Gift cards and fraud

+ GOP tries to rain on DNC parade US Edition - Today's top story: Gift card scams generate billions for fraudsters and industry as regulators fail to protect consumers − and how one 83-year-old fell into the 'fear bubble' [View in browser]( US Edition | 22 August 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [AI is being used to translate thoughts into words]( - [The Vatican is about to canonize its first millennial saint]( - [Why ‘time poverty’ hampers some students more than others]( Lead story Who hasn’t used a gift card? They look so innocuous hanging on a store rack, but the colorful brand logos and catchy slogans mask an unseemly underside. Despite sometimes sporting the emblems of credit card companies, all of the gift cards hanging on those store racks lack the protections of bank cards. An investigation by The Conversation found that gift cards are so lightly regulated that money flowing through them can’t always be traced. Fraudsters have taken notice. The cash-like gift cards are increasingly used in many types of underhanded schemes, including impersonation scams like the one our story follows. It starts when Mae, a no-nonsense retired nurse, [clicks a message on her computer screen the day before Thanksgiving](. [ [The latest on philanthropy and nonprofits. Sign up for our weekly Giving Today newsletter](. ] Kim Patch Investigations Project Manager Banking regulations haven’t caught up with gift cards, which fraudsters are using to steal money from people in ways that are difficult to trace or reverse. The Conversation [Gift card scams generate billions for fraudsters and industry as regulators fail to protect consumers − and how one 83-year-old fell into the ‘fear bubble’]( Dr. David P. Weber, Salisbury University; Jake Bernstein, The Conversation Consumers lose more than $5 billion a year to fraud involving gift cards, while the industry exploits regulatory loopholes and delays solutions. Related: [Why gift cards fall into a gap in the 2-tier banking regulation system − and a brief history of why that gap exists]( Science + Technology - [From thoughts to words: How AI deciphers neural signals to help a man with ALS speak]( Nicholas Card, University of California, Davis Listening in on neural activity is a promising way of restoring the ability to communicate for people whose bodies no longer can. Artificial neural networks are the key middleman in the process. Ethics + Religion - [Italian teenager Carlo Acutis’ upcoming canonization reflects the Vatican’s desire to appeal to a new generation of Catholics]( Michael A. Di Giovine, West Chester University of Pennsylvania Italian priest Padre Pio was one of the world’s most prayed-to saints in recent times. As Pio’s generation ages, the Catholic Church is turning to Carlo Acutis to appeal to a new demographic. Education - [‘Time poverty’ can keep college students from graduating − especially if they have jobs or children to care for]( Claire Wladis, CUNY Graduate Center Jobs and child care duties can seriously hamper a student’s chances of finishing college. The problem affects Black and Hispanic students and women in particular. Politics + Society - [Can a political party get any attention when its rival holds a national convention? Yes, but it’s not easy]( Stephen J. Farnsworth, University of Mary Washington The best an opposing party can hope for during convention week is some sort of misfire. But those are rare in this era of scripted conventions designed to minimize controversy. International - [Treating Nord Stream blasts as a whodunit misses the point – and plays into Russia’s plan to distract and divide]( Keith Brown, Arizona State University Since saboteurs blew up the Russia-Germany gas pipelines in September 2022, theories have swirled about who was responsible. German prosecutors recently issued a warrant for a Ukrainian. - [How debt and taxes conspired to rob Nairobi’s slum-dwelling youth of the promise of a better life]( Angela R. Pashayan, American University A 2010 constitution offered Kenyans economic and social rights that have faded in the face of mounting national debt. Economy + Business - [Want to fight gender inequality? A review of data from 118 counties shows that development aid works]( Bedassa Tadesse, University of Minnesota Duluth Aid successfully narrowed gender gaps in nearly every country researchers examined. Environment + Energy - [As human population grows, people and wildlife will share more living spaces around the world]( Neil Carter, University of Michigan; Deqiang Ma, University of Michigan As the world’s population grows, contact between humans and wildlife will increase in more than half of Earth’s land areas. A new study shows where the largest changes will occur. - [Thwaites Glacier won’t collapse like dominoes as feared, study finds, but that doesn’t mean the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is stable]( Mathieu Morlighem, Dartmouth College Antarctica’s riskiest glacier is a disaster in slow motion, a polar scientist writes. But in a rare bit of good news, the worst-case scenario may be off the table. Trending on site - [Politicians step up attacks on the teaching of scientific theories in US schools]( - [The mystic and the mathematician: What the towering 20th-century thinkers Simone and André Weil can teach today’s math educators]( - [Ancient Rome had ways to counter the urban heat island effect – how history’s lessons apply to cities today]( Today's graphic 📈 [A map highlighting the location of Kursk.]( From the story, [Ukraine’s cross-border incursion challenges Moscow’s war narrative – but will it shift Russian opinion?]( - - More of The Conversation Like this newsletter? 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