Topic Wiki

https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/

https://www.mixcloud.com/zev-brenner/talkline-with-zev-brenner-on-credit-card-scams-affecting-the-orthodox-jewish-community/

http://podcast.headlinesbook.com/e/31616-credit-card-miles-and-points-swiping-for-rewards-buying-and-selling-miles-is-it-assur-and-a-chillul-hashem-or-a-great-way-for-a-side-parnassah/



BEFORE SWIPING FOR SOMEONE READ THIS: (first hand story)

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=36812.msg2062371#msg2062371
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/#comment-1399884


Dan's warning to DDF:
I hope people realize that any buying group or anyone else that gets merchandise in advance of payment can go south at any time. That's even if you get a check at the time of delivery.
X-posting as I don't want anyone to say that I never put a warning here.

A story that ended up in court - https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=iRcRHuyZUdOIx69D00a5XQ==&display=all&courtType=Kings%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1


I am one of the biggest buyers for buying groups, I have done millions in transactions and have sent to every group there is over the past 3 years. Most buying groups are okay, some scan in slower than others, some pay slower than others - most will lose a few packages over the year. You can research and find which are better for you.

However there is a bigger problem now with Amazon itself.  Amazon in the past has been great with any problems always ready with a refund for lost packages even if it was thousands of dollars. Lately Amazon has clamped down and has tagged these buying groups addresses  in their systems as "freight forwarder" and now no longer will fix any problem you have whatsoever. Doesn't matter what the problem is, even if it shows the package was never delivered, amazon will not help you in any way. Their copy and paste response will always be "this item was sent to a freight forwarder and we're unable to replace or refund the item. We recommend contacting your freight forwarder for more details, as we don't have any more insight or information regarding this matter, For more information about sending items via freight forwarders, please visit our Help Pages: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201117950." As well the amazon drivers either must know this or have been increasingly bad at delivering packages because the numbers of packages missing has gone up astronomically. Previously you would have very few packages missing, now the past 3 months I have had 59 "lost" packages. I now have over $15,000 of loses and some guy in Delaware is probably living the life with all the stuff he stole from me. I will survive, I have made a lot more than $15,000 over the years however just a warning to others here that things are not as they used to be and it really is no longer worth doing buring groups with all the loses piling up

« Last edited by Yo ssi on July 24, 2023, 06:47:26 PM »

Author Topic: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others  (Read 1182397 times)

Offline Alexsei

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3220 on: March 06, 2019, 05:48:59 PM »
Listen (212) 444-1100;3;4;7; 31#
Jews ≠ Zionists
Palestinians ≠ Hamas
Satmar ≠ SatmarHQ

Offline Moshe123

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3221 on: March 06, 2019, 05:50:16 PM »
This has definitely spread awareness. A voice note went around today about a magid shiur who spoke about this for 15 minutes.

Offline zale

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3222 on: March 06, 2019, 05:51:50 PM »
This has definitely spread awareness. A voice note went around today about a magid shiur who spoke about this for 15 minutes.

Can you post it here?

Offline ExGingi

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3223 on: March 06, 2019, 05:53:55 PM »
Listen (212) 444-1100;3;4;7; 31#

Any way to speed up or skip ahead?
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
-- Dan

Online shapsam

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3224 on: March 06, 2019, 05:56:39 PM »
Any way to speed up or skip ahead?
Press number 6 to skip a minute.

Offline Moshe123

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3225 on: March 06, 2019, 05:59:02 PM »
Can you post it here?

Pm me your number and I'll forward to you.

Offline Eliyohu

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3226 on: March 06, 2019, 07:25:19 PM »
This has definitely spread awareness. A voice note went around today about a magid shiur who spoke about this for 15 minutes.
He Spoke very nicely.. someone in Monroe. Any clue who it is?

Offline Alexsei

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3227 on: March 06, 2019, 07:43:35 PM »
.
Jews ≠ Zionists
Palestinians ≠ Hamas
Satmar ≠ SatmarHQ

Offline chff

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3228 on: March 06, 2019, 07:46:52 PM »
.

The power of the internet & WhatsApp.... this was created here next door https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=101820.100

Offline Dov633

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3229 on: March 06, 2019, 08:07:00 PM »
Listen (212) 444-1100;3;4;7; 31#
Apparently he is calling out this thread

Offline Ephraimh

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3230 on: March 06, 2019, 08:22:45 PM »
Apparently he is calling out this thread
Doubt any of them have ever heard of DDF, they’re probably referring to WhatsApp, Telegram, and some of the Yiddish forums around.

Offline Alexsei

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3231 on: March 06, 2019, 08:24:48 PM »
Apparently he is calling out this thread
DDMS
Jews ≠ Zionists
Palestinians ≠ Hamas
Satmar ≠ SatmarHQ

Offline Z56

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3232 on: March 06, 2019, 08:29:56 PM »
He Spoke very nicely.. someone in Monroe. Any clue who it is?

He name is Horowitz, he lives in BP
“I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work

Offline zh cohen

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3233 on: March 06, 2019, 08:40:13 PM »
I don't think that RYYJ records himself (except when he's taking for the purpose of recording) to this day.

