#Fraud Management Strategy

[highforestcapitalltd]

Implement High Forest Capital Fraud Management Strategy to Recovery Your Funds

Safeguard your investments with High Forest Capital, your reliable ally in crypto recovery. Our dedicated team of experts specializes in helping individuals who have fallen victim to fraud or scams. Our proven Fraud Management Strategy is both simple and effective: we ensure that victims recover their lost funds through a combination of advanced technology and established methods. Don't hesitate – schedule your consultation with us today to secure your financial future!

[hislop3]

Wednesday Feature: Navigating the Evolving Landscape - Enhancing Ethics and Compliance Programs for Risk Mitigation

Happy Hump Day! Long title for what is going to be, a rather brief post.  As followers and regular readers know, my firm (I am the co-founder and part owner) H2 Healthcare, LLC has a practice area uniquely concentrated on clinical compliance and complex litigation support.  The practice area is headed by Diane Hislop, RN (yes, we are related – married). Within our organization, we have over 100…

[nehasharma21]

Empowering Financial Security: BANKiQ's Advanced Fraud Risk Management Solutions

Unlock superior fraud risk management services with BANKiQ's advanced tools. Discover how BANKiQ leverages smart technology and AI-ML intelligence to enhance fraud detection. Elevate your financial security with BANKiQ's innovative fraud risk management solutions and strategies. Safeguard your assets with BANKiQ, a trusted leader in the realm of fraud protection services. Visit: https://bankiq.co/

[oponinnovations]

Opon Innovations: Revolutionizing Income Verification for a Seamless Financial Future

In today's digitally connected world, the need for efficient and secure income verification processes has never been greater. Whether you're applying for a loan, renting an apartment, or signing up for a new service, verifying income is a critical step. However, traditional income verification methods have often been slow, cumbersome, and prone to errors. This is where Opon Innovations steps in, offering cutting-edge solutions that redefine income verification in the digital age.

The Importance of Income Verification

Income verification is a fundamental component of various financial transactions. Lenders use it to assess an individual's ability to repay a loan, landlords use it to screen potential tenants, and service providers use it to determine eligibility for their offerings. Accuracy in income verification is crucial for responsible lending, risk management, and ensuring that individuals receive the services they qualify for.

Opon Innovations: A Paradigm Shift in Verification

Recognizing the limitations of traditional income verification methods, Opon Innovations has taken a revolutionary approach to the process. By harnessing the power of advanced technology, they have transformed income verification into a seamless, efficient, and accurate procedure.

Swift and Accurate Verification

Traditional income verification methods often involve manual checks, paperwork, and lengthy processes. Opon Innovations, on the other hand, utilizes advanced algorithms and data analytics to provide swift and accurate income verification. With real-time access to multiple data sources, they can verify income details within seconds, significantly reducing the time and effort required for verification.

Enhanced Fraud Detection

Fraudulent income claims can result in significant financial losses for institutions. Opon Innovations has implemented robust fraud detection measures, including AI-powered algorithms, to identify discrepancies and irregularities in income data. This proactive approach helps prevent fraudulent applications and mitigates risks.

Financial Inclusion

Opon Innovations is committed to promoting financial inclusion. Their user-friendly interfaces and digital verification processes make income verification accessible to a broader audience. This inclusivity is particularly beneficial for individuals with limited access to traditional financial services, ensuring they can access the resources they need.

Customized Solutions

Recognizing that different industries and organizations have unique income verification needs, Opon Innovations offers customized solutions. Whether it's a financial institution, a property management company, or a government agency, their platform can be tailored to meet specific requirements.

Leading the Industry

Opon Innovations' dedication to innovation and excellence has positioned them as leaders in the income verification sector. Their solutions have garnered recognition for their efficiency, accuracy, and impact on the financial industry.

The Future of Income Verification

As the financial industry continues to evolve, so too will income verification methods. Opon Innovations is not just keeping pace with these changes; they are driving innovation and setting new standards for income verification.

In conclusion, income verification is a fundamental process in the financial world, and Opon Innovations is redefining how it's done. With their cutting-edge technology, commitment to accuracy, and vision for financial inclusion, they are shaping the future of income verification. To learn more about Opon Innovations and their pioneering solutions, visit Opon Innovations today. Join them on the journey to a more efficient, secure, and inclusive financial industry.

[landossnorriss]

i see you - a series | ln x she.

Pairing: lando x she. Summary: a little post race comfort for our favourite papapya boy. lando norris we love you. part 2 here. Word Count: 1.1k A.N: just a little comfort fic, lando being lando

he'd had a bad race. there was no denying that. there were strategies that could have been cleaner and places that pace could have been picked up sure, but at the end of the day lando had had a bad race. everyone at the team knew that and there was going to be no one else that knew it more than lando. she was already waiting for the comments that came on social media and the flood of criticism for the man that she loved. it would be worth removing the apps from her phone for the next couple of weeks and she would encourage lando to do the same as soon as she got a hold of him too.

kicking about a bottle she had dropped she paced back and forth across the tiny space that lando called a driver room as she waited for him, her mind racing through each possibility over how his interviews would go and what state the press would send him back to her in. if he got through them fine he would have to get through debriefs where oscar was once again was celebrated more than he was and she could only pray that he didn't beat himself too much over the fact he was below oscar again.

hearing the door her head flew to the entrance way, her heart sinking as she caught sight of the sad smile that covered her loves face. this fucking sport, she knew that he loved it and he wouldn't give up racing till someone pried that car from his dead cold hands if he could help it but every day she was ready to whisk him away from it all and never let any of them near him again. grown man or not, she was sick of the toll each result took on him.

moving without saying anything lando didn't even have the energy to be pissed at himself as he wrapped his arms around her and tumbled them both onto the small excuse for a bed that they had shared on more than one occasion. right here, this was his happy place. this right here, made the rest of it seem like it was all nonsense.

"i drove like shit." he spoke into the quiet after a while, fingers tracing slowly up and down her spine as he finally looked down at her face, dreading seeing any signs of disappointment from her. he could take it from a lot of people, but not from her. she wasn't sure what he was looking for on her face, all she had to offer him was unfiltered adoration. "you didn't drive your best, that doesn't mean it was shit." she confirmed because she wouldn't lie to him. they both knew that he'd had a rough weekend and for all the smiles he had managed to muster this morning, he hadn't felt right since the hungary grand prix and she knew that he needed the summer break to shake it off. "it doesn't matter, i let him take another two points in the lead and i just....wins mean everything now and what if they're right, what if i'm a fraud and miami was nothing?"

"lan." she sighed into the room wondering if it was well poised questions or his own self deprecation habit that had gotten to him this time. "you've had a competitive car since miami, that's it, you're learning more and more each time you go out you know you are and you're human, shitty weekends happen they're going to happen again and you're going to deal with them. you're 24, you've got seasons ahead of you."

