SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

I like @nomadpete's idea of a transaction tax.

You've got a long memory.

[nomadpete]

A nominal transaction tax imposed by a simple banking algorithm (say 1% of every monetary movement, in or out) would tax the big players like BHP or Santos regardless of their present tax minimisation strategies. Eg, what is 1% of Santos 6 billion dollar investment in gas fields at Tiwi Islands?

Cancel GST,etc, which disproportionately penalise the poorest.

 

Transaction tax would be more equitable.

 

No more tax loopholes. No more offshore 'profits'. No more minimising of real profits.

 

But it will never get off the ground because the big players own own the governments and they will never countenance a level playing field.

 

Ps: the banks already skim about 1% of every eft purchase, and look at what they get!

Edited January 24 by nomadpete

[Bruce Tuncks]

Could they find a way around your tax, onetrack?

There was a party which once got a few seats in NZ which pointed out that the ONLY thing you needed to tax was land. You could not deny owning the stuff and you can pass on most costs to the productive user .

It never got a try.

[facthunter]

That's where you keep paying for something you have already bought.  Nev

[facthunter]

Packer said "Tax is  voluntary for the rich".  Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

But you can't get around land tax, without saying that you didn't own it. So the roomful of tax books would be replaced with a single A4 sheet. This would alone put thousands of tax accountants in search of an honest living.

[Jerry_Atrick]

And he said something like if you don't minimise your tax, your're an idiot.

 

The transaction tax seems like a very good idea. I would have to do some math, but there a couple of things to think of:

• Retail prices - Assuming the tax, unlike GST, cannot be offset, which it couldn't, then it will have a cumulative affect through the supply chain. The question is, will it add more than 10% *(current GST rate?) to the retail cost of an item (ex. GST)?
• Investment performance - If the transaction tax applies to all financial transactions (ii.e. all movement of money), then that will have to be paid forby your super contributions.. Although, I would suggest a unilateral transaction tax would be less than the 15% input GST (over here, the first £25K contrinution to a pension (super) fund is tax free).
• Double dipping in financial transactions: Banks move money between each other to manage liquidity. For example, the simple act of extending yuou a mortgage, where, for example, they have lent you a fixed amount for a fixed longer period (say 20 years), but have to manage the short term depostis that fund the longer term debt they issue. On a daily basis, they may borrow from another financial institution to cover an estimated shortfall and pay it back the next day (e.g. 7am cash or 11am cash). In addition, there are repurchase agreements, which, for a treasury department have the same effect. If you tax the deposit by the lender to the borrower, and then tax the repayment, is that not double dipping? The same for the payment of the property vendor with your mortgage, the tax on repayment of any moneys owing by the vendor on the property they just sold, and the tax on each and every payment you make for the life of the loan? Can this result in a significant uptick in tax costs?
• Similar to above, what about escrow accounts, refundable deposits (of which a refund is made)
• Who pays the tax - the payer of the receiver? I think I would prefer the payer; if it is the receiver, then people may be encouraged to buy direct from overseas institutions, where the tax would not apply?
• How do you force such a tax in cash payments? How do you collect it when say a payment is between two private, non-commercial individuals?
• Does it apply to those under, say 15? Probably yes, because otherwise, all payments will be made by under 15 year (or whatever age deemed excluded) olds...
• What happens in a failed transaction - eg. when a direct debit hits someone's account and they don't have the money. Often, the bank will not honour the payment and then charge a fee, and automatically credit the account holder's accounnt.

I am sure I can think of others, and while it looks like I think it may not be a great idea; I think it could work in some form, which is why the maths needs to be done.

[Litespeed]

We should be taxing share transactions at say 0.5%

 

Currently they do billions of fast transactions using computers doing it in milliseconds and this artificially distorts the market. Sometimes to almost crash the market.

 

This would stabilise markets, reduce panics esp computer driven ones and generate revenue.

 

Additional taxes should be on derivatives etc and hedging against the market.

 

That is just the basic start of tax reform.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, Litespeed said:

Currently they do billions of fast transactions using computers doing it in milliseconds and this artificially distorts the market. Sometimes to almost crash the market.

Are you referring to capital markets trading (shares, bonds, FX, ETFs, OTC simple contracts, etc)? If so, the transactions tax (assuming it is on payment) will probably produce less than you expect. High Frequency/Algo trading involves nanosecond capable ordering, but you would be surprised at how few of these orders are in fact executed, and how low volumes they trade. And, they usually net their transactions with a clearing counterparty if trading direct on the exchange, or the broker. This means that they sum up the values of all their buys and all their sells with a counterparty and pay or receive the difference.  That is the amount that would be taxed under a transaction tax; not the gross buy and sell transactions, because it is the net that is sold.

 

I used to work on a high frequency algo trading desk where we had a FIX (Financia Information Exchange) server that capable of processing transactions in the many nanosecond range.

[red750]

Scammers now using fake QR codes to rip you off.

 

 

 

Read details here.

[facthunter]

Don't TRUST anybody.  Nev

[nomadpete]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Don't TRUST anybody.  Nev

I don't believe you

[facthunter]

I'm not JUST anybody. My NAME is MY GAME. but the Name is NOT fact PROVIDER. There are many COGS in the Machine.

