Tag: financial transactions

ATM thieves use glue and ‘tap’ function to drain accounts at Chase Bank

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

ATM thieves use glue and ‘tap’ function to drain accounts at Chase Bank

Chase did not say why multiple withdrawals did not trigger a fraud alert, or why the bank did not review surveillance video — but each transaction requires entering a PIN — which the thieves had apparently captured. So always, cover the keypad, and log out before you walk away.

H/T: Steve Lehto

Did the U.S. really lift sanctions off Syria temporarily?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The “humanitarian exemptions”, on Syrian sanctions, are conditional!

The U.S. Treasury announced a decision on February 9 claiming to allow an easing of sanctions imposed on Syria for the ensuing six months until August 8, as part of “earthquake relief efforts.”
The decision allows for “third parties” to transfer aid to Syria without fear of U.S. sanctions, but should only be intended for aid to earthquake-effected areas. Nonetheless, the sanctions programs applied to Syria for many years, the most severe of which are the Caesar Act (2019) and Captagon Act (2022), provide for “humanitarian exceptions,” but are conditional on U.S. approval.

Did the U.S. really lift sanctions off Syria temporarily?

Related:

Did the U.S. lift sanctions on Syria?

So any earthquake relief effort must take place away from the Syrian state. In other words, it must contribute to undermining the sovereignty of the Syrian state, or it will not take place.

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

If it can conceivably be considered a “third party record,” the government is going to seek warrantless access to it. The Third Party Doctrine — ushered into existence by the Supreme Court in 1979 — says there’s no expectation of privacy in information shared with third parties. That case dealt with phone records. People may prefer the government stay out of their personal conversations, but the Smith v. Maryland ruling said that if people shared this info with phone companies (an involuntary “sharing” since this information was needed to connect calls and bill phone users), the government could obtain this information without a warrant.

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions

Shadowy US Spy Firm Promises To Surveil Crypto Users For the Highest Bidder

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Leaked files reviewed by MintPress expose how intelligence services the world over can track cryptocurrency transactions to their source and therefore identify users by monitoring the movements of smartphone and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, such as Amazon Echo. The contents comprehensively detonate the myth of crypto anonymity, and have grave implications for individuals and states seeking to shield their financial activity from the prying eyes of hostile governments and authorities.

Shadowy US Spy Firm Promises To Surveil Crypto Users For the Highest Bidder

Previously:

Anomaly Six

Venezuela’s Maduro Calls for Dialogue in Ukraine Crisis, Rejects NATO ‘Mockery’ of Minsk Accords

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Venezuela’s Maduro Calls for Dialogue in Ukraine Crisis, Rejects NATO ‘Mockery’ of Minsk Accords

Experts have warned that the measure could ultimately actually serve to boost the development of a system parallel to the SWIFT service that is not beholden to the US and EU.

“Both Russia and China have generated alternative mechanisms of economic resistance, such as interbank payment systems outside SWIFT. Insofar as imperialism intensifies its violence, it only ends up pushing the very hegemony of the dollar in the world and the monopolies that NATO represents off a cliff,” Rivas went on to tell Venezuelanalysis.