"oscar was ahead of me again. he's on his second season and he's already as good as me, what next year they're gunna make me driver two?"

"oscar was ahead for the last two races, he's a good driver but that doesn't take away from the fact you're an amazing driver, you're fighting with the greatest drivers. you can't control what's coming my love, all you can do is control how you react to what you have in the moment and make sure you're in the strongest position you can be in driving wise."

"i'm just...i'm tired of having to have excuses now, what if we come back and i'm still shit?"

"it's summer break now, let's worry about that when we're back, we will talk to zak and we'll no doubt have a million back and forths with jon." she hummed as she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. "the next two weeks though? we're going to be lounging on the beaches and eating all the good food...i might even try some sushi, a little salmon." she smirked as she looked up at him, her boyfriends face immediately pulling into a grimace that made her laugh. "baby, that's disgusting! if you don't want to spend summer break with me just say it." lando groaned as he buried his face in the crook of her next with a small groan as he rolled on top of her fully. she would have complained about the smell currently rolling from him and his suit if she didn't know how much he needed this.

"oh please, you know i can't wait to spend two weeks with you and your boyfriend." she was all too happy to continue to taunt him, earning a scoff from lando despite the fact they would be spending a great amount of time with martin but she didn't mind that either, he was another person in landos life that made him happy and she would follow them around and keep them out of whatever trouble they got into if it meant she'd have her love back to himself some what. that was life with lando, she wasn't just going to stick around and deal with the fun parts and the glamour, she was here for all the anxiety and the self doubt that crept in too.

with the silence around them again she looked down to find lando's eyes closed where he still rested on her and she let her fingers find their way into his curls that were far more unruly than when he'd put his helmet on today. typical lando, leave him in one spot for more than thirty seconds and he was going to fall asleep. her need to pee and regain feeling in her left leg would wait till he'd had a decent amount or rest or someone came to interrupt them, whichever came first. if someone dared to interrupt them she might not be so nice about it. with her own stiffed yawn she let her own eyes fall closed as lando nuzzled himself in even further and she could hear the deep breaths that meant he was out for the count. "i love you lando norris, so damn much."

[lady-raziel]

Somewhere, in another timeline...Bernie Sanders is finishing out his second term as president.

(a coping-method scenario)

Back in 2016, the Democratic Party saw that denying his appeal and pushing forward with Hillary Clinton would be catastrophic—she didn’t have the appeal, and pushing forward another historic first right after Obama might galvanize the right wing further into feeling that America was no longer “for them.” The potential risk was too great in radicalizing that bloc, and as strange as it seemed, Bernie was the safer choice. He faces Donald Trump in the general election—and many pundits decry the sad state of today’s politics, where the only choices are a “socialist kook” or a reality television star. Trump’s odd mannerisms and morally questionable behavior, however, manage to turn off enough people that they’d rather not vote at all. After careful consideration, the Democrats do decide to take a chance on a female VP running mate (after all, the Republicans had set precedent with Sarah Palin in 2008)-- Senator Amy Klobuchar gets tapped to balance the ticket. With the slightly lower voter turnout on the right, and the left energized with a surging youth vote, Bernie Sanders becomes the 45th president of the United States, and America gets its first female VP with Amy Klobuchar.

Trump, who had honestly never intended on winning anyway, uses the loss as planned to claim fraud and launch his own cable streaming channel- TNN, Trump News Nation- intended as a rival to Fox News. He repeatedly tries to sue over the “stolen” election—this had all been intended to make sorely needed funds for his hemorrhaging business ventures after all. TNN draws massive ratings on launch, but as the months go by, views trickle off as watchers grow exhausted of hearing about politics through the context of Trump’s own grievances. Most filter back to Fox News, where at least the diet of mostly fabricated nonsense and conspiracy theories are varied. TNN’s most viewed show is a variation on the Apprentice, where contestants compete to gain Donald’s political endorsement and “mentorship.” None of the winning show contestants ever end up winning their political races. By 2018, viewership is minimal and stagnant, any ad revenue has dried up, and TNN shutters its doors. Trump moves on to his next failed business grift, fading from public relevance only to be occasionally remembered as “that time a reality tv personality ran for president…can you believe that happened?” American politics forgets him as another failed presidential candidate, and the GOP moves on, reexamining their strategy after losing to a Democrat once again.

Bernie’s presidency isn’t all sunshine and roses. The young progressives who voted him in find themselves frustrated with the lack of sudden progressive changes he’s actually able to make due to the constraints of the presidency—one still needs to work with Congress, after all. And Washington doesn’t exactly warm up to the formerly Independent senator with a leftist bent quickly. But landmark bipartisan legislation on climate change that includes concessions to congressional Republicans on taxes proves to be very successful. Despite controversy on some of the legislation's corporate tax restructuring (part of Republican demands), the tax cuts and benefits for the vast majority of Americans have appeal to even those who questioned the value of climate change measures.

By the 2020 election, Bernie’s favorability is substantial, in addition to a boost from quick action in tackling a small, ultimately containable new virus. Regardless, Bernie is able to leverage providing funds for vaccine research to help contain and prevent future outbreaks to drug companies, in exchange for negotiating price caps on certain drugs. The combined result is more than enough to hand him a win in 2020 against Ted Cruz—who’s off-putting “serial killer vibes” and right-leaning deep Texas persona prove to be buzzkills for the GOP’s attempt at leaning right as a rebrand.

The fields for both parties are packed in the 2024 primaries—but ultimately Senator Cory Booker clenches the Democratic nomination, and the Republicans take a chance on Representative Liz Cheney, hoping that the combination of the Cheney name and a female candidate a la the Sarah Palin gambit will be what’s needed to turn their losing streak around. It’s a tight race, in the end—pundits pontificate on how “polarized” the nation has become, as rhetoric flies about the Cheney legacy and calling Liz everything from a warmonger to “the worst candidate America has ever seen who will do serious damage to the heart of the nation.” Voters on the left debate the potential of the first female president vs rehashed talking points from the Bush era and the legacy of wars in the Middle East.

The pick of Booker by the Democratic establishment, who are fairly eager to regain control over the nomination process and candidate selection after having to cede control and allow Bernie's candidacy last time, ultimately reflects that the party and elites have not learned the lesson 2016 should have impressed upon them. Instead of allowing the voters interests to shape the primaries, they continue to wield control and painstakingly fixate over the specific demographics of candidates, trying to find the right "mix" that they think moderate voters will "tolerate." Booker, despite his accomplishments, is ultimately the victim of this, as he doesn't have the revolutionary appeal of Obama, despite frequently being painted as "Obama 2.0." The Democrats fail once again to learn that what voters truly care about is not a candidate fitting certain demographic boxes, but the strength of their ideas and narrative.

