I tried this on our local board about a year ago and it went over like a fart in church.  I have an idea for a payment service that would mitigate issues some of us face with sites that require credit card paid membership.  For guys that are married or may have a job that would take issue of playing in this game, it's a non-starter for membership in many sites.  TER has a gift card option that works very well thankfully.  This is the only site that I've found that accomodates this product.

The idea is pretty simple.  Using myself as the end user/customer, I'll try to explain.  For the vendor, I'll simply call him/her the MM (middle man).  I may be married or have a job that prevents me from getting caught up with a paper trail coming to the light of day,  MM would theoretically be a single person or has a SO that doesn't gtf what he/she used their credit cards for so there's no risk of paper trail.

I seek to become a member of a sugar or review site.  The fee is $99 as example.  I contact MM to let him know I'm looking to join xyz site.  MM receives my payment and purchases a VPN and said membership.  For this, I pay MM a reasonable transaction fee (15-20%) ahead of time and he charges the costs to his credit card.  Once access is gained, he forwards the password/usernames and I'm in business.  I only include VPN as it seems to me that MM could only have one membership to xyz site connected with his/her IP addy.  

MM is happy because he earned 15-20%, I'm happy as I've reached my goal.  I now have a VPN and the membership I desired and could add on other sites as I felt necessary.  I've probably dropped around $200-$225.  Cost to MM would be around $170.

Downsides?  the first is that I may lose all of my investment and never receive the desired outcome.  That's a risk/reward decision.  The MM has the access info and could essentially hack it I suppose, but that goes against his own interests for future earnings.  I could engage in behavior and get booted from the site, but they would have my vpn addy and not MM's that may risk his own integrity.  Is there liability to MM for this activity if the info were involved in a bust of some sort?   Is an Uber driver who transports an escort from the airport to the hotel culpable if a crime is committed after the fact?

Is the possible income stream worth it for the hassle?  Would there be a set up fee, plus the commission?  Is there is a price point where this becomes attractive to a hobbyist, provider et al to be interested in this?

All the above said, some time back I read a story about old school bankers thinking a pre-paid credit card being one of the dumbest ideas ever conceived.  I mean, who would send money to a stranger only to be subjected to outrageous monthly fees/charges.  Turns out millions of people do this.

I'm not asking if this is wise or not, would it work and what would make it worthwhile?  If you want to turn this into a flamefest, FU in advance and have a good day!

So many threads here from guys trying to avoid accountability for their actions...(sigh)...

 
I could probably spend 2-3 hours documenting all of the reasons why this is a bad idea. But it's not worth it to me.

 
TLR version:  

1. This will violate SEVERAL banking and money-laundering laws and regulations in almost every modern country on the planet.  

 
2. Once a site becomes aware of this scheme - and they will - all participants will be banned permanently. Next the sites will change their funds acceptance process (to stay in compliance with the same laws) to prevent this type of scheme in the future.  

 
3. You (and MM) will spend more money on criminal defense lawyers than you ever would on divorce lawyers. Actually, that is not correct. You will still have to spend money on the divorce lawyers...  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

It is surprising how many people will work hard to expose themselves to much more serious criminal violations to avoid what they think is a big risk. The actual risk here, seems to me, is not your bank or CC brand but having the statement seen by a SO and getting caught.

 
The SO catching on could lead to the employer learning about the situation but not necessarily so I would suggest one faces much more risk to employment just by walking in the door than pay paying for TER or some other site with their CC.

Another Bulwer-Lytton Contest winner:  
"As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."

