Buying things with your own money appears to be considered 'suspicious activity' now.

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Gasaraki

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Oct 15, 2009
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So, I just found this brilliant piece of fear-mongering <youtube=lolnRc1_3Hk&context=C3c6da2bADOEgsToPDskLtr2DTcPJCticR0iw0f1lL>
and I just have no idea what to say.
Are people seriously this paranoid?
 

Colour Scientist

Troll the Respawn, Jeremy!
Jul 15, 2009
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I don't own a credit card. I do Laser things a lot but that's about it.

I suppose it's more ingrained in American culture than it is in Europe. If I had a credit card I would make myself homeless in about a month.
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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Gasaraki said:
Are people seriously this paranoid?
Well, to be fair, they were compounding the situation with other things, such as refusing to show an ID. It's still all circumstantial "evidence," though. They would do good to remember what they can about them, but you shouldn't call the police based on someone paying with a large sum of cash. And if the hotels are THAT worried, they should simply adopt a policy of requiring a valid ID for all patrons, and they should have a system to check the validity to be 100% sure.

And to specifically answer your question on are people this paranoid, I know there are. Hell, there are some people paranoid to think that the trails of water vapor left behind by supersonic jets are a spray the government is putting out to do...something to us. But, as with the crazy chemtrail people, the ones who are that paranoid are a vast minority and deserve to be ignored. Everybody has their reasons for using cash, whether it's for convenience, security, anonymity or necessity because they don't have a card (which, truly, some people do not). It's not the seller's place to discriminate based on that, and if they do so they're only running off paying customers.
 

Zantos

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Jan 5, 2011
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In fairness, this isn't just paying in cash. If someone is buying groceries or whatever that isn't odd, but staying for a few weeks in a decent hotel can run into the thousands of dollars mark. Carrying around thousands in cash is pretty suspect.
 

Lionsfan

I miss my old avatar
Jan 29, 2010
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Well spending a few weeks in a hotel? Even the cheap ones will run you a pretty price, and not many people I know are carrying around 1-2 thousand dollars in cash.

Still a silly video though
 

Dags90

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Oct 27, 2009
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Lilani said:
Well, to be fair, they were compounding the situation with other things, such as refusing to show an ID. It's still all circumstantial "evidence," though. They would do good to remember what they can about them, but you shouldn't call the police based on someone paying with a large sum of cash. And if the hotels are THAT worried, they should simply adopt a policy of requiring a valid ID for all patrons, and they should have a system to check the validity to be 100% sure.
Wouldn't someone who wanted to be discrete just wind up going to a motel that caters to that? There's no shortage of no-tell motels or ritzy hotels that discretely host the unfaithful. How do you tell the difference between someone who doesn't want to leave a paper trail because of unfaithfulness and someone who wants to kill people?
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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Dags90 said:
How do you tell the difference between someone who doesn't want to leave a paper trail because of unfaithfulness and someone who wants to kill people?
As I said, you don't. It's not your place to make those sort of on-the-spot judgements and act upon them without any solid evidence. Sure, remember them if you like--you probably will anyway if it freaks you out that much. Maybe tell someone else what you saw. Then if someone asks you about it later, have the story ready to retell. Because it's possible those "no-tell motels" were either full or simply inconvenient. You simply never know. So be prepared, but don't jump the gun on everybody who's socially awkward and pays in cash.

Believe it or not, judging people by looks and behavior is common practice in businesses--and for good reason. I work at a women's clothing store, and whenever we get a group of young girls about high-school age come in, we always hover near them from the moment they come in the store til the moment they leave. And we don't even try to be subtle, we talk to them, watch them, and stay close enough so that they know they're being watched. This is because groups of obnoxious girls like that are commonly thieves, and use their numbers and collective ADD ("oh, look at this! oh that's cute! oh hey look at these, or do you think I should get these instead?") to distract us. We make sure we count their clothes as they come in and out of the dressing rooms, more so than we do most customers. And again, we don't try to be subtle. Because I've been there when we either didn't have enough hands on deck to watch them or were too subtle about it, and we lost money because of it.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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I thought this thread was going to be about how credit card identity theft protection can occasionally mess you up[footnote]I've never once had a purchase that I didn't authorize get caught, but I've had my card temporarily locked twice because I did something that set off some heuristic. Yes, I really did buy a dollar's worth of gas with a debit card, realize I meant to buy a gallon, and go back and top it off. What's more, yes, I really did try to buy something from a digital distribution service (namely the Indie Royale Bundle) located in Australia. This is the fourth time I've done it, so I have no idea why you're suddenly upset about it now.[/footnote], but this is even weirder. There are plenty of people who don't have credit cards, and there's a lot more home grown redneck "survivalists" doing it just in case the government decides to go full Hitler on them than there are foreign terrorists trying to evade the government. There's also plenty of younger people who just don't have their first credit card yet, and a few older people who don't like to use them because they're bad at keeping track of what they owe on credit. Besides, that very video showed that the 9/11 hijackers actually used credit cards to purchase stuff, so the whole thing is just completely silly.
 