Ultimately, the voters go with Liz Cheney, who historically becomes the first female president of the United States. Republicans are jubilant at taking back the White House (and that they were able to claim a historic first and deny Democrats the honor-- not that they'd say it outright, since they'd sought to strike a contrast between running Cheney just as a candidate and not as a woman). Despite the outcome of the election, it's unclear whether the Democratic establishment finally learns that lesson-- or retreats into itself pointing fingers and throwing blame at "not picking a female and losing credibility as the party of progress." Rumors had been flying that Hillary was going to try again—ultimately turning out to be false (but perhaps not entirely untrue-- she had been approached and was considering it). Some Democrats point out that "progress" should be expressed through innovative and progressive policies that will APPEAL to different demographics, instead of ignoring stagnant policies to focus on demographics alone...time will tell if their voices are heard.

As for Joe Biden, one of the longstanding members of the political sphere, after serving as Obama's VP, he retires to his home in Delaware, only occasionally being seen at major political events here and there. The largest amount of attention he gets is a moment in 2021 that spawns many, many memes-- a viral video is captured of Biden enjoying an ice cream when it falls to the floor, at which point the former VP stares at the melting cone and declares "I'm Dark Brandon." No one has any clue what he's talking about, and it's written off as just another "Uncle Joe" gaffe. Other than that, not much is heard from Biden. People do say, however, that occasionally the man stares off into the distance with a far-off look of horror, as if he is somewhere else entirely...and witnessing something awful.

As Cheney is sworn in as president, the progressive corners of the internet mourn, citing the actions of Dick Cheney and decrying that this new administration might be "the death of democracy." A viral Tweet (yes, TWEET) with millions of likes reads "bruh this has to be the darkest timeline, there's no way this could be any worse 😫"

(If only they really knew...)

[windvexer]

How do you feel about using multiple spells for a single goal? Doing wealth spells one after another until you're out of difficulties, for example, versus doing the one and letting it be?

I've got a chapter in a book I'm probably never going to publish about this. It's long. tl;dr: hell yeah cast a lot of spells for one thing, that's a great idea. Upg alert, etc.

Compound Magic: Many Hands Make Light Work

Compound magic is the phrase I’m using to discuss two similar ideas.

The idea is that if working one act of magic can affect our physical world to any degree, then working multiple acts of magic on the same subject can affect it to a greater degree.

This works at both the macro and micro levels.

By “macro,” I mean casting entire spells to influence various situations.

If you’re casting a home prosperity spell, casting multiple prosperity spells tends to be more beneficial than casting only one. Following our Witch-as-Monarch metaphor, you can cast spells that are like geologists seeking resources, like road-builders to strengthen trade routes, or like festival celebrations to revitalize your citizens.

More literally, if there is a situation that is resistant to change or in need of serious transformation, you can build a spellcasting altar dedicated to that single issue.

Spellcasting altars are useful in the practical sense that if you’ve got a whole altar for it, you might not forget that it’s something you wanted to work on.

They’re also very useful in the magical sense that as you dedicate a new “counsel room” to this topic and begin filling it with advisors, knights, heroes, spies, managers, and agents, and then continuously empower your Allies to work on your behalf through dedicated spellwork, all of these powers begin to compound and support each other.

In other words: the action of casting multiple spells can have additive or supportive effect which helps all the spells work better.

Not only this, but spells can begin to file away the rust on a situation and get the gears working - but run out of energy before the mechanism is truly brought to life.

If a single spell didn’t appear to manifest as desired, that doesn’t mean it didn’t do anything. It could mean that the situation was improved behind the scenes, laying a better foundation for success for your next spell.

Therefore, compound magic also means cleverly assigning spells to loosen up a situation and prepare it for change, to banish potential roadblocks, to protect the desired outcome, to empower the desired aspects of the situation, to bind the unwanted aspects, and so forth. In this manner, casting compound magic doesn’t necessarily mean to cast prosperity-generating spells over and over – it can also mean to cast banishings, protections, cleansings, and so forth, in the pursuit of prosperity.

This may all sound like a lot of work, but recall that we’re talking about very resistant situations, or situations in need of a lot of transformation before they suit your tastes. However, I hope you’ll agree with me that this concept in general actually really helps take a load off, because:

If your strategy is to work multiple acts of magic, then no single act of magic you work ever has to be perfect, or even exceptional.

Spellcasting anxiety is very real, and in my opinion boils down to the worry not only that unless everything is perfect then everything is ruined, but furthermore, that if any single spell doesn’t work it means the practitioner is a fraud.

If you instead adopt the mindset that it’s quite alright to need to work three or four acts of magic to influence a sticky situation, each spell feels less like you’re an actor making your debut performance in front of a judgmental audience, and much more like you’re going to try and treat the problem with a vinegar spray first, but if that doesn’t lift the bonds that’s quite alright because you’ve got a baking soda scrub to try next.

This isn’t to say that I think every single situation is going to require multiple spells to make the magic “work.” Far from it. But I don’t find there to be any utility at all in assuming every situation should be fixable by only one spell, and if that spell fails then there’s something wrong.

Overall, I find that the witch who often engages in acts of magic to keep the home safe and prosperous will find that this compound effect begins to work organically, and that over time all acts of magic eventually lead to an enchanted life, to greater or lesser degrees.

On the “micro” side of this concept we can examine the enchantment of a single object or formula.

Instead of considering that we can use multiple spells to influence a situation, we can see that we can work many smaller acts of magic over time to produce a single powerful spell.

Think about woodburning a very hard, difficult piece of wood. During the first session you may only get an outline of the design before you’re exhausted and in need of a break. The wood is still imprinted upon, but it’s far from the completed project you envisioned.

During the next woodburning session, and the next, the design is slowly filled in until it meets your standards of satisfaction.

This is conceptually very similar to re-casting the same enchantment over and over on a single object until desired results are obtained.

This is extremely useful for the pragmatic witch who may not have the ability to plan out spells on specific times and days, or who must act now without every ideal ingredient on hand.

And not only that, but it’s also useful for the witch who would just like to have some fun with magic and doesn’t want to twiddle their thumbs waiting for the most ideal possible moment to act.

If a witch would like to work up a pot of Noontide Shield Oil (pg. 34), but the working felt less than lustrous, the formula can simply be re-enchanted again next Sunday to deepen and solidify the enchantment. Or, suppose the original oil had to be worked in less than ideal conditions, or perhaps even with entire ingredients missing: the missing ingredients can be added later on, the spell re-cast over the same vessel in more ideal conditions, and so forth.

The same goes for any spell vessel, formula, charmed ingredient, or enchanted object.

These things can be fully re-enchanted by performing the original spell over again, switching focus from adding ingredients to empowering and instructing ingredients already added.

But they can also be encouraged in more minor ways, especially through regular feeding (pg. 9).

