Slashdot Mirror
FBI Says Islamic State Used eBay, PayPal To Channel Money To the US (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Islamic State allegedly used PayPal and fake eBay transactions to channel money to an operative in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reports. The man who allegedly received the money was American citizen Mohamed Elshinawy, who was arrested last year in Maryland. The FBI claims that Elshinawy, in his early 30s, sold computer printers on eBay as a front in order to receive the payments through PayPal. The details have come to light because of a recently unsealed FBI affidavit, which alleges Elshinawy was part of a worldwide network that used such channels to fund ISIS. Elshinawy received $8,700 from ISIS, including five PayPal payments from senior ISIS official Siful Sujan through his technology company. Those funds were used to buy a laptop, a cellphone, and a VPN to communicate with IS, according to the affidavit. Sujan was killed in a drone strike in 2015. eBay told The Wall Street Journal it "has zero tolerance for criminal activities taking place on our marketplace." Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for PayPal said it "invests significant time and resources in working to prevent terrorist activity on our platform. We proactively report suspicious activities and respond quickly to lawful requests to support law enforcement agencies in their investigations."
PayPal gives you enough of a hard time getting your money when your legit.... They freeze funds at will and seemingly at random based on smallest complaint or suspicion... But activity like this gets by???
I hope the FBI has more evidence than the summary or the article has. All that they state is that he sold a cellphone, laptop and a VPN service to a company. That company happened to be owned by a guy associate with ISIS.
Then they make the leap that the money paid was going to be used to plan an attack in the US. All of which may be true but unless they have the guy on record as planning an attack or captured his plans it's going to be hard to prove that case. So either the FBI has a weak case or this is a really weak article.
And in other news, it turns out Islamic State has used US currency to purchase goods and services. This clearly means we need to get rid of cash and move to a cashless society, where the government can track every single transaction you make, right down to the cherry 7-up you buy at 7-11. All due to Islamic terrorism. Frankly, I'm more afraid of the FBI than any Muslim.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I've bought things internationally. Less than $1000 it's not a big deal. Probably an easy way to spoof the payment system. But it takes a lot of payments. Just sell as many Xbox3's as you need. If they're over priced, no one else will buy them. And, hey, no complaints.
on a different note
I needed to make a cash payment over $1000, for travel arrangements (in Italy). It took 3 trips to the bank, I had to be in person to sign, and multiple forms filled out. As an individual, international transactions are fantastically difficult. They're solving the wrong problem.
I agree with eBay here: we can have no tolerance for terrorist activity. The only safe answer is to completely shut down eBay and PayPal. Please, won't you think of the children!
So they funded him by buying goods and services with money? Motherfucker, that's a JOB!
I read the internet for the articles.
You can no longer trust independent merchants. The government will slowly tighten its grip since we're all 'thinking of stopping the terrorists' but it is all really a pro-corporate power grab using fearmongering to give up the last vestiges of the 'American Dream' and return the populace to the peasant class without an easy way to pull themselves out.
Mark my words, this is going to end badly, but not for the terrorists :(
The US used Libya and Saudi Arabia and Turkey to channel weapons to ISIS (and Al Qaeda.. double your profits). Did eBay or PayPal provide free shipping for such a big order? Or was it "structured" to avoid detection? Really, what's the big deal?
capcha: plunders
International payments involving US ( don't know about U.K. , others ) adopting stricter controls . I.D. Required and must be beneficiary, that is can not do on someone else's behalf. A Japanese co-worker asked me to help pay his final US credit card bill since I had a international bank account and he was super busy ( Exec) secretary takes care of this stuff usually. Bank rejected said I can not pay someone else's bill over seas. Easy to fix, go to post office and get a money order but similar requirements beneficiary had to do it. Not a big deal but they want clear transparency on who is paying who and purpose. This threads case unclear if any goods even shipped to trigger payments, further there was a front Co involved overseas sending $- this is where overseas bank needs to validate legitimacy of sender. Think PayPal may have more work to do to enable international payments.
If Islamic State wants to give foreign aid donations to the USA despite the lack of diplomatic relations, that's nice. It's not as if the major challenge would-be terrorists in America face is lack of money. For those in need of money, does their sense of honor prevent them from robbing people or are they afraid of being shot before they can blow themselves up?
This space intentionally left blank
if they put as much effort into fighting terrorism as they do to banning trump voters maybe they could put a tiny dent in isis fundraising.
How exactly things happened?
Elshinawy sold printers and someone from ISIS bought it, and that was it?
Nothing eBay can possibly do in a case that is a legal transaction really... well, of course, hand out information, let police monitor accounts when it's known to be tied to terrorist operations and whatnot. But it's not like they are dealing in terrordollars or something.
and they basically now just require PayPal, but I think we only collect on about 20% of what we sell. Plus with the fact that eBay plus PayPal fees account for >15% in fees for the times we actually do get paid. I refuse to believe that any criminal would ever subject themselves to such inefficiencies. Wachovia made the decision to launder about $350 billion(yes, with a B) for Mexicans as was exposed by an investigation started in 2005 and were caught, but even they didn't charge nearly as much as eBay/PayPal. No way anyone now would pay that much to launder money. Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) was willing to take a much smaller percentage of the money than eBay/PayPal does now even for legitimate sellers.
That IBM Proprinter was in mint condition! Totally worth the $800.
While the government would have us believe that if they can read everyones emails and facebook accounts at will we are all safer, the truth is that with all the backdoors in the world they cannot stop terrorism. If it wasn't ebay or paypal it would be another service or method. Sophisticated terror orgs have a multitude of creative ways to do what they do. Education and freely available resources will do more to curb terrorism than a ban on encryption or a money transfer service... Then again if there is no big bad wolf how will politicians scare us to convince us they are needed while they serve the interests of elites to stuff their pockets with wealth and gain more power?
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
Dear FBI, DHS and TSA,
There are not monsters seeking to harm us at every corner. Please disband.
Signed We the People
Don't click--link in parent is a goatse mirror.
We have to close ebay and paypal. They are a bunch of terrorist allies it seems.
aaaaaaa
But what does ISIS have to with it?
To buy stuff on the internet is unwise in fact retarded.
Have gnu, will travel.
This troll is both tiring and idiotic.
At least the apps apping apps guy was on topic and relevant. Hell, even the "Frist psot!" guy shows more imagination than you.
I long for the flair and panache of trolls gone by. Where is the wit and originality of the bug splat guy from eons ago. I'd give a beowulf cluster for even 1 more post from TehGrammarPatroll, who was perhaps the best that slashdot ever had to offer in terms of trolls.
I wish we could make slashdot trolls great again. Sad.
Note to AC: This +5 insightful/informative post is to inform you that you sir, are a goddamn idiot.
The 80s called - they want their "wire transfer" back.
In the various countries and banks I've been with over the last 17 years, international transfer have been as easy as domestic payment. The main difference is the length of the account number vs. SWIFT / IBAN, and the slickness of the web form to fill out. Typing in the address of the receiving bank is a bit daft, if you ask me.
If you have to show up with papers to make a small transfer (and below $10.000 is small in today's money), then somebody's doing it wrong. Might not be your fault, maybe it's the other side who is stuck in the past. But international transfer has been a solved problem since the turn of the century.
It is also reported that the terrorists used US Dollars to fund their activities! Ban US Dollar!!!1