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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, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:16AM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:16AM (#1024341) Journal

    I don't use that field anymore, but I did when I wrote paper checks all over the country. The explanatory field was useful not just for myself, but for the spouse. "Why did you write a check in Galveston for $80?" "I can't remember, what does it say in the bottom left corner of the check?" "Oh, "new tire on Chevy" - I remember you telling me about blowing a tire out now." "Yeah, I was lucky to find that place - the first guy I talked to wanted $120 for the same damned tire!"

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:20AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:20AM (#1024344)

    So she never figured out that hookers cost $80 in Galveston?

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:45AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:45AM (#1024360)

      There are no $80 hookers in Galveston. But you could always buy 80 $1 hookers instead. Now that is value for your money.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @11:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @11:31PM (#1024792)

        The clown likely got ripped off, with 40 "two dollar whores" that are actually 50-cents whores.