Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit
hylaride | on: A cryptocurrency scam that turned a small town against itself
It's a classic example of a long-term trust network getting breached, in this case by a trusted local that got in over their head. The bank was created to provide loans to locals, mostly farmers where everybody knew how farm loans worked and obviously did well doing that.

People don't understand that these trust networks are only as strong as the weakest link. Even with everyone having good intentions, they don't understand that people can be blackmailed, have mental health breakdowns, etc.

JKCalhoun | parent
It's also a more poignant tale of a small, community where (thanks, Internet!) international grifters could nonetheless inject themselves.

Or, more cynically, this guy was destined to be scammed and the internet in short order put him to the test. One has to think though that if it were a local scammer we would not be talking tens of millions of dollars.

kingofheroes | root | parent
Its interesting to think about it this way. Like, this community's "financial opsec" was their isolation from the rest of the world. No one on the outside can attack them if no one can even point out the town on the map. The internet makes that approach impossible.
JKCalhoun | root | parent
Yeah, it might even be worst than that. If I were a scammer I would seek out these small-town banks looking for my mark.

And while we're at it, find the business owners of the auto dealerships in any metropolitan area. These families and the ones that own the largest construction contractor companies are the lesser-known millionaires living in our midst that might have large bank accounts.

And who knew small town church coffers might have millions lying around.