When people get scammed and money is transferred out of their bank, why isn’t there a paper trail? If the money is transferred into some foreign country that won’t allow tracing, why not just exclude those countries from the banking system?
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What happens is that the money get transferred from the victim’s account to another bank, then another, and another, and another so quickly that by the time a bank can inform the next bank to freeze the funds, they’ve already been moved on to the next one. So it’s a game of cat and mouse. Every iteration increases the lag until eventually there’s enough time to use that money in some way that the bank cannot restore such as cash withdrawal, or purchasing some untraceable asset.
So, the problem is not so much traceability, as it is reaction speed. Banks have elaborate command centers where real time monitoring takes place to prevent fraud and money laundering. But most of these attacks are carried out with automated computer software to move the money around quickly. Also, to cover their tracks, it is not uncommon that there is some form of a cyber attack to follow the transfer of stolen assets to disable the bank’s system so other banks cannot be alerted quickly.
Nonetheless, most of the time, at least here in Europe, most of the stolen assets can be frozen in time and returned to their rightful owners.
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