I think it’s important to note here that we’re basically talking about cooking. A chicken soup where you have to omit the chicken, and then shred up rotisserie leftovers and just add it to the broth when having leftovers, is not going to produce identical results as if you had been able to cook the chicken in the soup.

Either way, you’ve still got chicken soup - it's just that an enchantment made in the most ideal conditions is not going to be identical to an enchantment made in non-ideal conditions and later fortified.

So I don’t believe that it’s correct to say that ideal conditions don’t matter. I think they do matter, and that practitioners will notice an appreciable improvement if they are able to work with ideal circumstances.

But I also believe it’s correct to say that if you continuously re-cast enchantments towards the same objects and formulas over and over again, while supplementing missing or lacking factors, over time that enchantment deepens and becomes more permanent and more powerful.

Just like macro compound magic, I think that this helps reduce the difficulty in working powerful enchantments. You don’t have to work yourself up to exhaustion casting a single powerful enchantment that wipes out your ability to work magic for three days. You can meter your energy and pour out small amounts of your power, when needed or as desired, and slowly build up powerful magics around you.

Then, when an important “macro” situation arises, consider how it would feel to be able to reach for a variety spell vessels and formulas you’ve already been empowering for months, keeping them fresh and alive through periodic attention and feeding. Things begin to feel much less like a witch alone in a room, and much more like an empowered monarch surrounded by Allies.

[nrdmssgs]

TF 141 + Nikolai, Zhar and Riot playing monopoly

Masterlist

Riot is an OC of my beloved @gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot

Zhar is my OC

Captain John Price

Sets the ground rules: no fighting, no yelling, no abusing anyones national slang, keeping firearms outside the common room. He knows, that at some point all the rules will be broken, but it's only fair, that his people know in advance, why will he ground them later.

Plays simple and safe. Others think, this will be the end of him, but Price is actually one of three people, lasting till the very end of the game/

Starts a game, mumbling "any of you, muppets, gets that 'get out of jail for free' card - I'm complimenting it with a 'get escorted right back by Captain Price' card". Ends up getting all free jail passes himself, never uses them, enjoying his gaming pauses with a cigar puff or a sip of whiskey.

Johnny Soap MacTavish

The first one to start suggesting others to form an alliance. Convinces Gaz, almost convinces Ghost.

Seems to buy stuff super-randomly, but he actually has a pretty good strategy, and he calculates every move with a demon-speed.

Lets others not pay him on his properties, if they are willing to try to repeat some Scots proverbs after him. Almost everyone fail.

Bargains so furiously as if his life depended on it.

Kyle Gaz Garrick

He actually hoped for a quiet, relaxed evening with his friends. Starts regretting a decision to take part in this chaos the very next moment, Soaps insults start rumbling over the desk.

Ends up teaming with Soap, so that Ghost doesn't do any real harm.

Voice of reason. Encourages everyone to relax and just have fun. Because of this, everyone at the table begins to suspect that Kyle has a secret, sinister plan.

Tries to explain to others, that they're breaking all the rules simultaneously, but fails to deliver the message and just watches this hell unravel.

Simon Ghost Riley

Does his best to stay as neutral as Switzerland.

Deep inside, loves every single person sitting beside him, but is on the verge of strangling some of them alive.

Nikolai

Devastated by the fact, that nobody wants to team up with him. Finds his ways to almost every other player nevertheless.

Temper, negotiator, fixer - he is not shy to use all his skills at the table.

Somehow bargains favors for real services or goods. Everyone is pissed, but Nik has an offering, that can't be refused for every single 141 member.

Lets ladies (aka Zhar and Riot) to roam around his properties free. Others believe, it's just a chivalry, but Nikolai is not completely innocent.

Zhar

"Let me be very clear from the start: if you invited me only to look after Nikolai - I'm doing that only on the Chimera base. When I'm with Prices gang - I'm on vacation."

Warns everyone to not team up with Nikolai. "Trust him - and you will be facing real charges tomorrow morning. If this guy isn't planning international fraud - he must be sleeping." (Nik: "She's just being dramatic, I behaved for the whole last week, I promise!")

Overall tries to spend a quality time and just chills out by Kyles side, while Johnny starts a new banter and Ghost is about to throw him to some far corner of the room.

Carelessly uses her 'pass Nikolais streets for free' prerogative, until he completely eases her of her purse on a late stage of game.

"Ok, I guess, this is the end of the game for me. I'll go make some tea." "Not so fast, nebo. You paid back only a half of your debt. The rest will have to be given... in other ways." "... Captain, would you mind if I take a sip of your whiskey?"

Riot

Good news: everybody love her dearly, bad news - she is in the mood to win this game one way or another.

Riot and Soap are besties. Kindred souls. Two pieces of one chaos. But today they somehow end up on different barricades. Each too stubborn to give a quarter to the other.

So the main conflict are those two, gathering allies around them. Ghosts manages to stay neutral.

Riot ends up pairing with Nik, who is just genuinely happy to help his little ray of sunshine (and make Zhar his debtor).

Bonus

Price, getting back to the table with a full glass: "What the hell are you two doing? Why is nobody stopping you?"

Nikolai and Riot, applying torn orange stick-it notes to Prices properties: "We are rising street riots!"

Price: "...why am I doomed to end the game with you two teaming against me and others fallen asleep?"

[sandy-castle]

A vote for Rick is a vote for Sandy! Let’s get Todd out of here and we can handle Rick later!

[drdemonprince]

Have you ever experienced like... positive imposter syndrome?

My job is a torment I have to endure to get rent + food money & medical coverage. I lied about my credentials to get it because it had a good medical plan. It's rather technically complex and I don't really understand it or care about it, just do the bare minimum to avoid getting fired.

Just had a performance review with my boss and she told me she was blown away by my skill, engagement, responsibility, and passion and wanted me to work on doing less and delegating more to my other coworkers because I'm taking on too many tasks.

So since I'm doing like, nothing, now I feel like I am a master of deception who could work anywhere and trick a manager into thinking I'm working hard and enjoying it regardless of my competence or passion.

Instead of the classic anxiety of imposter syndrome "I don't know what I'm doing and someone could find out I am a fraud at any moment" it's this empowering and egomaniacal "I've been masking since childhood and I'm so good at lying I could work anywhere and nobody would notice I don't know what I'm doing."

I experience this every day and I have tried explaining it to my coworkers who are afraid to do so much as turn down a meeting invitation and they just don't get it! I have combined my lack of affective empathy with my talent for masking and my Autistic adeptness at pattern recognition to create a system of subterfuge, diplomatic truth-telling, and strategic planning that allows me to ascend the ranks of now two professional fields while doing relatively fuck all. it's fucking crazy dude. i wish i could bottle this arrogance and shrewdness and hand it over to all my friends and loved ones. when i see people getting punished or losing their jobs for being honest or after working their asses to the bone it just... makes me so sad. we have so much power that we are conditioned to never ever harness. granted, a lot of my experience does come from my numerous privileges, and not everyone can play the specific game that i am playing. but i see many people not even realizing there's a toolkit of strategies they could adopt and make work for them. I hope my next book on Autism can tackle much of this.

