How AI can expose hidden Hezbollah and Hamas networks | The Jerusalem Post

Published

5 months ago

November 3, 2025

Press Room

How AI can expose hidden Hezbollah and Hamas networks | The Jerusalem Post

Hezbollah and Hamas thrive on shadowy financial networks-charities, trade deals, crypto wallets. But every transaction leaves a trace and AI can spot the patterns no human ever could.

Terror finance patterns

(photo credit: Courtesy)

ByYARON HAZAN

NOVEMBER 3, 2025 16:49

Updated: NOVEMBER 3, 2025 17:12

Click to comment

‘Hidden helpers’ supporting people struggling to manage their finances digitally

Published

4 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

‘Hidden helpers’ supporting people struggling to manage their finances digitally

Some people are relying on potentially risky workarounds to manage their finances, a report has found.

Friends, family, carers and neighbours are spending hours each month patiently helping others with basic banking tasks, yet many “financial helpers” are doing so without any formal authority and help is often based on trust, according to a survey.

The research was led by consumer finance expert Faith Reynolds, with support from cash access and ATM network Link.

YouGov surveyed nearly 850 people across the UK who had helped someone with their banking or money management between December 2024 and December 2025.

The report found that people being helped often log in themselves with a helper beside them.

But a quarter (26%) of people surveyed said the person they help shares passcodes or security details with them.

And 17% said the people they help allow them to log in on their behalf on the helper’s device.

The report said: “Financial help is increasingly essential because, as branches have closed and banking has become digital, the responsibility for navigating complexity and preventing fraud has quietly shifted from institutions to individuals and families.”

More than half (54%) of people said they have no formal authority or access rights at all, meaning many people are relying on informal workarounds to provide the help needed.

While many helpers said they worry they will be accused of taking advantage of the person they are helping, 43% highlighted the risk of fraud and scams as a top concern for the person being helped.

Three in 10 (28%) said they had helped to stop or prevent scams or fraud.

The top tasks helpers selected include checking account balances, assisting with online payments or passcodes when shopping online, and making or scheduling payments.

To provide this support, financial helpers use mobile banking apps the most, followed by online banking via websites and ATMs.

The support provided is also not limited to banking, with 45% of helpers assisting others to use digital devices, 41% helping with managing utilities or bills, and 31% helping with using or setting up their television.

Nearly a third (31%) help setting up health appointments and 28% set up broadband or internet services.

Financial helpers are often fitting in helping alongside work and family commitments, such as children and jobs.

One helper told researchers they had been helping “about five years when their bank branch closed… They asked me for help after throwing their phone across the room because they couldn’t even log in.”

Another helper said: “Because of the rise of AI and scams, my father fell victim to this and couldn’t believe that the person wasn’t real.

“This is what made me realise he needed some help with any new payments because I needed to sense-check that they were genuine.”

Faith Reynolds, director, Devon Fields Consulting, said: “For many people digital banking feels complicated and in some cases scary. They are turning to trusted friends, family and neighbours to help them make sense of it all.

“In turn, they have become the ‘shadow infrastructure’ for the digital banking ecosystem, in some cases resorting to risky, informal workarounds to make things work.”

John Howells, chief executive, Link, said: “The scale of hidden help is further proof that digital banking doesn’t yet work for everyone.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “As more and more banking services are delivered online, it’s increasingly important that older people who don’t use online services can continue to manage their money safely.

“This fascinating research explains how many lacking digital skills or access cope, and reveals a big gap between the theory and the reality of what happens when banks close down their physical services: instead of people simply adopting online services with ease, many will look for workarounds which are often high risk, such as sharing passwords or financial details with third parties.”

She added that while the industry has done a lot to roll out banking hubs, where banks share services in one space, “gaps still exist”.

Ms Abrahams added: “The result is that many people are forced into other ways of looking after their money, leaving digitally excluded, often-vulnerable customers at a significant disadvantage.”

A UK Finance spokesperson said: “The banking industry is committed to supporting all customers by ensuring that products and services are accessible and easy to use for everyone, while also protecting them from fraud.

“As fewer people are using bank branches, banks have closed some and are offering face-to-face support through the Post Office and the expanding network of shared banking hubs.

“They also continue to provide guidance and financial education to help people manage services confidently, so customers should speak to their bank about the support available to them.”

