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posted by martyb on Monday July 20 2020, @11:04PM   Printer-friendly

Abusive partners have found new and ‘nasty’ ways to target their victims:

It’s a bizarre and “nasty” new form of psychological abuse and thousands of Australians are doing it every day.

Commonwealth Bank has said it uncovered at least 8000 separate individuals sending threatening and abusive messages to people via its apps and online banking systems.

In one instance, CBA’s general manager of customer vulnerability Catherine Fitzpatrick told news.com.au, a single person sent their victim hundreds of abusive messages, one every few seconds, over a two-hour period.

[...] Ms Fitzpatrick spoke to news.com.au at the launch of a new initiative launched by CommBank that aims to support people impacted by domestic and family violence, including financial abuse.

[...] As part of CBA’s research prior to the program’s launch it found a number of its customers were being harassed by people during the process of sending them low value online payments, often as low as one cent.

[...] Most of us move money around online, say if we owe a mate some cash or to pay a bill. When you do, you usually have to write a description of what the transaction is that goes onto the statement of the person receiving the money.

“I might write ‘love mum’ if I’m sending something to my children, but these people will send abusive messages,” said Ms Fitzpatrick.

[...] Aside from the pain of receiving the message itself, some victims may, for example, need to rent a house and be forced to show a letting agency their bank statements meaning a complete stranger will see the messages.

“Its technology assisted abuse and it can be a precursor to financial abuse,” Ms Fitzpatrick said.

What laws does Australia have concerning threats and intimidation? In what other countries could this happen?


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Monday July 20 2020, @11:57PM (3 children)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Monday July 20 2020, @11:57PM (#1024330)

    All drama, and no content. Not just the headline, but the "summary" got zero substance but loads of incendiary dribble.

    Which is funny, because SN doesn't rely on ad/click revenue.

    That is what happens when the entire world is used to "news" driven by ad revenue. Everyone expects news should sound click-baity and any other way of writing news fades in to the sunset. Much like how everyone expects modern phone calls to sound like robots fucking their ear, they can't even imagine a telephone call that is "so clear you can hear a pin drop".

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:10AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:10AM (#1024338) Journal

    "so clear you can hear a pin drop".

    I hate those phone calls. They are always from the government. See my sig . . .

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday July 21 2020, @02:34AM

    by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday July 21 2020, @02:34AM (#1024411)

    What about HD Voice? Is that supposed to make things better, more like robots making love to your ear? I'd rather not beta-test that.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @05:36AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @05:36AM (#1024472)

    Nothing beats listening to compressed classical music over a monotone 1/4" speaker that's still managing to burst your eardrum as it dips its scaly metallic shaft into your aural cavity, while you're on hold waiting for an unemployment interview where someone will shaft your squeaky anus as you literally beg for your life.