[HN Gopher] Trader Buys $36M of Copper and Gets Painted Rocks In...
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       Trader Buys $36M of Copper and Gets Painted Rocks Instead
        
       Author : haltingproblem
       Score  : 12 points
       Date   : 2021-03-09 20:37 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
        
       | haltingproblem wrote:
       | Could putting it on the blockchain helps prevent the theft?
       | Discuss.
        
         | rPlayer6554 wrote:
         | I think he should have flown the product in a plane rather than
         | shipped them. That way he would have the power of the cloud to
         | help him verify the transaction.
        
         | BruiseLee wrote:
         | Only if the chain in the blockchain is made from copper.
        
         | missedthecue wrote:
         | Don't really see how. It was physical product that was stolen
         | in the night, not a digital product that was stolen/duplicated.
         | 
         | It's analogous to how your bitcoin is safe on a secure network
         | until someone forces you at gunpoint to hand over your private
         | key.
        
         | snarf21 wrote:
         | Corrolary: Some people, when confronted with a problem, think
         | "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two
         | problems. /regular expressions/blockchain/g
        
           | jfim wrote:
           | You're missing a s there: s@/regular
           | expressions/blockchain/g@s&@
        
       | 3327 wrote:
       | The old Turkish bait and switch! Cha-cha-cha-chachinnnGG!!!!
        
       | stormqloud wrote:
       | Nobody but a fool does that kind of business deal without
       | verifications. There are companies you can pay to inspect, verify
       | and insure the product at source.
        
         | hourislate wrote:
         | You must not have read the article.
         | 
         | From the article
         | 
         |  _It appears that copper was initially loaded into the first
         | shipment of containers, before being surveyed by an inspection
         | company. Seals used to prevent fraud were then affixed to the
         | containers._
         | 
         | The product was real and loaded into shipping containers. After
         | it was inspected and sealed the fraudsters switched out the
         | cargo as it left the port. There was even Insurance fraud with
         | some group providing fake Insurance coverage (one real policy
         | with the rest being forgeries) for the seller.
         | 
         | These firms aren't fools, they do this everyday and understand
         | what to do, shit happens.
        
         | JaakkoP wrote:
         | They did do an inspection and sealed the containers right
         | after. The "swap" to painted rocks happened only after the
         | inspection. Supposedly, they also had an insurance until it
         | turned out 6 out of 7 of their insurance contracts were forged.
         | 
         | To me this screams like an inside job. How is it possible that
         | the thieves can get into the ships at night, spend hours
         | hauling copper and paving stones and nobody notices.
        
           | bellyfullofbac wrote:
           | I would guess it would be easier to load up the bogey
           | container with rocks, and since the authorities are in it,
           | get a copy of the seal affixed to the bogey container (the
           | article even mentions fake seals).
           | 
           | The article also mentions shipment. Does it mean the
           | containers were already on the ships, or just on its way on
           | the back of a truck? It would be "easy" for the truck full of
           | copper in a sealed container to leave a place, and a
           | different truck to show up at the port with a container with
           | a label that says "Copper for Mercuria, destination Qinqdao"
           | and a "good" seal. Or if it's all at the port, just pay off
           | the crane operator to load up your bogey onto the ship, and
           | load up the real stuff onto your truck.
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-09 23:03 UTC)