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?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Monday July 20 2020, @11:13PM (17 children)
banking app:
bank related activities.
payments
transfers
balances
etc
nothing in that includes "chat with others" - why does a bank want to be whatsapp/sms/telegram?
This is not "banking".. just... no
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2020, @11:21PM (1 child)
Transfer to: MostCynical
Amount: $0.01
Message: Die, you fucking baby-molesting asshole
Best $0.01 I ever spent.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:31AM
thank you.
RTFA fail.
shouldn't be trying to add comments while at work :-)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday July 20 2020, @11:21PM (7 children)
Isn't this like writing "FUCK YOU" on the memo field of a paper check?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Kell on Monday July 20 2020, @11:46PM
Pretty much exactly that, but with very little throttle on how fast you can send it.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2020, @11:49PM (5 children)
Yup. Like paying a $2,000 alimony check by writing 200,000 cheques, for 1¢ each, with a nasty note in each comment field.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Monday July 20 2020, @11:54PM (2 children)
So it is different, but there is no point in being incredulous that an equivalent "memo" field exists for electronic payments.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Kell on Tuesday July 21 2020, @02:06AM (1 child)
Thing is, the memo field is sometimes necessary - I use it to tell my real estate agent that it's me paying for my rent, and not some other rando's rent. It's a damn-fool strategy to abuse it, though, because if -anyone- keeps good records of transactions it's banks. Take the payment transcripts to the judge and use them to get a restraining order that includes abusive messaging.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @09:05PM
better check up on how CHECK-21 works w.r.t physical checks...
its better to fk with someone by giving them a two-party check instead, where the one person its meant to go to really doesn't want to interact with the other party.
common in divorce.
you worried your soon to be ex might be using the cash but failing to disclose to the court, and then claiming you never sent it?? at the very least write that check out to the ex and their attorney...
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:05PM (1 child)
Assuming, you got your checks for $0.05 apiece, that would be some seriously expensive payment method. Then, you'd need to factor in the amount of time you'd need to write them all. Which might be able to be negated somewhat by increasing your cost by printing them somehow. That would take a seriously twisted and warped mind. At which point, they'd likely just garnish your wages, instead.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday July 21 2020, @06:06PM
In some parts of the world (e.g. UK), free banking is the norm. No charges for debit card transactions, deposits, withdrawals, or cheque books on personal accounts. The banks make their profit in interest rates instead.
This would be a perfectly viable strategy here, except for the fact that I only get 50 cheques per book.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday July 20 2020, @11:23PM (1 child)
I think you need to re-read the article, its not the banking's dedicated messaging app or social media app, its the payment facilities that typically allow you to add a comment or some text reference. When someone is paying alimony, there's probably a lot of anger there and there's a text box for you to type whatever you want..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 21 2020, @01:27AM
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2020, @11:27PM
its not a chat app, its a money transfer with a comment field.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:16AM (3 children)
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!"
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:20AM (2 children)
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)
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
The clown likely got ripped off, with 40 "two dollar whores" that are actually 50-cents whores.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2020, @11:46PM (9 children)
SN's "editing" is worse than daily mail, fox news.
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.
Love SN for it's technical features and ideology, but damn ... the "editing" here is ridonculous.
I think we need to recruit some boys and girls with liberal arts background, that know how to write.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Monday July 20 2020, @11:57PM (3 children)
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".
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:10AM
I hate those phone calls. They are always from the government. See my sig . . .
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday July 21 2020, @02:34AM
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
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.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:09AM
All staff is required to attend ridonculosity classes before they can assume their positions. We prefer this to sensitivity training used by other sites with CoCs.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @01:06AM
News.com.au isn't a serious publication.
Stop linking clickbait from Rupert Murdoch.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:49AM (2 children)
Two choices:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @09:25AM (1 child)
But, I wanted to see what's behind door number three, Bob!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @07:10PM
That's where TMB keeps the Aristarchus submissions.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:36AM
Twitch trolls have been doing this for years. Bans there stop chat but not donations, so streamers who have all donations automatically announced get spammed (for 1 cent per). The solution there is to increase the threshold for donation announcements to a high enough amount that it's too expensive to be worthwhile
Transfers have to allow messages, otherwise confusion will be inevitable. Confused real money transfers are a real problem that needs to be avoided.
A minimum amount for banking transfers would deter pure trolls, but maybe the solution is for banks to not just jump straight to victim blaming if someone receives an offensive message in a deposit.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by looorg on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:42AM (2 children)
I guess banks have to make some changes to how they process the memo lines, after all someone could be harassed or get their feelz hurt. That said it's a fairly stupid idea to send threats in the memo line since you just wrote it down so it's somewhat hard to deny it afterwards. But for the banks it might now be an issue if they want to process them or not, they are after all not needed for the transaction so it might be an issue of if they send them along, if they process them, if they censor them, if you as a customer want to receive them - possibly on a person by person basis. After all they can't just flat out ban transactions, if they could it would be a genius way of getting out of paying alimony or child support -- sorry your honor I really tried to but the bank must have blocked the payments. They can ban transactions naturally but it's a bit weird, and requires a bit more then someone being an asshole in the memo line.
If anything I guess it would be easier to just implement a minimum amount to process the order so people can't keep sending those $0.01 orders -- after all what are you ever going to buy or pay for that is worth a cent? (insert jokes here)
Not to mention that in case of threats you just created the evidence for your own conviction. Cause if someone takes a $2000 cheque and starts to send it one cent at the time you are clearly a fucking idiot that deserve all the crap that comes your way. It shouldn't be to hard to prove that you are harassing someone this way.
I think my bank used to do it back before internet banking, as in they didn't allow for any kind of unlimited amount of orders but they would just process 10 (or something around there) orders per month and after that they charged extra per order. So it shouldn't be to hard to set up those barriers again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @07:36AM
Taxes owed by Google/Apple/Facebook/MS, based on their self-assessment.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Common Joe on Tuesday July 21 2020, @08:45AM
Based on two people I know who were harassed by their abusers after papers were filed in court (one going through a divorce and another who was raped), the courts and lawyers make it extremely hard to "prove" harassment like this -- even though a vegetable can clearly see from the evidence that it's harassment. On the rare chance that the abuser is punished, it's often a hand slap at most.
I'll add that although gender can play a role in who gets away with what, it's interesting that of the two people I have in mind, one is a guy and the other a gal. In my anecdotal examples, it seems that the court often likes to favor the abuser. On a broader scale, we can see harassment and abuse happening when large corporations screw the little guy.
It shouldn't be hard to prove, but it is. And it costs a lot of money.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:43AM (1 child)
That is far more conductive to discovering the purpose of the media blitz.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:08PM
That's why I stopped watching the news, they electrocuted too many stories.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Megahard on Tuesday July 21 2020, @01:03AM (2 children)
I guess not in the internet age.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday July 21 2020, @01:42AM
Inflation will eat your thoughts for breakfast.
(Score: 2) by Aegis on Tuesday July 21 2020, @02:45PM
Meh, too expensive!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:42AM (1 child)
Get used to it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:07PM
Yes, some men are pigs. I see no reason why we need to get used to it though.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Tuesday July 21 2020, @08:11PM
Why would you do this? You are literally laying down an auditable paper trail that can be used as evidence when you are charged with harrassment?
That being said, I suppose people who do these kinds of things arn't going to be the sharpest bowling ball in the shed.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday July 21 2020, @11:03PM
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Account abandoned.