Email from Dwolla Regarding Reversals

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Got this in my inbox.

I think this is a good idea, thoughts?

Hello,
As a merchant in the Dwolla community, we appreciate your shared interest in maintaining a safe and responsible payment network.
We'd like to let you know about a few changes we are rolling out shortly to merchants effected by bank level reversals, caused by identity theft and fraud.

Starting today, users sending money to your account will need to meet and/or maintain:

1) Connect a social network
2) Have a bank deposit 30 days old
3) Enable a DWOLLA hub page
4) Have a verified account
(i.e. Social Security and/or Photo Verified)

We are working hard to make sure this policy does not affect your most frequent, loyal, and responsible customers.

Thanks for being a part of Dwolla. We hope our new changes will protect customers and merchants alike. Please let us know if you have any questions.

All the best,
Dwolla

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[benjamindees]

3) Enable a DWOLLA hub page

I guess you like being disintermediated then?

[rjk]

So basically, ANYONE sending money to a merchant that has gotten chargeback fraud must now be completely verified. I think this is the death knell for the long-lasting Dwolla/Bitcoin relationship.

[teflone]

what is a dwolla hub page ?

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

what is a dwolla hub page ?

It allows one to accept money using their Shopping Cart Interface page

[notme]

what is a dwolla hub page ?

It allows one to accept money using their Shopping Cart Interface page

Yep... that part doesn't make any sense to me though.  How does enabling that help keep them from being fraudulent?

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

what is a dwolla hub page ?

It allows one to accept money using their Shopping Cart Interface page

Yep... that part doesn't make any sense to me though.  How does enabling that help keep them from being fraudulent?

Your guess is as good as mine my friend

[phillipsjk]

1) Connect a social network

Does diaspora count? What about non-computerized social networks?

I am an anti-social basement dweller. I don't live in the US, so the point is moot anyway.

Why don't they just ask for a credit check while they are at it? Or is that what point 4 is really for?

Edit: even if I did live in the US, I wouldn't use them: I don't see the point of trying to use an intermediate "vitual currency" to buy Bitcoin (but that is OT).

[Nefario]

1) Connect a social network

Does diaspora count? What about non-computerized social networks?

I am an anti-social basement dweller. I don't live in the US, so the point is moot anyway.

Why don't they just ask for a credit check while they are at it? Or is that what point 4 is really for?

Edit: even if I did live in the US, I wouldn't use them: I don't see the point of trying to use an intermediate "vitual currency" to buy Bitcoin (but that is OT).

You're never going to get a method of authentication that will allow EVERYONE to participate and keep out scammers/fraudsters.

The social network option (linked in, facebook) is good for those who use those networks. Depending on how Dwolla does it (do they just friend you or get the ID of all your friends) they could make it a lot harder to defraud the system.

[Aggro]

I think it is a good idea to mitigate fraud, however, what happen to the new bitcoin user that wants to start by quickly funding by Dwolla, does it mean they'll have to wait 30 days to fund their bitinstant account? Or if they have a verified account they can bypass this requirement?

Got this in my inbox.

I think this is a good idea, thoughts?

Hello,
As a merchant in the Dwolla community, we appreciate your shared interest in maintaining a safe and responsible payment network.
We'd like to let you know about a few changes we are rolling out shortly to merchants effected by bank level reversals, caused by identity theft and fraud.

Starting today, users sending money to your account will need to meet and/or maintain:

1) Connect a social network
2) Have a bank deposit 30 days old
3) Enable a DWOLLA hub page
4) Have a verified account
(i.e. Social Security and/or Photo Verified)

We are working hard to make sure this policy does not affect your most frequent, loyal, and responsible customers.

Thanks for being a part of Dwolla. We hope our new changes will protect customers and merchants alike. Please let us know if you have any questions.

All the best,
Dwolla

[wogaut]

Got this in my inbox.

I think this is a good idea, thoughts?

Ouch, #1 kills Dwolla for me. I just hate social networks, unless LinkedIn counts.

Edit: I just see LinkedIn works with Dwolla.

So, Big Brother, here we come, welcome to the brave new world of Bitcoin.

[Nefario]

Got this in my inbox.

I think this is a good idea, thoughts?

Ouch, #1 kills Dwolla for me. I just hate social networks, unless LinkedIn counts.

Edit: I just see LinkedIn works with Dwolla.

So, Big Brother, here we come, welcome to the brave new world of Bitcoin.

Well an alternative is otc-wot

[RodeoX]

1) Connect a social network

Oh great. I'm in an identity theft ring! That counts, right?

[Stephen Gornick]

a few changes we are rolling out shortly to merchants effected by bank level reversals

So, their "cash-like" system is not really cash-like.

Bitcoin broke Dwolla.

[JusticeForYou]

Death of Dwolla. Forcing customers to have a bank activity every thirty days is a fools errand.

Maybe on the next venture, they wouldn't use a linked bank account. Just accept cash deposits via the banks to fund accounts. Then chargebacks are moot.

[Nefario]

a few changes we are rolling out shortly to merchants effected by bank level reversals

So, their "cash-like" system is not really cash-like.

Bitcoin broke Dwolla.

Not really, Dwolla was broke to begin with because it's built on top of the existing (broken) banking system, bitcoin is just after forcing them to face reality.

[Etlase2]

connect to a social network? for serious? rofl

and affect not effect, shame on you dwolla

[Littleshop]

1) Connect a social network

Steps like this only hurt Dwolla.  The fraudsters have dummy social network accounts set up.  I guess they may catch a dummy who starts honest then goes rouge and tries to charge back a Dwolla transaction because they would have more information on them.  Probably not though, the bank is most often going to side with the customer.  

Dwolla NEEDS two factor now.  Just fishing for REAL Dwolla accounts and using them to buy BTC is going to be a problem.  Each hack Dwolla account will be worth something so long as Dwolla is accepted by bitcoin exchanges.  Hackers are going to keep pushing Dwolla as long as they sit still.  Paypal has the advantage because they can usually take a payment back in the end.  

[notme]

1) Connect a social network

Steps like this only hurt Dwolla.  The fraudsters have dummy social network accounts set up.  I guess they may catch a dummy who starts honest then goes rouge and tries to charge back a Dwolla transaction because they would have more information on them.  Probably not though, the bank is most often going to side with the customer.  

Dwolla NEEDS two factor now.  Just fishing for REAL Dwolla accounts and using them to buy BTC is going to be a problem.  Each hack Dwolla account will be worth something so long as Dwolla is accepted by bitcoin exchanges.  Hackers are going to keep pushing Dwolla as long as they sit still.  Paypal has the advantage because they can usually take a payment back in the end.  

Dwolla has two factor, but one is a password, and one is a short, numerical pin.  SMS or Google Authentication would be a step in the right direction.

[Spekulatius]

How is google better?

I didnt like Dwolla after that Tradehill incident. But now I they are dead for me.