But to continue, ...  
.
Herb already pointed out that many financial transactions are subject to Fed rules and regulations in order to prevent money laundering, funding of terrorists, etc.. Paygarden is one of the companies that monetizes GCs in order to facilitate payments from the first party (us) to the third party (TER).  That requires a "deal" between Paygarden (PG) and TER in order to process things anonymously:
- You use your TER account (so TER knows it's you) to
- Have an anonymized connection made to Paygarden so
- You can transfer your GCs to PG that  
- PG will worry about converting into cash or profits for them and
- PG will pay the appropriate amount to TER to YOUR account
- without ever knowing who you are (i.e., log in to TER as "snafu"; TER connects you to PG as "transaction code 123435469" ... you, "123435469," gives GCs to PG and PG gives payment to TER for "123435469" which only TER knows to convert back to "snafu."
.
What you should be doing is asking these other companies (Secret Benefits, Seeking [Arrangements], P411, etc.) to do a deal with PG or another GC monetizing company to act as intermediary. PG will take care of the necessary documentation, vet the companies to make sure that "Harry's Harem" is a "service company" and not channeling funds to "Harry's Terrorists." In the end, it is the end-user that pays the extra fees, so it shouldn't harm SB, SA, P411, et al.. If dues are $100 and PG wants $120 to pass through $100, then the end user has to submit $120 in GCs. TER, et al. aren't paying the PG premium, the end user is.  
.
(I know there's a lot of redundancy there but I guarantee that there are still some readers who will think that TER is somehow losing income by letting members use PG to pay dues.)  
.
Now then ... will PG be willing to accept Providers as recipients of their payment services? I don't think so. Not unless there is some other verifiable service or product involved. If PG KNOWINGLY facilitated payments for, eh, sex, they would soon be OUT of business and IN jail ... unless the laws get changed. (As an intermediary agent, PG could, in principle, hold onto funds as DEPOSITS and not release them until both sides agreed that payment was due ... but that gets VERY messy and complicated.)

You’re smart enough to know that without married guys, TER doesn’t even make it from an idea to one of the most dominant sites in this industry so forego the judgement.  You’ve chosen to remain single or chosen to divorce, you see things thru quite different glasses than probably most of the guys involved here. Hey, great for you…be you.  I wish you would have read the last line of my post.  Your claim of so many finance laws is just that, apparently paygarden is pretty much doing this already so I’d assume it’s legal for a corporation but not an individual??  Is it really much different than me buying a Pornhub or Netflix membership and giving you access?  Or buying the homeless guy a subscription to the Wall Street journal?  You don’t seem like the typical knee-jerk guy but perhaps so.

I'm pretty sure "Karens" don't hire hookers, but sure, whatever.  

 
I don't engage in flame wars... so knock yourself out if you want to try to roast me. I give not one shit about your opinions.  

 
You asked a question in area where I have over 30 years of professional expertise. I provided a professional opinion in answer. Now I'll add one more thought to your not-original question:  Has it occurred to you that TER and every other company that offers services in this space has not already spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours and dollars for legal advice looking for the solution you want to achieve?  Do you not think that they would launch and widely promote any good solution that they find?

 
I get why you want to solve this. But I don't think you appreciate exactly how unqualified you are to do so.  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

but not the one he was hoping for, but I agree the personal dig was unnecessary.  I appreciated your take because it was the Reader's Digest version of Impposter's post below.  (Just screwing with you Imp, it was actually a pretty good read and lasted nearly a whole bowel movement  --  Lol)    

 
I know better than to start a thread here unless I can be REALLY open-minded about the responses I'll get.  Easier said than done.  Lol

-- Modified on 12/12/2022 4:45:44 PM

"So many threads here from guys trying to avoid accountability for their actions...(sigh)..."  I'm just throwing out an idea to solve a common issue dude.   Nobody in here is worthy to judge a large percentage of us simply because I choose to offer up an idea to make our hobby better.

In my years on here, I think I've seen every topic in the world discussed related to fucking often with robust discussion, but once in a while a post like this has some unique quality to trigger a someone to transform into self righteous, sanctimonious prick.  

I don't have a answer for this issue but have the same problems of hiding purchases. The real instigator for this problem
Is Federal and State governments and tech companies for trying to track every move and dollar any American citizen might spend or make.