[danielweber]

"Federal Reserve Regulation E guarantees that US consumers are made whole when their bank passwords are stolen"

From http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=1618...

Of course, as that paper points out, the traditional electronic money system is incredibly reversible. If someone transfers $50,000 from my personal bank account to someone else's bank account, it's pretty easy for it to be undone.

The bottleneck is the money mules who are hired (read: suckered) into engaging in irreversible transactions.

[salvadors]

> If someone transfers $50,000 from my personal bank account to someone else's bank account, it's pretty easy for it to be undone.

That depends on the timeframe. Once the money has been moved out of that new account again things start getting much harder.

[jeremyjh]

Not really. If a Bank gets a reversal before funds have cleared its pretty straightforward and the stack will almost unwind itself as each Bank reverses credits to the accounts in response to reversals before them. Depending on type of transfer yes there is a date beyond which reversals are not possible but the number of transfers has little to do with it.

[danielweber]

Thieves want to work to empty that new account as fast as possible. And they still can't without suckers who volunteer to run a "check-cashing business" or similar scam.

Because banks are held responsible for fraud (from consumer accounts), they work hard to never be the ones holding the bag, so they put up roadblocks in attempts to engage in irreversible transactions. If you say "hey, I opened my account yesterday, now I want to withdraw the $40,000 that just showed up in it, 10's and 20's please" they will nod politely and call a bank manager.