[highforestcapitalltd]

How To Get Your Money Back From Financial Scams

Financial scams can have a significant negative effect on people, leading to both emotional and financial loss. Recovering your money after falling into a financial scam can be challenging. You can, however, take certain actions to increase your chances of getting the money back by following a smart fraud management strategy. 

In this blog, we will walk through the steps of getting your money back from financial fraud. Also, we will look into financial fraud types and the best scam services in the UK named High Forest Capital to recover your losses. 

Financial Scams- An Overview!

A financial scam is a fraud intended to fool people or organizations into parting with their money or confidential data. Scammers who want to take advantage of people’s trust, ignorance, or vulnerability often carry out these schemes, which can take many different shapes. 

People of various ages and backgrounds are the target of financial scams, which can happen both offline and online. Here are the few Financial Fraud Types, you need to be aware of:

Phishing Scams

Fraudsters pose as reputable organizations, such as banks or government institutions, via emails, texts, or websites to fool people into revealing private information, like passwords, credit card numbers, or social security numbers.

Identity Theft

Names, addresses, and social security numbers are among the personal details that thieves steal to perpetrate a variety of frauds, such as creating fictitious bank accounts or credit applications in the victim’s name.

Lottery or Prize Scams

Victims get alerts saying they’ve won a prize or lotto, but they have to pay a charge or give personal information to claim it. The prize is actually nonexistent, and the con artist runs off with the money.

Romance Scams

Scammers create false love profiles on the internet and then ask for money, frequently stating they need it for an alleged emergency or to meet in person.

Online Shopping Scams

How to Get Your Money Back from Financial Scams: Follow These 10 General Steps! 

The awful feeling you get when you realize you’ve been scammed out of money is unmatched by anything. However, it’s frequently just the beginning—whether you’ve misplaced gift cards, wire transfers, cash, bitcoin, or money transfers.

Once thieves have your credit card details or other personally identifiable information (PII), they can use it to target you in continuous fraud or identity theft.

To protect your identity and finances from future fraud, take the following eight actions to recover lost funds. 

1. Keep all records

Gather any information that can help law enforcement in identifying the fraudster and conducting an investigation into the fraud. Text messages, emails, call transcripts, bank records, invoices, letters of denial for loans, websites, and social media accounts all fall under this category.

2. Report the Scam

Make a report by getting in touch with your neighbourhood law police. Give them all the information on the scam, including any pertinent supporting paperwork.

3. Speak with Your Financial Institution or Bank

As soon as you can, report the scam to your credit card company or bank. They might be able to help look into the illicit behaviour or halt the transaction.

4. Make a Regulatory Agency Complaint

Depending on the scam’s nature, you might have to report it to the appropriate regulatory bodies. For instance, in the US, you can file a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

5. Consult with Experts in the Law

If there is a sizable sum of money at stake, you should speak with a fraud case specialist attorney or other legal expert. Regarding possible legal measures, they can offer guidance.

6. Get in touch with Insurance Companies

If your insurance covers fraud-related financial losses, get in touch with your insurer to find out more about the benefits and how to submit a claim.

7. Watch Out for Recovery Scams

Unfortunately, there are con artists who prey on people who have already been duped. Unsolicited offers that claim they can get your money back for a price should be avoided. Before moving forward, confirm the validity of any such offers.

8. Change your account passwords and turn on two-factor authentication (2FA)

Your login credentials may be accessible to scammers if they have obtained access to your financial information. To keep your other accounts safe, do the following:

Create new passwords with intricate, lengthy string combinations of numbers, symbols, and upper- and lowercase characters.

Utilize an authenticator app and turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA).

9. Increase Knowledge

To help spread the word about the scam, share your experience on social media, review sites, or other pertinent places. This could assist others in avoiding being prey to financial scams.

10. Get in Touch with Scam Recovery Services 

Well, there is no guarantee you can get back lost funds. But yes contacting the best scam recovery services in the UK, such as High Forest Capital may increase your 60% chances of getting back your finances. Since they have years of experience and follow a smart Fraud Management Strategy to back lost funds. 

Closing Thoughts

Well, retrieving money from financial scams can be difficult, and the best course of action is usually prevention. Remain alert, familiarize yourself with typical con games, and use caution when divulging personal or financial information.

However, if you have been scammed and looking for the best Scam Recovery Services in UK, so don’t forget to get in touch with High Forest Capital. They are known to provide supreme results. Despite this, stay alert and avoid indulging in emotional tactics.

[hislop3]

Twofer Thursday: Staffing Litigation and a Bit More on Medicare Advantage Plans

Today’s post is a bit of a hybrid. I’m trying to keep up with a bunch of things ranging from policy to economics (Jerome Powell speech today) to some work stuff so I’m combining two things today that probably, deserve a bit more dissection, but this will do for now. Plus, I’m hopeful that tomorrow will be an off day for me and my wife (also my biz partner). As routine readers know, my (and my…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Nichols at The Nation:

Donald Trump has made no secret of his determination to govern as a “dictator” if he regains the presidency, and that’s got his critics warning that his reelection would spell the end of democracy. But Trump and his allies are too smart to go full Kim Jong Un. Rather, the former president’s enthusiasm for the authoritarian regimes of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdoğan, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán suggests the models he would build on: managing elections to benefit himself and his Republican allies; gutting public broadcasting and constraining press freedom; and undermining civil society. Trump, who famously demanded that the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential voting be “recalculated” to give him a win, wants the trappings of democracy without the reality of electoral consequences. That’s what propaganda experts Edward Herman and Frank Brodhead once described as “demonstration elections,” in which, instead of actual contests, wins are assured for the authoritarians who control the machinery of democracy. The outline for such a scenario emerges from a thorough reading of Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, which specifically proposes a Trump-friendly recalculation of the systems that sustain American democracy. The strategy for establishing an American version of Orbán’s “illiberal democracy” is not spelled out in any particular chapter of Mandate. Rather, it is woven throughout the whole of the document, with key elements appearing in the chapters on reworking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Federal Election Commission (FEC). In the section on the DHS, for instance, there’s a plan to eliminate the ability of the agency that monitors election security to prevent the spread of disinformation about voting and vote counting.

