I agree. This isn’t how money laundering generally works.
I suppose however you could argue it’s the equivalent of money laundering. You’re converting an illegal asset (stolen credit card numbers) which are difficult to use because of their illegality into a legal asset (currency) which can be used without problems.
Hey, good news! I didn’t know that. Ignorance fought.
Hmm. That makes the calculation more complicated. If you have a balance of $3,000 at 9% and the minimum payment is $60 but you make payments of $95… and then a $200 cash advance plus an $8 fee ends up costing you $292.27 but a $240 purchase ends up costing you $319.68. So yes the cash advance would cost less money (46% instead of 59%).
No, it’s not Money Laundering. It could be if the amounts were MUCH higher, like $1000.
Still, it’s too traceable, and there’s fees and such.
In any case, I cant see any such auction. There are a few, but they all have interesting serial numbers, and thus some small collector value.
No, it’s not Money Laundering. Not even close, and I dont think the sitrep described by the Op exists.
No, that wouldnt work either.
Cigarette smokers, are “drug addicts” and “not known for their rational thinking”.
Is it even legal to sell bills at a markup?
Sure. Coin stores do it all the time. The mark up on a $1000 bill is quite high, actually.
Unless you are a US Mint, yes.
Ever buy a Proof Set?
The criminal cost-benefit analysis of a bottle of Tide is more straightforward. Most of the people stealing the detergent, Sergeant Thompson points out, are the same criminals who used to break into houses or mug pedestrians—male addicts whose need to feed their habits can foster a kind of innovative streak. “They are smart. They are creative. They want high reward and low risk,” he says. Theft convictions can come with a maximum fifteen-year prison sentence, but the penalty for shoplifting is often just a small fine, with no jail time. For the most active thieves, says Thompson, stolen Tide has in some ways become more lucrative than the drugs it’s traded for. “It’s the new dope,” he says. “You can get richer and have less chance of doing jail time.”
Obviously you can do it for collectible coins and bills, I understood that. But it seems like selling large numbers of $20s that have no obvious collectible value would at least raise some eyebrows.
Sure, but nobody is doing that.
The OP seems to be claiming that someone is doing that.
Without verification, and two of us checked. Yes, there are a* very few*, but mostly due to odd serial numbers, like many "8"s, which is considered lucky to some.
Thus, the Op is incorrect. All the speculation here is for naught.
Yeah, he has sold a couple, and there’s a guy who has sold a few $100 bills (uncirculated) the same way.
But you’d have to sell thousands of them to be useful in money laundering.
As the listings say the primary uses are to redeem eBay bucks or redeem Credit Card Gift Cards.
As a certified AML expert, this is not money laundering.
I wasn’t claiming that it was money laundering. Others said that. I was just pointing out that it is going on. It strikes me as shady at the very least.
I guess if it’s legal and if there really are buyers then it makes sense that people are doing it. But it seems like you’d have to sell quite a few to make it worth doing.
Guys, I’m still pretty sure that the scenario here is along the lines of a college kid whose parents give him a pre-paid Visa for groceries that he’d rather spend in other ways.
If he can spend it online then he can spend it on pretty much anything he wants, except maybe things like pot.