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Joking About Giving Money To ISIS Can Cost You Money (arstechnica.com)
Reader rudy_wayne writes: A person who was using Venmo, an app that allows people to send money to each other via their phones, sent $42 to repay a friend, and jokingly labelled it "ISIS Beer Fund". He immediately got an e-mail from Venmo questioning the purpose of the money. Although he tried to explain "The $42 was payment to a dear friend for two pitchers of Samuel Adams Boston Lager" he was informed "Due to OFAC regulations, we are not allowed to give the funds back to you or issue a refund." The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is a 54-year-old institution, quietly working to keep money out of the hands of America's enemies.From the report, "It turns out -- shockingly -- this isn't the first time someone's Venmo transaction was cut off at the knees with a reference to subjects that are a matter of national security. Venmo won't explicitly say what words will trigger blockage, Gawker pointed out in October.
Meanwhile, terrorists are smart enough not to label a money transfer as ISIS BOMB FUNDING.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Meanwhile, terrorists are smart enough not to label a money transfer as ISIS BOMB FUNDING.
Yeah, but if it turned out it really was for ISIS and the institution knowingly ignored and help facilitate the transfer of funds, they would be liable civilly and criminally.
Sure, and that explains why the money didn't get to the recipient, but does not explain why the money was stolen from the sender.
We never should have let the authoritarians get away with their war on politically incorrect drugs. It led to our government being able to steal whatever they want.
Land of the Free Home of the Brave. Or as I like to say in cases like this: Land of the oppressed, home of the wussies.
Knowingly ignored? Because four English letters that don't even represent the name of the terrorist group, but do represent many other things: Accidentally typing a common English word twice, An Egyptian god, a lunar crater, and asteroid, many geographical locations... a whole bunch of stuff actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Taking them to court for $42 doesn't really seem worth it
This is exactly what they are counting on.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
What I want to know is if any supporter of major terrorist organizations has ever labelled their money transfer as "ISIS Donation"/"Bomb Fund"/"Al-Qaeda". Just give me one person in the history of the world stupid enough to do that, and there is at least some argument to me made for this ridiculous sounding policy.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
isn't against the law unless explicitly defined such as yelling "Fire!" in a theater.
Sigh, not this again.
There is no law against yelling fire in a theater, even if there isn't a fire, and even if it's a crowded theater.
However, the law does hold you responsible for your actions. So, if you cause a panic, by yelling fire or dropping your pants or whatever, and people panic and get hurt, you will be held responsible for the damage and harm you caused.
But if you yell fire, and nobody reacts because they know you're a dumb joker, then you won't get fined or punished, because there are no laws against that. Unless you keep doing it, ignore requests to leave the premises, and get arrested for trespassing.
Surely the money can't remain with Venmo?
I would have thought that it would have to be remitted to a government department complete with a report detailing why it was seized, who the people involved in transaction were etc etc. Otherwise you have a massive incentive to a company to make up reasons to seize money and you are not providing any evidence to the security forces that would want to track money to terrorist organisations.
If the money is sent to OFAC or similar it should be possible to have that money returned to you on completion of 200 forms and waiting 11.5 months.
The government did not "listen in". They company did, as required by the government.
That's a distinction without a (practical) difference.
The policy is not at all ridiculous at all, you just miss the point. Terrorism is a very serious business and we cannot have people making fun about it. Not at airports, not anywhere. The more serious people take terrorism, the more funding is available.
I have a brother in law that prays to Mecca 5 times a day... and drinks alcohol. His wife claims to be a Muslim and eats pork. Saying "Muslims don't drink alchohol" is a bit like saying "Mormons never have sex outside of marriage" or "Catholics never use birth control", isn't it?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
We can't blame a company for using code word triggers to hold up a payment, but the false positives should cost them. Send the money back and make the algorithms better. When every Joe has to alter behavior to please the algorithms, the machines have already won.
1. Become a worshipper of the Egyptian goddess, Isis. 2. Create the ISIS Beer Fund 3. Wait for Venmo to pull the plug 4. Sue the pants off of them for violating your religious freedom 5. PROFIT!