How serious a threat to democracy would that pose? Think back to November 2020, when Trump was developing his Big Lie about the election he’d just lost. Trump’s false assertion that the election had been characterized by “massive improprieties and fraud” was tripped up by Chris Krebs, who served as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the DHS. The Republican appointee and his team had established a 24/7 “war room” to work with officials across the country to monitor threats to the security and integrity of the election. The operation was so meticulous that Krebs could boldly announce after the voting was finished: “America, we have confidence in the security of your vote, you should, too.” At the same time, his coordinating team declared, “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” This infuriated Trump, who immediately fired the nation’s top election security official.

In Mandate’s chapter on the DHS, Ken Cuccinelli writes, “Of the utmost urgency is immediately ending CISA’s counter-mis/disinformation efforts. The federal government cannot be the arbiter of truth.” Cuccinelli previously complained that CISA “is a DHS component that the Left has weaponized to censor speech and affect elections.” As for the team that worked so successfully with Krebs to secure the 2020 election, the Project 2025 document declares that “the entirety of the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee should be dismissed on Day One.” The potential impact? “It’s a way of emasculating the agency—that is, it prevents it from doing its job,” says Herb Lin, a cyber-policy and security scholar at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

This is just one way that Project 2025’s cabal of ��experts” is scheming to thwart honest discourse about elections and democracy. A chapter on public broadcasting proposes to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of a larger plan to upend NPR, PBS, and “other public broadcasters that benefit from CPB funding, including the even-further-to-the Left Pacifica Radio and American Public Media.” More destabilizing than the total funding cut that Project 2025 entertains is a parallel plan to end the status of NPR and Pacifica radio stations as “noncommercial education stations.” That could deny them their current channel numbers at the low end of the radio spectrum (88 to 92 FM)—a move that would open prime territory on the dial for the sort of religious programming that already claims roughly 42 percent of the airwaves that the FCC reserves for noncommercial broadcasting. And don’t imagine that the FCC would be in a position to write new rules that guard against the surrender of those airwaves to the Trump-aligned religious right.

[...]

While project 2025 seeks to rewire the FCC to favor Trump’s allies, it also wants to lock in dysfunction at the Federal Election Commission, the agency that is supposed to govern campaign spending and fundraising. Established 50 years ago, the FEC has six members—three Republicans and three Democrats—who are charged with overseeing the integrity of federal election campaigns. In recent years, however, this even partisan divide has robbed the FEC of its ability to act because, as a group of former FEC employees working with the Campaign Legal Center explained, “three Commissioners of the same party, acting in concert, can leave the agency in a state of deadlock.” As the spending by outside groups on elections “has exponentially increased, foreign nationals and governments have willfully manipulated our elections, and coordination between super PACs and candidates has become commonplace,” the former employees noted. Yet “the FEC [has] deadlocked on enforcement matters more often than not, frequently refusing to even investigate alleged violations despite overwhelming publicly available information supporting them.”

John Nichols wrote in The Nation about how Project 2025’s radical right-wing wishlist of items contains plans to wreck and subvert what is left of America’s democracy.

See Also:

The Nation: June 2024 Issue

[oponinnovations]

Revolutionizing Income Verification: Opon Innovations Leads the Way

In the ever-evolving landscape of financial technology, one company stands out as a pioneer in income verification solutions – Opon Innovations. With a commitment to redefining the way income verification is conducted, Opon Innovations is at the forefront of transforming the financial industry. Let's delve into how this trailblazing company is revolutionizing income verification processes, boosting efficiency, and enhancing financial inclusion.

The Importance of Income Verification

Income verification is a critical component of financial transactions, from loan approvals to rental applications and everything in between. Ensuring that individuals' reported incomes are accurate is essential for responsible lending and risk management. However, traditional income verification processes have often been cumbersome, time-consuming, and prone to errors.

Opon Innovations: A Paradigm Shift

Opon Innovations recognized the need for a modernized and streamlined approach to income verification. Through cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions, they have brought about a paradigm shift in this crucial aspect of the financial sector.

1. Swift and Accurate Verification

Traditional income verification methods often require manual checks, paperwork, and lengthy processes. Opon Innovations leverages advanced algorithms and data analytics to provide swift and accurate income verification. With real-time access to multiple data sources, they can verify income details within seconds, reducing the time and effort required for verification.

2. Enhanced Fraud Detection

Fraudulent income claims can lead to significant financial losses for institutions. Opon Innovations employs robust fraud detection measures, including AI-powered algorithms, to identify discrepancies and irregularities in income data. This proactive approach helps prevent fraudulent applications and mitigates risks.

3. Financial Inclusion

Opon Innovations is committed to promoting financial inclusion. Their user-friendly interfaces and digital verification processes make income verification accessible to a broader audience. This inclusivity is particularly beneficial for individuals with limited access to traditional financial services.

4. Customized Solutions

Recognizing that different industries and organizations have unique income verification needs, Opon Innovations offers customized solutions. Whether it's a financial institution, a landlord, or a government agency, their platform can be tailored to meet specific requirements.

Leading the Industry

Opon Innovations' dedication to innovation and excellence has positioned them as leaders in the income verification sector. Their solutions have garnered recognition for their efficiency, accuracy, and impact on the financial industry.

The Future of Income Verification

As the financial industry continues to evolve, so too will the methods of income verification. Opon Innovations is not just keeping pace with these changes; they are driving innovation and setting new standards for income verification.

In conclusion, income verification is a fundamental process in the financial world, and Opon Innovations is redefining how it's done. With their cutting-edge technology, commitment to accuracy, and vision for financial inclusion, they are shaping the future of income verification. To learn more about Opon Innovations and their pioneering solutions, visit oponinnovations.com today. Join them on the journey to a more efficient, secure, and inclusive financial industry.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The seductive, science fictional power of spreadsheets

Tomorrow (Apr 30) at 2PM, I’ll be at the San Francisco Public Library with my new book, Red Team Blues, hosted by Annalee Newitz.

This week, John Scalzi was kind enough to let me write a guest-editorial for his Whatever blog about the themes in my new crime technothriller, Red Team Blues; specifically, about the ways that spreadsheets embody the power and the pitfalls of science fiction at its best and worst:

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2023/04/26/the-big-idea-cory-doctorow-2/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/29/gedankenexperimentwahn/#high-on-your-own-supply

Yes, spreadsheets. Marty Hench (the protagonist of Red Team Blues) is a 67-year-old forensic accountant who specializes in unwinding Silicon Valley financial frauds, a field he basically invented 40 years ago, when, as a PC-struck MIT dropout, he moved from Cambridge to San Francisco to recover the stolen millions hidden in spreadsheets.

Working through this book — and its two sequels, which travel back in time to the 1980s and Marty’s first encounters with VisiCalc and Lotus 1–2–3 — I was struck by the similarities between spreadsheets and science fiction.

