One of the most interesting things I learned this week was the “Maxim of the Dead Horse”. Native American Indians had a proverb that stated "when you realize you’re riding on a dead horse, the best thing to do is get off ". The wise recognize the horse is dead and let it be.
However, in our modern culture, we don't, or won't, recognize the horse is lifeless and attempt to make corrections through the following:
Buying a stronger whip.
Changing riders.
Threatening the horse with termination.
Appointing a committee to study the horse.
Visit other organizations to see how they ride dead horses.
Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
Re-classifying the dead horse as ‘living-impaired’.
Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed.
Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.
Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.
Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and, therefore, contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
Re-writing the expected performance requirements for all horses.
Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position of hiring another horse.
I couldn't determine the origin of theory other than native American folklore. Of course, someone else modernized it and added the current examples of managerial stupidity. A Google search for "dead horse theory" yields 30,700,000 results. I'm actually surprised, and embarrassed, that I never heard of it before.
Regardless, I'm positive the modern editor of the theory was a cop.
Pics or it didn’t happen
Generally I go by the rule of “show me it happened or it didn’t happen”. Last week the Federal Trade Commission filed a suit against data broker Kochava alleging it sold location data from hundreds of millions of mobile devices. The complaint alleges “Using data Kochava collected on mobile devices and combining it with public map programs, the FTC found it was possible to infer the identity of the device owner by linking those devices to sensitive locations and tracing them back to single-family homes” and further frets the exposure “is likely to injure consumers through exposure to stigma, discrimination, physical violence, emotional distress, and other harms”. OK, maybe that CAN happen, but did it? The complaint doesn’t list anyone actually being victimized. On the hand, I hate to see a greasy company making money at the expense of personal privacy. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/29/ftc-sues-data-broker-kochava-for-allegedly-selling-phone-location-data.html
Only out of Jersey
A New Jersey man has been sentenced to prison for a fraud scheme that is so crazy that it could come out of New Jersey (or maybe Florida). The guy posed as a former New England Patriot player to obtain three official Super Bowl rings. He bought the Tom Brady version and then auctioned them off claiming they had belonged to Brady’s nephews. Did the ring manufacturer have no controls? Is it that easy to purchase a Super Bowl ring? https://www.phillyvoice.com/tom-brady-super-bowl-ring-fraud-scott-spina-sentenced-prison-new-jersey/
Video games to launder money
I just found this article from 2020 and while not the most insightful in content it is very - very thought provoking. Criminals are laundering money through virtual currencies that exists only in online games but have the mechanics to convert it back into fiat currency. Gaming is HUGE. Think about the money laundering exposure this activity creates! Who is going to investigate it? If anyone is looking for a great conference talk - here it is! https://pideeco.be/articles/aml-money-laundering-and-video-games/
Blue Check Fraud
If something holds value it will inevitably become the target of fraud. The blue check validation marker of Instagram is now so coveted that people will engage in criminality to get one. This ProPublica investigation unveiled hundreds of fraudulent accounts displaying the blue tick. It’s a shame that a news agency had to uncover that rather than Meta itself. Don’t they have an external fraud team? https://www.propublica.org/article/instagram-spotify-verified-fake-musicians
Stealerships
The new term to describe companies that sell automobiles. I currently own five vehicles for the four drivers in my household so I know a thing about buying cars. To be fair, most vehicle dealerships are above the board businesses that operate professionally and ethically. BUT, there are a lot that don’t. Especially in times like this. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/08/30/1119715886/inside-the-rise-of-stealerships-and-the-shady-economics-of-car-buying
The Rest…
The Security and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against a major player in the insurance industry alleging he brokered a 75 million dollar fraud. https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-sues-insurance-executive-for-massive-fraud-11661897621
Police in Texas break up a massive theft ring responsible for stolen catalytic converters worth 2.7 million dollars. https://www.ketk.com/news/texas/texas-alleged-catalytic-converter-theft-ring-busted-items-stolen-were-worth-2-7-million/
Kentucky man charged with stealing $700,000 from his bee-keeping supply employer. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/former-manager-of-ky-beekeeping-business-charged-in-24700000-fraud-case/ar-AA11osI7
The Federal Trade Commission has fined Credit Karma three million dollars for misleading consumers. https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/credit-karma-ftc-pre-approval-complaint-three-million-dollar-settlement
Cool Job
Meh. Nothing interested me this week.
Cool Tool
One search box for them all. (Click the gear icon in the upper right to select the search engines of your choice). https://allsear.ch/
A free and open-source alternative to Photoshop. https://www.photopea.com/
Irrelevant
The IKEA Effect - Why managers fall in love with their own ideas. Even if its stupid. https://mannhowie.com/ikea-effect
Thanks for opening this weeks email and taking a few minutes to read the newsletter. Commenting is turned on and as always, you can send back a response through email.
Matt
“The worst evils in history have always been committed by those who truly believed they were combating evil. Beware of combating evil.” - someone who knows history and sees the present.