Why should we all pay for those who’ve been scammed?

@babetyouknow

Being the victim of scam is not the same as throwing your wallet at someone in the street.

And you are victim blaming.

I have sympathy for some but there was one story that pissed me right off the bank did everything short of refusing to give her the money she threw a tantrum caused a scene in the bank the bank manager gave her the money after warning her one more time it was a scam she really upset the staff (who admittedly overstepped) but got her own way got her money LOST her money (because it was a fucking scam) then she was complaining she should have her money back I mean......fucks sake how many warnings do you NEED before personal responsibility kicks in

My telephone number was spoofed recently, I've had a few people ring and ask why I rang them. I explain it's not me, I've reported that someone is spoofing my number and they really shouldn't ring back to random numbers as it might be part of a scam. One woman has rung me back four times and counting, I despair!

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia no it's because he thinks some people are stupid.
Doesn't really give a crap about his former employer.
He's retired

I dont believe anyone would go out or their way to be a victim. How cruel is that comment. I hope nothing ever happens to you and you are faced with being blamed.

But if I hold a fake charity bucket, I'm a thief, even if you chose to get your wallet out and drop a tenner in.

Well he world shill for his former employer's interests, wouldn't he?

Well, yes, but some of them seem to go out of their way to be victims. If take your wallet in the street, thats a crime, but if you chase me and throw your wallet at me, is it?

These people are victims of crime.

OH is a retired banker and he thinks the money shouldn't be given back, with the exception of very elderly, frail, those who have been cuckoo'd and those with learning difficulties.
It's not like there isn't plenty of TV programmes and news articles about scammers going around. People should sit up and take notice a bit more

One of my banks already does this. Whilst it made matters very slow the holds on funds and checks made were very good. And its a bank with not a very good rep... maybe that's why they have really stepped up.

Your lack of understanding is so apparent!!! Banks won’t Just say “oh bye bye £92m” they will have already accounted for this risk in the rates that they give customers.

Consider it to be a variant of Criminal Injuries Compensation, but funded by the banks instead of the taxpayer. If someone is the victim of a crime, they can claim CIC to help with the costs of getting to hospital, getting private sexual assault therapy, etc. The taxpayer funds this because we collectively recognise that victims of crimes shouldn't be penalised financially.

With fraud victims being refunded, we apply the same principle of not penalising victims of fraud as we do to rape and assault, but the banks pay for it. It's about recognising that scammers can use sophisticated tactics and victims can be vulnerable in ways that aren't immediately obvious. It was only when I was diagnosed autistic in my forties that I understood why I had been raped twice: autistic women and girls are vulnerable to sexual assault because we don't read danger signs and misunderstand social cues. When does "coffee" mean a hot drink and when does it mean something else? Yet I have a full-time job, degree, home owner, on paper I don't look like a vulnerable adult.

My point being that it's shit to blame the victim of fraud "surely you must have realised?" just as it's shit to blame a rape victim "surely you knew that coffee means sex?" and in a civilised society we blame the perpetrators.

Does it make people more reckless if they think they will get their money back anyway? If you get one of these you've inherited a load of money but you need to send us £10,000 for expenses and we'll send you a couple of million, do you think probably a scam but could be true, nothing to lose in giving it a go the bank will give me my £10,000 back if it's a scam. Obviously to get your money back you're not going to tell the bank that you thought it probably was a scam. Extreme example, but if you know you will get refunded if you do something a bit stupid you might take a chance on some dodgy scheme, like investment scams.

As if banks and bankers have never scammed money off the public and their customers.
It was ok when they were bailed out. How do you think that impacted on the economy?

Im glad the woman got her money back and hope others do too. I mostly hope measures are put into place to curb this behaviour though. I also dont believe in victim blaming.

And if they don’t get compensated for losing their life savings, and are left impoverished and destitute, do you think we aren’t then going to be paying for them through the benefits system?

Don't be so silly. Banks don't lose profits. They pay us lower interest rates to protect their profits.

This is how everything works in a capitalist society. Businesses protect their profit margins. They expect a minimum increase of more than inflation every year. So if a businesses made 4% extra last year and their costs increase by 15 % this year because of inflation, they put up prices by 20% to protect their profits and adda bit. WE pay for everything.

We pay for our own additional living costs , we pay for those of every business we buy from - every shop's/cafe/hotel/landlord, company's increases in power, rents, staff wages, mortgages, taxes, repairs, whatever they sell.

It all comes down to us. Capitalists never lose out. If it costs them, they pass the cost to us.

But it will be a cost built into the banks profit margins. If banks didn’t have to account for paying this then the rates may be different on savings accounts etc. how materially different I don’t know but ultimately it is the other customers picking up the cost.

Well, if they don’t refund people who have lost their life savings, we’ll still end up paying for them - just through the benefits system instead because they’re now impoverished and destitute.

£92 million - the amount paid out by banks for scams of this nature last year - is small change to them. It does not affect the rates the rest of us pay - or if it does, only to a tiny extent.

That’s the spirit! 😂 🙄

I do think the romance ones are a bit predictable but scams with PayPal etc are becoming increasingly sophisticated so I wouldn’t want to tempt fate by suggesting all scam victims are idiots, personally.

They add it to there overall costs which in turn is factored in when setting charges for every else to maintain a profit

so yes we do pay
just the same as supermarkets add the cost of lost stock through theft to the prices we pay on the shelf

Maybe your dismay should be directed at the scammers who do these crimes in the first place?

We do in a way though through interest rates.

What do you think profits are? They belong to and benefit the bank and its shareholders, not customers.

The four biggest banks alone made nearly £20 billion in profits last year. £92 million in compensation to scam victims is small change to them. It makes barely a dent in their profits, and certainly doesn’t prevent them from deigning to pass a small proportion of their profits to their customers.

how do you think the banks make profits???