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Comment by cmaxwe | Hacker News Reader

Just playing devils advocate... the only person who sees my CC statement other than me is my girlfriend. So I don't really care what is on it as long as it isn't causing a domestic problem... :-)

Using your logic that you could use Bitcoin to hide things on your CC statement I am guessing the use case for most people is hiding things from their spouses.

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Playing devil's advocate re CC bills, one of my friends has always maintained that the only reason he hasn't paid for porn online is because he doesn't want his bank manager to know he's gay. (Regardless of what would appear on his bank statement, it's just not something he wanted to risk - I've never asked for an in depth reason as to why it's a risk).

I worked in IT at a bank. No one ever just reads account details for fun. If you call about a question on your account then maybe they will. But by and large employees really don't care at all. Besides, most transaction names are pretty cryptic, especially from sex sites, who often use a 3rd party service.

Former bank teller here --

I've seen it happen where a couple would be sitting down together working out some account fraud with one of the branch managers and some dubious charges would come up. In my four years working there, saw probably 3-4 couples storm out in anger related to something the other found on the account related to pornography

I get that this is, in fact, a real problem - but it's hardly one related to banking or finance. Sounds more like relationship trouble to me.

I'd be more concerned about the bitcoin conversion services showing up in some sort of record than porn since it's so easy to connect with far more questionable services. Yes, a lot of people want to be off the grid (especially financially), but the reality is that a lot of people buy into the "why do you need privacy if you have nothing to hide" mantra. Even spouses.

When I bought some bitcoins, I did it with cash. I took money to a bank teller, and wired it to an account; then the service sent me the bitcoin via email. I never showed ID, so there was no way to track it to me. I suppose if someone cared enough to track a cash withdrawal they could do that, but in no way was my bank account connected with a bitcoin transaction at any time.

I'm amazed that anybody thinks the dude behind the desk is sitting around perusing people's statements, but if that's your concern, just get a credit card from a bank in another state.

Aye, my example case when talking about it with friends has been "bitcoin BSDM gear, so nobody finds out you're secretly a bondage bronie"

Have you ever seen the movie Middle Men? It's about some Internet entrepreneurs who setup a payment processor for porn sites. The transaction would show up as "24/7 billing" on your credit card statements. Definitely worth watching.

I think that hiding things on a CC statement is a feature. There's a reason so many "adult websites" advertise the fact that they'll bill you with a nondescript name when they charge you.

> I think that hiding things on a CC statement is a feature. There's a reason so many "adult websites" advertise the fact that they'll bill you with a nondescript name when they charge you.

Bank employees learn to associate these merchants with their products pretty quickly though, as customers call up querying charges on their credit cards (read: didn't read the small print when ordering the item).

But in the end, everyone knows what "CCBill" is.

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