While many people use spreadsheets as an overgrown calculator, adding up long columns of numbers, the rise and rise of spreadsheets comes from their use in modeling. Using a spreadsheet, a complex process can be expressed as a series of mathematical operations: we put these inputs into the factory and we get these finished goods. Once the model is built, we can easily test out contrafactuals: what if I add a third shift? What if I bargain harder for discounts on a key component? If I give my workers a productivity-increasing raise, will the profits make up for the costs?

These are the questions that anyone managing a complex system asks themselves all the time. Historically, the answers have sprung from intuition, from fingerspitzengefühl — the “fingertip feeling” of how a system’s components work and what their potential and limitations are. But intuition can calcify, become a rigid set of rules that increasingly diverge from the best strategy.

By contrast, spreadsheets yield a set of crisp, instantly tallied answers to any question you put to them. Change the input and watch as that change ripples through the whole system in an eyeblink. If you’re adding three more people to your camping trip, will the amount of additional water require renting another vehicle? No need to guess: just check and see.

This has a lot in common with science fiction, a genre full of thought experiments that ask Heinlein’s famous three questions:

What if?

If only, and

If this goes on…

These contrafactuals are incredibly useful and important. As critical tools, science fiction’s parables about the future are the best chance we have for resisting the inevitabilism that insists that technology must be used in a certain way, or must exist at all. Science fiction doesn’t just interrogate what the gadget does, but who it does it for and who it does it to:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/20/love-the-machine/#hate-the-factory

One of science fiction’s key methods comes from sf grandmaster Theodore Sturgeon: “ask the next question.” Ask a question, then ask “what happens next?” Do it again, and again, and again:

https://christopher-mckitterick.com/Sturgeon-Campbell/Sturgeon-Q.htm

This technique produces excellent, critical ways of interrogating technological narratives — check out this delightful example of the possible pipeline from self-driving cars to ransomware gangs to mutual aid societies to the reinvention of the train:

https://dduane.tumblr.com/post/715940904747352064/you-can-make-your-mercedes-ev-go-faster-for-60-a

The commonalities between sf and spreadsheets don’t stop there — sf and spreadsheets share pitfalls, too. A spreadsheet is a model and a model is not the thing it models. The map is not the territory. Every time a messy, real-world process is converted to a crisp, mathematical operation, some important qualitative element is lost.

Modeling is an intrinsically lossy operation. That’s why “all models are wrong, but some models are useful.” There is no process so simple that it can be losslessly converted to a model. Even the actions of the nanoscale transistors in a microchip, which toggle between “0” and “1,” are rarely in a state of “no voltage” and “voltage.” That clean, square-wave line that’s used to describe what happens in a chip is a lie — that is to say, it is a model.

The wave isn’t square, it’s a squiggly line that hovers around zero and around one. Under normal circumstances, “zero” and “zero-ish” is a distinction without a difference. But when computers go wrong, it’s sometimes because a sufficiently ambiguous “zero-ish” acts like a “one.” That’s true all the way up the stack. On engineering diagrams, the nanoscale lines that electrons travel along inside a chip are represented as sharp paths, the kind of thing a Tron-cycle would lay down. But in the real world, we get all kinds of weird effects at that scale — electrons sometimes tunnel through those lines, performing a spooky quantum trick that reminds us that Newtononian physics are also just a model.

Every real-world phenomenon contains qualitative and quantitative elements, but computers can only do math on the quantitative parts. This creates a powerful temptation to incinerate the qualitative and perform operations on whatever dubious quantitative residue is left in the crucible, often with disastrous results.

Remember during lockdown, when a pair of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign physicists produced a model of covid spread that predicted that the campus could safely reopen, predicting no more than 500 cases over the entire semester and no more than 100 cases at any one time? The physicists were openly contemptuous of their epidemiologist peers, saying that this kind of model making lacked the “intellectual thrill” of real science.

UI was so swayed by the crisp, precise model that they invited students back to campus — only to shut down again in a matter of weeks, with 780 active cases on campus and more rolling in every day.

The model reduced qualitative factors — like the propensity of undergrads to get drunk, take off their masks, and lick each others’ eyeballs — to a quantitative probability, using the highly precise, scientific technique of taking a wild-ass guess. That guess was wrong. The campus reopening was a super-spreader event.

Any model runs the risk of hiding the irreducible complexity of qualitative factors behind a formula, turning uncertainty into certainty and humility into arrogance.

Think of how we replaced contact tracing with exposure notification. Contact tracing has a qualitative foundation: public health workers establish rapport with infected people, win their trust, and get them to fully enumerate the places they’ve been and the activities they participated in.

By contrast, exposure notification measures whether two Bluetooth radios were within range of each other for a predetermined interval. It substitutes signal strength for a person’s own understanding of their experience. Now, people can be wrong about their own experience — we lose track of time, we misremember emotionally charged events, and so on — but that doesn’t mean we can substitute Bluetooth measurements for personal experience.

That’s why, despite all the clever privacy-preserving math and interesting analysis, exposure notification was a bust, something between a distraction and a false-confidence-generating disaster. Contact tracing ended the 2014 ebola outbreak. Exposure notification just wasted a lot of time:

https://locusmag.com/2021/05/cory-doctorow-qualia/

It’s just too easy to forget which parts of a model are based on guesses and which parts are based on ground truth. And even if you can keep track of those differences, it’s even harder to re-check the model’s ground truth to determine whether the underlying factors have changed. That’s how we got into so much trouble with collateralized debt obligations, which were supposed to be “risk-free” mortgage derivatives that could be safely insured and invested in.

The formulas behind CDO hedging were designed by some of the world’s smartest mathematicians and physicists, who simply assumed that market actors — from loan-originating bank officers to insurance underwriters — would act in reliable, predictable ways. They were so very wrong that they brought the world economy to the brink of ruin:

https://www.wired.com/2009/02/wp-quant/

This is also science fiction’s failure-mode: any science fictional “ask-the-next-question” exercise represents a series of guesses or speculations or maybe possibilities — but when you combine that guesswork with the deceptive certainty that comes from inhabiting a cracking story, it’s easy to mistake ��guessing” for “prediction.”

Prediction is hard, especially about the future. The assumptions that go into a prediction are always incomplete, not least because human beings have free will and agency and can change the circumstances that go into the assumptions. The very best science fiction embodies this principle. I’m thinking here of the likes of Ada Palmer, an historian and sf writer whose deep historical knowledge informs her sf and her pedagogy at the University of Chicago:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/10/monopoly-begets-monopoly/#terra-ignota

Palmer is famous — even notorious — for her annual four-week undergraduate LARP in which students re-enact the election of the Medicis’ Pope. It’s four weeks of alliances, betrayal and skullduggery by the students, each of whom is enacting the agenda of a real-world Cardinal or other power-broker.