I've heard (I think directly from him) that he practiced speaking by taping himself and listening to it, and redoing it until he was happy with the speech. (A modern version of the Friediker Rebbe's advice on learning Public Speaking)

Today a lot of his stuff (including farbrengens) are on his website.

Offline eliraps

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3234 on: March 06, 2019, 11:08:26 PM »
Listening now to the Brenner interview for the first time.

A few takeaways so far.

1. I say um too much.
2. It does sound like AT is personally involved in $50MM+ of these cases, though which side for each is unclear.
3. AT says disputing can get you in criminal trouble as you affirming under oath that you don't recognize the charge, but an initial chargeback isn't an affirmation under oath. Of course it may come to that, but it should not be hard to at least initiate a chargeback without those repercussions.

If you made 1 mistake, it's that when the question was addressed to you and AT asked if he could answer, you allowed him to. You would have done a better job.

There were often some people after a DDS who spoke up with tough questions. The worst I can remember was actually in CLE at a regional kinus hashluchim about hidden city ticketing and it caused a nasty fight in the room.

Would love to hear more about this (the HALACHIC perspective on hidden city). To my mind it MAY even be more questionable than taking advantage of a price mistake. (IINM, I have read all your posts about this). I am no expert in choshen mishpat, and i have no sympathy for the airlines but I am trying to work this one out. If you have any mare mekomos or names people who have researched this, please do send my way.

Offline knowitall

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3235 on: March 06, 2019, 11:26:42 PM »
Listening now to the Brenner interview for the first time.

A few takeaways so far.

1. I say um too much.
2. It does sound like AT is personally involved in $50MM+ of these cases, though which side for each is unclear.
3. AT says disputing can get you in criminal trouble as you affirming under oath that you don't recognize the charge, but an initial chargeback isn't an affirmation under oath. Of course it may come to that, but it should not be hard to at least initiate a chargeback without those repercussions.
IIRC you mentioned in the interview that merchants pay 2-3% fees on each swipe, so that equals 36% interest.
While we can all agree that this form of “funding” costs a lot more than a normal bank loan, those numbers are off. If these swipes swiped in the first couple days of the statement cycle, they would have approximately 55 days to pay, meaning they only need to swipe each card 7 times per year. 2-3% merchant fees equals 14-21% APR.

Offline EliJelly

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3236 on: March 07, 2019, 12:54:26 AM »
I just listened to this Zev Brenner show with Dan and the panel, ( https://www.mixcloud.com/zev-brenner/talkline-with-zev-brenner-on-credit-card-scams-affecting-the-orthodox-jewish-community/)
I was thrilled to hear Dan's voice for the first time, after being a fan of his for so many years.. He talks as good as he writes! (now this compliment couldn't be any better ..)
This Zev apparently never visited DDMS, he repeatedly defines Dan's role as "Helping people with what is a good deal & what is a bad deal" and he even asks Dan to give a quick example on how to know what is a good or bad deal.. So Dan became a deal counselor for that show..
It doesn't seem that Zev did any research on this topic at all, therefor he come across very monotonous, and I'm sure Dan had the same sense, Dan has much more knowledge and expertise to share.
You also said that these merchants pay like 3% per swipe, totaling 36% per year, and of course such a business cannot sustain. I think in these cases most businesses used the cards to pay for vendors, having a free cash flow without any fees at all.   

Offline Yehuda25

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3237 on: March 07, 2019, 02:14:54 AM »
I just listened to this Zev Brenner show with Dan and the panel, ( https://www.mixcloud.com/zev-brenner/talkline-with-zev-brenner-on-credit-card-scams-affecting-the-orthodox-jewish-community/)
I was thrilled to hear Dan's voice for the first time, after being a fan of his for so many years.. He talks as good as he writes! (now this compliment couldn't be any better ..)
This Zev apparently never visited DDMS, he repeatedly defines Dan's role as "Helping people with what is a good deal & what is a bad deal" and he even asks Dan to give a quick example on how to know what is a good or bad deal.. So Dan became a deal counselor for that show..
It doesn't seem that Zev did any research on this topic at all, therefor he come across very monotonous, and I'm sure Dan had the same sense, Dan has much more knowledge and expertise to share.
You also said that these merchants pay like 3% per swipe, totaling 36% per year, and of course such a business cannot sustain. I think in these cases most businesses used the cards to pay for vendors, having a free cash flow without any fees at all.
Can everyone stop with the 36% # or similar? It's simply ridiculous. The reason these guys are swiping is so they get a 50-60 day loan, which is 22% max, and that's assuming 3% which from having some experience in the industry is probably on the higher end of what the fees would be. A more accurate # would be 15-18%.
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”


― Aristotle

Offline zh cohen

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3238 on: March 07, 2019, 07:35:17 AM »
I'm going to be interviewed by him tomorrow.
What topics should I bring up?

How did it go? Or are you under embargo?

Offline whYME

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #3239 on: March 07, 2019, 10:19:38 AM »
He talks as good as he writes!
It's not fair to insult his writing like that.