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Nasir and Matt discuss the concept of "friendly fraud" and how scammers are using it to defraud businesses through Paypal and other means. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Very good. It’s our Friday episode. You know, honestly, I can’t get over that last Wednesday episode. I’m still thinking about it. MATT: It’s one of the better guests we’ve have. NASIR: It was real. It was pretty raw. No expert here; it was just someone that co-owns a company that provides a service that was sued by Yelp and was defending them. So, if you guys haven’t checked it out yet, one episode before – E165 – definitely, definitely something you don’t want to miss. MATT: And they’re probably not listening to this episode today because, as you know, the Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tournament, it’s like the biggest nonproduction workwise. There was something like 9 billion. I saw some number. NASIR: I think the 9 billion is the number of people that watch it that day. MATT: No. Uh, okay. “Estimated 40 million fill out brackets, wager approximately $9 billion.” NASIR: What a waste of money. MATT: Pretty much all that illegally. NASIR: So, what was interesting, I was on Reddit and trolling through there and making fun of people on my comments and stuff like that – no, not really. MATT: Typical for you. NASIR: So, there was one person, I think, in the finance section or personal finance section that posted something about how their PlayStation network gamer tag was – I don’t know – there was all these charges on it and I can’t remember the exact circumstances but, bottom-line is, somehow, PlayStation was saying, “Either you pay this amount or we’re going to ban you for life,” or whatever. And then, someone else responded to that and says, “Okay. I see your PlayStation problem and I raise my case where I got scammed with a PayPal chargeback and forced to repay $1,414 or be banned forever.” Of course, this post got picked up and on the front page and then Consumers.com covered it and different things like that. So, I thought it was pretty interesting that we should cover it. MATT: Basically, this is how I understand the whole fraudulent transaction here, whatever you want to call it – a scheme, if you will. NASIR: They call it “friendly fraud.” MATT: Yeah, I saw that, too. I thought that was stupid. Friendly fraud… NASIR: It’s so odd, yeah. MATT: So, let’s see, what’s something I want to buy? Let’s see. I’m going to buy a TV. NASIR: Nice. MATT: So, I’ll order a nice expensive TV. NASIR: Flat screen? MATT: What? NASIR: Flat screen or one of those tubes? MATT: Well, I’m going to go big because this is what I’m going to do. It’s order this really nice curved big TV that’s thousands of dollars. So, I order it and then I tell my bank, “Oh, I didn’t order this.” NASIR: But that’s a lie. MATT: Yeah. Well, it’s friendly. It’s a friendly lie. NASIR: Oh, okay. MATT: Get the charges reversed after this identity theft claim so I get my money back, and guess what, I still have the TV too and the person that sold it to me, I guess they’re the ones that are out of luck because they don’t have a TV or the money. NASIR: But then, who has to pay for all that? Someone has to pay for it. MATT: Whoever sold it to me. I don’t care. I’m watching my TV. I’ve already forgotten about it. NASIR: You’re watching the NCAA tournament and betting all your money that you still have. MATT: Yeah. Yeah, don’t get me wrong; I lost all the money that I got from this friendly fraudulent transaction. But, still, at the end of the day, I feel pretty good about it. NASIR: No, and anyone who has been charging credit cards for a long enough time, you know, we have credit cards. I don’t think I’ve had one chargeback because, you know, usually the people that you’re working with,