Hazy992

Why does this place still exist
Aug 1, 2010
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TBF I would find this suspicious. Its very rare people spend that much money in cash, especially on something like a hotel room.
 

Terminate421

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Jul 21, 2010
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Zantos said:
In fairness, this isn't just paying in cash. If someone is buying groceries or whatever that isn't odd, but staying for a few weeks in a decent hotel can run into the thousands of dollars mark. Carrying around thousands in cash is pretty suspect.
Ah but don't forget cash makes things a bit easier in filing for bills but I'll give you what you said first though. Not everyone is a Bill Gates or Jason Bourne just because they do something doesn't mean that they carry 100 dollar bills in their shoes.
 

Private Custard

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Dec 30, 2007
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I went into a bank a while back, to deposit around £2000 in cash. I was told I'd need to wait for the manager to deal with it as they're not used to handling large sums of cash.

A FUCKING BANK!!

I guess I'm just old school. I have a card, but it doesn't smell as nice as a big pile of notes!
 

mikey7339

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Jun 15, 2011
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OP, who honestly walks around with the amount of money used as an example in that video?

A week+ stay at what looks like an upscale hotel would cost ATLEAST a grand. The example they provide is suspicious.
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
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Wow, i guess this is mostly an American attitude then? I'm pretty sure cash is considered safer than credit in the UK.

Paying by card is a nightmare for socially awkward penguins like me as well, i probably look suspicious as hell even though i'm doing nothing wrong.

Also go circumstantial evidence!
 

Blow_Pop

Supreme Evil Overlord
Jan 21, 2009
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Satsuki666 said:
People are just crazy. I have no clue why anybody would find paying something with cash suspicious unless of course it was a house or something along those lines. I pay for nearly everything with cash. I paid for my car, tuition, laptop, etc all with cash.
I concur with this. Though I don't have a credit card out of personal choice. My ATM card for my bank is strictly just an ATM card. Helps me keep track of my money. Personally, it pisses me off that certain places REQUIRE a credit card. Its bs....
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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aprilmarie said:
Satsuki666 said:
People are just crazy. I have no clue why anybody would find paying something with cash suspicious unless of course it was a house or something along those lines. I pay for nearly everything with cash. I paid for my car, tuition, laptop, etc all with cash.
I concur with this. Though I don't have a credit card out of personal choice. My ATM card for my bank is strictly just an ATM card. Helps me keep track of my money. Personally, it pisses me off that certain places REQUIRE a credit card. Its bs....
I dont want to touch a credit card with a ten foot pole..I simply do not trust myself

so must stuff is eather cash or ATM/debit card

but "requiring" a credic card is stupid....like buying stuff online, ok I hear there was ways you can use a debit card for that..but still
 

OldNewNewOld

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Mar 2, 2011
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Any normal finance adviser will tell you to NOT use a credit card unless you really have to.
When using a card, you don't have the same feeling as when using real money. You will spend more money because of it. You give a plastic card, they give you the card back. You didn't lose anything. But when you give 50% of the cash you have with you, you will think if it's worth it or if you need it.

Another reason why to avoid credit cards is because credits are the reason why this economy crisis is still going on.

I don't use a credit card, nor do I intend to get one. I don't need it, I don't like it.

This is just some bullshit from the banks. Homeland security my ass. They got money from the banks, they add a video to make you feel guilty for using you own cash.
 

Soviet Steve

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May 23, 2009
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I suddenly have this image in my mind of a near future with national guardsmen surrounding a coin gum-ball machine intending to pounce any terrorists who might try to operate it when it clearly doesn't have an option to pay with a credit card.
 

darthotaku

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Aug 20, 2010
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while having a grand in cash might be suspicious, it's still not what I'd call a warning sign. I paid for my car in cash because I don't have a credit card. I guess I just don't like to pay people to buy things for me.
 

Wintermoot

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Aug 20, 2009
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I get the non ID thing but cash payment?
my mom always has cash money on her so she knows how much money she can freely spent.