[red750]

Is someone asking "Can you hear me?" on the phone when you pick up? If so, hang up. It could be a scam.

 

The "Can you hear me" scam has been targeting consumers for quite a few years. It's unclear exactly how the scam might play out, but consumer advocates, including the Better Business Bureau, say it's better to hang up and not engage.

 

What's the danger of the can you hear me scam?
It's likely the scammers are trying to get you to say "yes" or record your voice, which can then be used or edited to make it seem like you authorized something that you didn't, according to a scam alert from the BBB.

 

The BBB said it continues to receive reports to its Scam Tracker, the organization's tool that keeps an eye on reported scams across the country.

[old man emu]

Bloody Hell! Now the scammers are using AI to cut out the need to contact the victim.

[spacesailor]

I often say " can you hear me '' when their voice is to low for my hearing . I say that in a very quiet way .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

My son just starts ordering a Pizza.. You probably shouldn't say anything at all..Nev

[red750]

Calls to my mobile show the number calling, and if I don't know it, I let it go to missed calls and delete it.

 

If it comes to my landline, I either ignore it or pick it up and listen. If I don't speak, 90% chance it will automatically terminate. If it is someone I know, they will speak first, then I can decide what to say.

 

Lately I have been receiving a lot of texts, usually around 2 or 3 am, claiming I have an outstanding toll fee which needs paying. I know it's a scam because my toll fees are direct debited daily. My son has also been receiving these scam texts in the early hours. He uses Eastlink, but trips are charged through my Citylink (Linkt) account. He doesn't have an account, but pays his tolls to me with his board. I have  reported this scam to Transurban, with a screenprint of the scam text. Because the scammers use different mobile numbers (04x) they are hard to track or stop.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Often, the phone rings and when you answer, there is nobody there. I have been told that scammers use machines to ring many numbers at once, and only the first real answer gets the scammer. Is this true? and, if so, what should you say? remember that lotsa calls are not scammers.

[red750]

That's true Bruce. Don't say anything. If the autovoice doesn't hear a voice within 15 seconds, it terminates the call. Happens all the time on our landline, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day, particularly in the early evening. Never leaves a voicemail. We just ignore them. Our genuine callers use our mobiles where we can see caller detatils.

[onetrack]

I went onto Amazon and put an item in my basket. They kept asking me to join Amazon Prime. I declined. When I got to the checkout, I found I'd been signed up for Amazon Prime at $9.99 a month - bloody scammers! I cancelled the order and deleted my Amazon account. Then, the next day, I got an email thanking me for joining Amazon Prime!!

I keep watching my CC for any payment to Amazon that shouldn't be there. That Jeff Bezos is a bigger scheming arsehole than that scumbag Mark Zuckerberg.

 

Edited June 28 by onetrack

[pmccarthy]

Same thing happened to my wife. It took a lot of undoing.

[onetrack]

It looks like I've had a FB Messenger scam perpetrated on me. I don't trust anything on FB at the best of times, but I thought Messenger was reasonably secure - but obviously not.

I got this official-looking FB message via Messenger, reportedly from a FB moderator, that told me this ....

 

We have detected unusual activity on your account due to you violating META's policy terms. To avoid your account being restricted and permanently blocked, please verify and follow the instructions.

 

The message then showed a FB Marketplace listing I'd put up for some tyres I have for sale. I have never provided FB with any personal, important ID, only my phone number. I even use an incorrect FB name, same as millions of other FB users do.

 

The message showed me a link to click on (this was on my phone) to verify my ID. I ignored it until I got home, then I typed in the link on my desktop to see what was there.

Up came a very professional-looking META webpage that would fool anyone. I typed in my username and password, as requested, and up popped a window saying I had to verify the login with the SMS/email code that had been sent to me, to proceed.

 

But there was no SMS, nor was there any email, with any passcode. So I have to presume the whole thing was a cunning scam. I've found plenty of websites that advise you on common FB scams, but no mention of this type of scam.

So I promptly changed my FB password, and uninstalled Messenger from my phone, I'll install the app again later, and take care that the Messenger app I install isn't a scam app!!

It's a constant battle trying to keep in front of the scams.

 

I should have been aware of redirects after typing in a web address - but the redirect was very fast and smooth. This is the link that appeared after I typed in the Messenger address link - but it's not the link address I was given, nor what I typed in. It changed subtly and smoothly in the redirect.

 

http://www.buidinessloginncheck9556.click/logiin1

[willedoo]

FB don't give two hoots about fraudsters operating on FB Marketplace. A lot of them try for small amounts of $50 or $100 because they know FB don't care, the cops are too busy to bother chasing up small fry like that, and if a bank transfer has been done, the banks don't really care either.

[willedoo]

Places like FB are great for small time scammers because there's almost no comeback on them. It's a different story with credit card companies as they get straight on to them. I've only had my card compromised a couple of times and I got a call from the CC company straight away to ask if it was me. They have enough automation to track purchases in real time. If they know you normally reside in Australia and all of a sudden they get a transaction in Europe, it rings alarm bells. The other one that's a red flag is the initial transaction for a dollar or two to see if the card works, then an attempt at a bigger amount. The smart ones go for smaller amounts. The dumb ones try for bigger amounts which can be over your credit limit and that automatically rings an alarm bell.