Otherwise we have to close all the Louis Vuitton stores.
They didn't get scammed, they just blew all their cash. Adults are allowed to do stupid things with their money, it's almost never a crime (nor a tragedy) when it happens.
If you walk into a bank and say "I want to borrow $76,000 to buy a massively overpriced piece of luxury fashion," they're going to send you on your way.
If you log into a web site and say, "I want to borrow $76,000 to buy a meme stock", they'll hand it to you and ask if you want to borrow more.
They will require collateral, but will accept other meme stocks that could collapse at an moment. The bank would give you a loan for a fancy bag if you backed it with your house, but far less likely if your collateral is a bunch of over-inflated stocks.
We can't, and probably shouldn't, protect people from blowing all their own cash. But it should be possible to prevent them from leveraging themselves into destitution. Not only is it bad for them, it's bad for the system as a whole, because it leads to crashes even of seemingly unrelated parts of the system.
High fashion is also marketed toward specific classes of people, those with the means and ability to afford them. Meme stocks and cryptos are geared toward small retail traders who don't really have much in the first place. One of these will cause more damage than the other to its targets.
Having read a bit about the neuropsychology of gambling addiction, I agree.
Slot machines are specifically designed to turn those who are susceptible to it into addicts.
Some people simply don't have the mental capabilities to distinguish a legit investment from a scam.
Maybe some kind of authorization should be required if you try to wire your life savings to a crypto exchange. But banks only ever ask questions if a lot of money comes in, not when it flows out :D
This is false. My bank made my rent payment late this month by freezing a wire (identical to dozens of others I have sent) because my client geoIP is in Japan.
I don't know anyone blowing money on meme stocks or sketchy cryptos that isn't also blowing money on equally wasteful designer "fashion". I don't think they are "geared toward" anyone or anything.
* those who want to appear to have the means and ability to afford them.