this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024

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414

Justice Department orders DEA to halt airport searches because of 'significant issues' with cash seizures (reason.com)

submitted 5 days ago by lousyd@lemmy.sdf.org to c/news@lemmy.world

44 comments fedilink hide all child comments

"OIG Investigators found that the DEA paid one airline employee tens of thousands of dollars over the past several years in proceeds from cash seized as a result of their tips. However, the vast majority of those airport seizures aren't accompanied by criminal prosecutions. This has led to years of complaints from civil liberties groups that the DEA is abusing civil asset forfeiture—a practice that allows police to seize cash and other property suspected of being connected to criminal activity such as drug trafficking, even if the owner is never arrested or charged with a crime."

all 45 comments

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[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 97 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Ah, I almost forgot about civil asset forfeiture... If the incoming regime ends up having any interest in appearances, and looking like they care about law and order, then keep an eye out for an increase in civil asset forfeiture cases.

[–] Lev_Astov@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago

If we could put an end to civil forfeiture, I'd be so happy...

[+] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip -26 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Carry Monero. Cant seize what they cant find

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 29 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

Let me just pay my rent real quick with my monopoly money

[–] HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Believe it or not there are number of services that you can pay in monero and get a payment in zelle, venmo or a money order.

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So no, you're not paying IN monero, you're exchanging through a middle man for a real currency, the USD. If the entity you are paying directly isn't accepting the monopoly money, then it's not the same thing

[–] HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

Semantics, but if saying it like that makes more sense to you then sure: I use middleman who accepts monopoly Money from me and pays my rent in "real" money for me.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago

I can pay my mortgage with Monero if I wish.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I bought a house with bitcoin, so..

[–] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 2 points 4 days ago

I'm certain that you sold Bitcoin and paid for a house with cash. You probably used a service like RealOpen designed to make it feel like you're doing something cool, but the end result is exactly the same unless you deliberately sought out a seller that was willing to receive Bitcoin.

As it turns out, keeping money in the bank and never working with large amounts of cash is sufficient protection from civil asset forfeiture, as they generally can't just take your accounts from you during a traffic stop or at airport security.

[–] JesussNailTechnician@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Can’t steal it when it has no value.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 days ago

Then I wonder how I'm still alive, as in January of 2025, will mark two years since I started buying my groceries every single month with it.

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Maybe if/when crypto prices actually stabilize.

[+] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip -7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It's not going to rise or fall that much in such a short amount of time. That's for sure. With Monero, I generally prefer to use the 365-day simple moving average, and I found that normally it fluctuates within about 6% of that level. So that's not a terrible fluctuation in either direction. Actually, if you have the money and patience, it would be a really good swing trade. Buy Monero when it is like 6% below the 365 day simple moving average. Wait for it to climb 6% above and then sell it all and do it again. But as I said, you would definitely need time because those swings can take several months.

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I have less than zero interest in trading crypto. I think it's all a net negative for the world with only dubious utility. The utility may improve, and something like monero may be what brings me on board, but I'm not there yet.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip -2 points 4 days ago

Fair enough, it definitely takes some getting used to.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Even if it does stabilize/is stable enough that the world shifts to it, what an interesting factoid that early adopters (who were lucky enough to pick the "right" crypto) would stand to benefit more than others.

Sheesh. At least you stopped shilling this crap on gonewild

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It actually works very well in those kinds of situations. People like that are constantly getting booted from the banking system and financial services. So crypto is a very good fit for that. Some of the very first people to use Bitcoin back in like 2010 and 2011 was WikiLeaks. After they were cut off from the Visa network, they were cut off from PayPal and other money transfer businesses and they were cut off from their bank accounts and they would have shut down had it not been for the funding they got through Bitcoin. There are a few industries that are perfectly legal that are just morally dubious to some people and therefore get kicked out of the banking system quite easily. Take a look at Operation Choke Point and Operation Choke Point 2.0.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm sure this will all be very convincing to get your average people to replace their existing bank account with that

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You could take a look at the bank bail-ins in Cyprus in like 2013, where anybody with over $100,000 worth of assets had all their money taken from them by this Cyprus government in order to stabilize the banks. How would you feel if the equivalent of your 401k that you were relying on for retirement was just taken away to stabilize a failing bank? Sure, because your money helped stabilize the bank, you get stock in the bank. But who on earth would want stock in a just failed bank?

