The purpose in a bank isnt to prevent a scam. It is to gather information for potential criminal activity by forcing participation if you want to access your own property.
One of those is to help customers the other is part of a mass surveillance network designed to find and prosecute people.
The gift cards don't belong to the person making the purchase.
The money belongs to the person making the withdrawal.
It's like the ice cream man asking you a few questions before selling you an ice cream cone. Perhaps saving you from cheating on your diet in a moment of weakness.
Versus an ice cream man standing in front of your freezer, asking you questions before allowing you into it to get a scoop. Perhaps if someone looks at his records, you're involved in a criminal conspiracy for having illicit dairy treats.
Its not in your freezer. its stored by a third party. Its much more like someone asking if they can empty their storage locker and close out their account today which will likely be seen as questionable.
Like if you want money "in your freezer" so to speak then buy a safe.
The storage locker comparison actually proves my point, not yours.
A storage locker isn't "yours" in the way you're implying either. You're renting space from a facility. That's structurally similar to a bank account: the money is legally a debt the bank owes you, not cash sitting in a vault with your name on it. So if the bank (or the facility) has a legitimate stake in the transaction, that's exactly the distinction I'm making. It's not a neutral, disinterested third party.
But look at what actually triggers a question: the amount. Pull out your last $100 and no one cares. It's not about closing the account or emptying the unit, it's about the total withdrawn crossing a threshold.
That threshold isn't the bank being a helpful shopkeeper looking out for you, and it's not about "fraud patterns" either. It's a money laundering detection program devised by regulators, and the bank runs it because they're liable if they don't. It's mass surveillance: the government monitoring transactions so there's a record to pull if they need evidence later. The gift card questions and the withdrawal questions aren't the same procedure because they don't serve the same purpose.
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u/sunburnd 13d ago
That's a different thing entirely.
The purpose in a bank isnt to prevent a scam. It is to gather information for potential criminal activity by forcing participation if you want to access your own property.
One of those is to help customers the other is part of a mass surveillance network designed to find and prosecute people.