Snippings

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“Last year there were 22,525 cases of ‘facility takeover fraud’, where criminals steal their victims’ details and impersonate the innocent party to withdraw money from their accounts, make payments in their name or upgrade products or contracts.”

‘How did a fraudster impersonate me at a Lloyds branch and withdraw £8,000?’

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“More than 50pc of account takeovers recorded were carried out over the phone, typically to call centre staff. Just 30pc of attacks occurred online and rest of the cases involved tricking employees face-to-face”

‘How did a fraudster impersonate me at a Lloyds branch and withdraw £8,000?’

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In his book “Sapiens — A Brief History of Humankind”, the historian Yuval Noah Harari  talks about the cognitive revolution, which he defines as the point as which “history declared its independence from biology” because human beings gained the ability to think about things that do not exist, such as Consult Hyperion. He says

Corporations do not exist in nature any more than Catholicism or human rights. These are stories. Lawyers are shaman who tell stranger tales.

Well, yes. Limited liability companies are, I agree with Mr. Harari wholeheartedly, one of our species most ingenious inventions.

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“Macau is to introduce facial recognition for UnionPay cardholders at ATMs in an attempt to curb money laundering in the island territory.”

Macau to implement facial recognition at ATMs

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In their recent paper “Decentralized Blacklistable Anonymous Credentials with Reputation“, Yang et al put forward another way to do this.

When a user wants to access a service of a SP, he first gets the latest requirement of the SP from the ledger, then he checks its validity and whether he satisfies it. If both tests are passed, he then proves to the SP that he satisfies its requirement.

The proof itself can of course be stored on the ledger as well – you may need, for example, to show that someone was indeed age-checked before they were served alcohol.

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“his paradox of falling transactional use of, but rising demand for, notes is faced by many other countries.”

Bitesize: Bank note-able growth | Bank Underground

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“Browns increased wages by 10 per cent, to compensate staff for missing out on cash tips but Gotto has calculated that while wages and card payment fees have increased, Browns of Brockley saves about £300 month-on-month which would have been spent on bank deposit fees and payments for staff who cash up.”

Cashless economy: The cafes where cash is off the menu

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“However, an analysis of the RBI data on digital transaction volume and value in March 2017 (latest available data) as against that of October 2016 shows that the overall volume had gone up just 1.43 times”

Digital gains after note ban overstated: RBI data – Times of India

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” Frederick the Great saw an opportunity here to damage Russia’s economic infrastructure and boost his own. Hiring counterfeiters, Frederick struck imitation coins. The pieces, referred to as Ephraimiten, were struck of inferior silver content but maintained the same face value. This meant that when Russian merchants or consumers unwittingly accepted the counterfeit coins, the Prussian state was essentially profiting through theft.”

Seven Years’ War: Frederick II Used Fake Coins to Sabotage Foes – Gainesville Coins News

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“San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency conducted an investigation and found two conductors had been stealing fare money.Agency Director John Haley says using cash has been part of the cable car’s 140-year-old tradition, but it might be time to modernize.”

San Francisco cable car may go cashless after insider theft

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“According to convenience store chain CU, credit cards were used to pay for 55.1 percent of transactions last year, surpassing cash use for the first time.”

Credit card use surpasses cash at convenience stores

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“As Koreans are carrying less cash, with the average standing at 74,000 won last year, down 3,000 won from the previous year, the central bank is also issuing less cash. It released 12.3 percent fewer 10,000 won banknotes last year from the previous year, while the issuance of 5,000 won notes dipped 5.9 percent and 1,000 won bills 3.7 percent.”

Korea shifting to cashless society

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“The Bank of Korea on Thursday announced it will step up its efforts to reduce the circulation of coins, the highest denomination of which is worth less than $0.50.

As part of the plan it wants consumers to deposit loose change on to Korea’s ubiquitous ‘T Money’ cards”

South Korea to kill the coin in path towards ‘cashless society’

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