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm sure this will all be equally convincing to get your average people to replace their existing bank account with that

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, most people aren't going to figure it out until they've been really hurt, and then they'll be looking for something else. Pain is the only thing that makes habits change quickly. Otherwise, they either will not change or will only change extremely slowly.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And maybe, just maybe this is a solution in search of a problem for 99% of people and you crypto bros are grossly overestimating how useful this stuff really is. When the world runs on the dollar (or whatever your local currency is), you either need to convert to/from your so-called money to what the rest of the world is using, or you can bet that they're immediately doing it for you on the other side.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not everywhere will. Those businesses and individuals who believe in the philosophy of why crypto was needed to begin with either won't convert anything at all or will convert as little as they need in order to survive and keep the rest. We also seek out individuals and businesses who agree with our philosophy and do business with them in order to help build a circular economy whenever possible. Thankfully, that is getting easier and easier as time goes on.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think you're severely overestimating how many people match that description.

I also noticed you never said anything about my point that early adopters stand to benefit by quite a lot if the world were to move to some kind of crypto. Do you agree that would be the case?

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

We have our own platforms where we can easily find each other in order to connect for circular economy purposes. And yes, somebody in crypto would easily benefit if people moved to a crypto standard because they took the risk early. I've recently been seeing chatter about governments around the world trying to tax people on their crypto holdings because they got in early and it's not fair to everybody else. Well, everybody else didn't take the risk.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Right, just like any stock, futures, or other assets it's generally subject to capital gains tax if it appreciates. Nothing new there, except a new thing understandably falls under that umbrella.

So, you've got people who decided to spend real money on this thing that they hope could turn into its own real money. And they have a lot to gain if it does. So they push for it. Problem is fiat currency isn't a problem for the overwhelming majority of people, myself included. There may be problems with how much of that currency they get and what they can buy with it, but the basis of that currency (crypto vs fiat vs gold standard vs whatever) doesn't really change anything for people like me. But we still have to deal with people like you trying to convince everyone else that we should use your crypto, effectively giving you our wealth for no tangible reason that we can see.

So yeah, when you would only stand to gain from this revolution you're proposing, and everyone else only stands to lose depending on when they catch the boat, you can see where it's hard to take this seriously.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Fiat currency only really works well for those of us blessed enough to be born in the Western world, United States, Canada, England, Europe, etc. For a lot of people in the world, fiat currency is an absolute plague. Have a look at places like Venezuela where inflation is so high that people have to kill each other for basic necessities to survive or Argentina that is just now managing to pull itself out of years of crazy inflation levels. For those types of people, a crypto that we in the West would consider to be highly unstable is actually extremely stable as compared to their local currency. Plus, all you need to access crypto is any sort of internet connection and an electronic device such as a laptop or smartphone. Those people do not have access to the banking system either because of physical distance or governmental issues.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

And yet, here I am in the western world still hearing about how I need crypto.

I understand Internet access is way more prevalent in poorer places now than it was, but it's still not something to take for granted in places that largely work with physical cash. Certainly not if you're going to base your economy on such a thing.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

While internet access is undoubtedly helpful, it is not totally required. I have seen people create physical bills and coins that have those scratch off things like you might find on an Amazon gift card you buy from the store. So you know as long as it has not been scratched off that the money is actually on the card itself.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

All this conversation and still no reason that crypto would benefit me and other typical people in the western world.

But we seem to agree it would benefit you, likely also in the western world, if I and others like me were to adopt it. Funny that.

[–] would_be_appreciated@lemmy.ml 67 points 5 days ago

What a roundabout way to say they've just been stealing people's money with no oversight or consequences.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 44 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Here's how I see this grift working:

DEA agent gets info about cash mule coming across, but can't get reward.
Airport employee in on con gets a phone call from agent
Report "tip" and gets reward
Agent gets commission
Rinse, repeat

Follow the reward money and see who needs a corruption trial.

[–] Skates@feddit.nl 2 points 3 days ago

You think that's somehow more likely than:

Fucker with full access to your bags while you're nowhere near them looks through your shit
When they find a bag full of money, said fucker gets to legally take a percentage by just tipping off the DEA, instead of just robbing you and risking being caught

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Civil Asset Forfeiture is such a scummy concept.

[–] Eezyville@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

"You aren't suspected of a crime, your money is. We need to take it into custody."

And then they get a new squad car two weeks later.

[–] Kalysta@lemm.ee 8 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Don’t worry. Under Trump the DEA will soon cease to exist, solving this problem.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What? The DEA is needlessly cruel, while also corrupt and ineffective. The new administration might increase its funding.

The cruelty is the point.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

Right? Trump is all about authoritarian BS and not about rights. If anything he’d expand the DEA.

[–] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 12 points 4 days ago

What? The organization built to oppress minorities and suppress counterculture isn't going away under Trump. And if he did decide to dissolve the DEA, I would fucking have to hand it to him on that one.

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 9 points 3 days ago

You're suggesting that the Trump administration is going to defund the police...?

[–] C126@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 days ago

Really? That'd be great

[–] Texas_Hangover@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

Good.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 26 points 5 days ago

On the one hand, that's really funny. On the other hand the libertarian assholes at Reason can get fucked.