds in the usa was set at $10,000 before it had to be reported, now everyone started sending $9,999, so the usa changed it, so now it can be any amount that anyone moves, if it can be shown it was moved to a terrorist or drug dealer and the like, you go to jail too.


the UK the Money Laundering Regulations 2003, are so strict that almost any crime in the uk involving the possession of anything that does not belong to you, falls under the Money Laundering Regulations 2003.

take a pen from a betting shop and you can be charge with theft, but if you want to keep it, you have to ask the police for permission to keep it to avoid charges under the Money Laundering Regulations 2003,

here is the kicker, sign a cheque to pay your fine and give that pen to the judge and he keeps it, he can be charged under the Money Laundering Regulations 2003.

this law was made so that no crook can pay a lawyer to defend him in court, if the lawyer knows that the money he is being paid with, comes from an illegal source or from criminal activity

 

Gee-whizz! Didn't know all that! Glad I don't participate in those money exchanging threads from the BST.

 

wow, you bring up some very interested points samantha...never would have thought of looking into the legal aspects of it (as when I think of payment processors i normally just think of the 'TOS' rather than the 'LAW')...

i've never done any of those exchanges, and was going to say i don't think we should do away with them just because some people are too idiotic to do things the safe way...but after reading that...i think we should do away with them too if legallity is involved at all...

 

this is what Shawn needs to think hard about.

Legal considerations

Many jurisdictions adopt a list of specific predicate crimes for money laundering prosecutions as a "self launderer" (the UK has an "all-crimes" regime). In addition, AML/CFT laws typically have other offences such as "tipping off," "willful blindness," not reporting suspicious activity, and conscious facilitation of a money launderer/terrorist financier to move his/her monies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering

 

I dont think this should be banned.

I myself do exchange service here , and its nice to help people

 

A lot of members think it's nice to scam people.
While I'm with mcfox on principle I worry that currency trades will continue by PM. If a ban were introduced it would need to apply everywhere on DP.

 

There really isn't a way to enforce something like this via PM, unless they decided to monitor PMs...and I'm sure there are WAY too many PMs to monitor on a forum this active...

the same concept as used now, just reporting violations via PM to a mod is what would have to work...

 

That would be between members and outwith the control of the forum admin. Personally I believe it would shift to IM and email, if it occurred at all. At the very least the 'I've been scammed' currency threads would cease.

 

wow...has nobody learnt anything from this?

 

yes they would and if someone started a thread like that, it would mean they traded currency and if its against DP rules, their gone.

i would support banning currency exchanges.

 

i am all for a blanket ban on members that openly trade in money exchanges, ebay accounts, bank accounts, forged documents.

reason is that all are illegal or used only to scam.
if you can not open your own bank account, there is a reason why you are refused, or can not.
#1 bank account (so cant have a bank account or want one to avoid paying people who you owe, need an account to pass off as a more verified person on DP to scam honest members more)
#2 ebay (only reason is to scam ebay members and use fake/stolen ebay accounts to hide your scammy ass)
#3 forged docs to get bank accounts and so get verified paypal accounts to scam more DP members more often

thats where DP fails it's members, allowing DP to be used to setup scammers with the means to scam it's members

 

Me too.

Certainly doesn't help! You're right of course, because a week or two after someone sells a paypal limited account someone else is on the forums complaining they were scammed.