The final investiture is done in full costume at the university’s massive faux-gothic cathedral, and going into that climax, of the four candidates, two are always the same, because the great forces of history are bearing down on that moment to ensure that the champions of the two dominant power-blocs are in the running. But the other two? They’re never the same — because the agency of the actors jockeying for power change the outcome, every single time, in absolutely unpredictable ways.

Like any other model, sf is wrong, but sometimes useful. Thinking about jetpacks and flying cars is “useful” insofar as it gets us to interrogate how we think about cities, about mobility, about privilege and geography. But it’s not a prediction. Worse, the endless tales in which flying cars are presented a fait accompli is a gift to grifters raising money for the objectively stupid idea of flying cars. After all, we all know flying cars are inevitable, so it’s basically a risk-free investment, right? With flying cars just around the corner, wouldn’t it be irresponsible to build a city with mass-transit instead of helipads?

There’s a whole range of thought-experiments that got transformed into predictions and then certainties: self-driving cars, “general artificial intelligence,” infinite life-extension, space colonization, faster-than-light travel, cryptocurrency, etc etc.

Spreadsheets don’t just lead their users astray — they also trick their creators. The very same people who transform wild-assed guesses about hairy, unknowable outcomes into neat mathematical relationships are perfectly capable of acting as if those relationships are based on fact, rather than supposition. The Great Financial Crisis wasn’t just about people who didn’t understand the uncertainty in the hedging algorithm going all-in — the people who made those models were also fooled by them.

It’s very easy to get high on your own supply. I’ll never forget the sf convention panel I was on with Robert Silverberg about sf’s supposed predictive value, where the subject of Robert A Heinlein came up, and Silverberg sniffed, and, in that trademark bone-dry way of his, said, “Ah yes, ‘Robert A Timeline.’”

Sf isn’t just full of writers who mistake their suppositions for predictions — the canon is full of tales in which brilliant people can and do predict the future, with near-perfection. Think of Hari Seldon, the hero of Asimov’s Foundation series, who is able to forecast the future several millennia out. Or Heinlein’s first-ever story, “Life-Line,” in which a genius inventor destroys the insurance industry by creating a computer that can predict your exact date of death using statistical methods.

There’s something wild about this phenomenon, in which writers make stuff up and then assume that anything that cool must also be accurate. One tantalizing explanation for this comes from EL Doctorow’s (no relation) essay “Genesis,” from his 2007 collection “The Creationists”:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/41520/creationists-by-e-l-doctorow/

Doctorow tells the history of the Genesis story, which the Hebrews plagiarized from the Babylonians. In Doctorow’s telling, the Babylonian mystics who made up the Genesis story assumed that it had to be true, because they considered themselves to be nowhere near imaginative enough to have come up with something as great as Genesis. An idea that amazing had to be divinely inspired.

I like this because it’s a story of being led astray by humility, rather than hubris.

Imaginative exercises — whether or not they are assisted by mathematical models and self-updating digital spreadsheets — are powerful tools for thinking about the future we want, and to guide our attempts to make that future come true. All models are wrong but some models are useful, of course!

I’m on tour with Red Team Blues right now — I’m writing this post while waiting for my flight to San Francisco, where I’m appearing at the public library with Annalee Newitz tomorrow (4/30) at 2PM:

https://sfpl.org/events/2023/04/30/author-cory-doctorow-and-annalee-newitz-conversation-red-team-blues

One especially fun stop on this tour will be on May 5, at the Books, Inc in Mountain View, where I’ll be talking about the book with Mitch Kapor, the creator of Lotus 1–2–3, who knows a thing or two about spreadsheets:

https://www.booksinc.net/event/cory-doctorow-books-inc-mountain-view

The tour is bringing me to Berkeley, Vancouver, Calgary, DC, Gaithersburg, Toronto, PDX, Nottingham, Hay, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Berlin — I hope to see you!

https://craphound.com/novels/redteamblues/2023/04/26/the-red-team-blues-tour-burbank-sf-pdx-berkeley-yvr-edmonton-gaithersburg-dc-toronto-hay-oxford-nottingham-manchester-london-edinburgh-london-berlin/

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Mountain View, Berkeley, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: A Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet with green-on-black, low-res type; its center has an irregular vignette revealing a space station.]

[isabellaseraphinabloger]

Exploring AI's Benefits in Fintech

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial technology (fintech) sector is bringing about significant changes. From enhancing customer service to optimizing financial operations, AI is revolutionizing the industry. Chatbots, a prominent AI application in fintech, offer personalized and efficient customer interactions. This article explores the various benefits AI brings to fintech.

Enhanced Customer Experience

AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are revolutionizing customer service in fintech. These tools provide 24/7 support, handle multiple queries simultaneously, and deliver instant responses, ensuring customers receive timely assistance. AI systems continually learn from interactions, improving their efficiency and effectiveness over time.

Superior Fraud Detection

Fraud detection is crucial in the financial sector, and AI excels in this area. AI systems analyze vast amounts of transaction data in real time, identifying unusual patterns and potential fraud more accurately than traditional methods. Machine learning algorithms effectively recognize subtle signs of fraudulent activity, mitigating risks and protecting customers.

Personalized Financial Services

AI enables fintech companies to offer highly personalized services. By analyzing customer data, AI provides tailored financial advice, recommends suitable investment opportunities, and creates customized financial plans. This level of personalization helps build stronger customer relationships and enhances satisfaction.

Enhanced Risk Management

AI-driven analytics significantly enhance risk management. By processing large datasets and identifying trends, AI can predict and assess risks more accurately than human analysts. This enables financial institutions to make informed decisions and manage risks more effectively.

Automation of Routine Tasks

AI automates many routine and repetitive tasks in fintech, such as data entry, account reconciliation, and compliance checks. This reduces the workload for employees and minimizes the risk of human errors. Automation leads to greater operational efficiency and allows staff to focus on strategic activities.

Advanced Investment Strategies

AI revolutionizes investment strategies by providing precise, data-driven insights. Algorithmic trading, powered by AI, analyzes market conditions and executes trades at optimal times. Additionally, AI tools assist investors in making better decisions by forecasting market trends and identifying lucrative opportunities.

In-Depth Customer Insights

AI provides fintech companies with deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences. By analyzing transaction history, spending patterns, and other relevant data, AI predicts customer needs and offers proactive solutions. This level of insight is invaluable for targeted marketing strategies and improving customer retention.

Streamlined Loan and Credit Processes

AI streamlines loan and credit approval processes by automating credit scoring and underwriting. AI algorithms quickly assess an applicant’s creditworthiness by analyzing various factors, such as income, credit history, and spending habits. This results in faster loan approvals and a more efficient lending process.

Conclusion

AI is transforming the fintech industry by improving efficiency, enhancing customer experiences, and providing valuable insights. As technology advances, the role of AI in fintech will grow, driving further innovation and growth. Embracing AI solutions is essential for financial institutions to stay competitive in this rapidly changing landscape.