Finance

Islanders encouraged to check car finance deals

Published

17 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

Islanders encouraged to check car finance deals

The FCA said firms are expected to pay £7.5bn to people who took out eligible motor finance deals, with the administrative cost of the scheme predicted to reach £1.6bn [PA Media]

Motorists in Jersey have been urged to check car finance deals after millions of drivers were mis-sold motor finance agreements and are set to receive compensation later this year.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set out its proposal for a redress scheme, costing lenders £9.1bn, last week – it’s estimated 12.1 million motor finance deals will meet the criteria.

The Jersey Consumer Council has encouraged anyone who thinks they might have been mis-sold car finance to contact the dealership or finance company who sold it.

It has created downloadable template letters for people to use to investigate potential commission issues in their agreements.

Pay-outs are expected to total an average of around £829 per person in compensation.

It said the letters, which can be sent to both car dealers and finance, would allow “consumers to take the first formal step in establishing how their finance was arranged”.

It said it was intended to help those affected find out whether commission was paid on their motor finance and whether that commission may have influenced the interest rate or terms of the loan.

Claims can be made for any car finance taken out after 2010.

The Consumer Council said in Jersey as with the UK, some arrangements allowed dealers to increase the interest rate offered to a customer in order to earn a higher commission, a practice that had since attracted regulatory and legal scrutiny.

It said the key issue was “transparency”.

“Borrowers should have been clearly told whether commission was being paid, how it was calculated, and whether it could affect the cost of their borrowing.”

The council said the letters were designed to be straightforward, and request written confirmation of whether discretionary or flat commission arrangements applied, or whether there were exclusive relationships between dealers and finance companies.

It added if commission arrangements did apply and were not disclosed, the letters allow customers to raise a formal complaint.

If firms were unable to confirm the position, the correspondence could also operate as a data subject access request, requiring companies to provide relevant records under Jersey’s data protection law.

It said once people received either a rejection letter, or no reply within three months, they could raise the issue with the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman.

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

Finance

What falling wage growth says about where the U.S. economy is heading

Published

1 day ago

April 4, 2026

Press Room

What falling wage growth says about where the U.S. economy is heading

Americans are getting smaller pay raises while tariffs and higher gas prices are threatening to make everything more expensive.

Translation: The affordability problem isn’t improving.

New government data released Friday showed non-supervisory workers getting a 3.4% pay raise on average hourly earnings over the last year. That’s the slowest pace of wage gains since 2021, and a downshift from the last two years, when pay bumps were closer to 4%.

The slowdown comes as economists worry about rising inflation, with the Iran war choking off oil tankers and pushing gas prices up over $1 per gallon in just a month, to a national average of $4.09 on Friday.

As diesel costs break $5.50 a gallon (compared to just $3.89 a month ago), retailers and grocers are now contending with higher transportation costs. Amazon said Thursday it will begin charging sellers a 3.5% “fuel and logistics-related surcharge” beginning on April 17.

Airlines like United and JetBlue are raising bag fees in an effort to offset sky-high jet fuel costs. The International Air Transport Association says the price of jet fuel is up 104% in the past month.

“With the recent uptick in inflation driven by energy prices, real wage growth is likely to decelerate further, putting increased pressure on consumers,” said Thrivent’s chief financial and investment officer, David Royal.

For now, Americans are still seeing their earnings rise at a faster pace than the increase in price tags at the store. As pay rose by 3.4%, the most recent inflation data showed prices rising by 2.4% year-over-year.

Wage gains for non-supervisory employees — a category that includes roughly four out of every five non-farm workers — have been outpacing price increases since March 2023, when post-pandemic inflation finally began to cool.

But the concern is that the story could change soon. Because of the bump from oil prices, Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long said it’s possible inflation could pace at 4% this month.

“Four percent is above that 3.5 percent annual wage gain, and that’s where you see a lot of squeeze on workers, particularly middle-class and moderate-income workers,” Long said.

Warning signs are flashing that slowing wage growth could ripple beyond the gas station and prices at the grocery store. Higher mortgage rates now have some worried about icing out even more potential homebuyers.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 5.99% at the start of the war to 6.45% on April 3, according to Mortgage News Daily. The rise is due in part to concerns that the Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates to tamp down on war-driven inflation.

“With choppy job growth, weaker labor-force attachment and rising uncertainty, many households — especially renters and first-time buyers — could become more cautious as weaker inflation-adjusted wages erode recent affordability improvements,” said Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy.

If wages can’t keep up with rising costs across the board, it’s likely that affordability will become a larger issue than it already was prior to the war. An NBC News poll conducted during the first week of the war with Iran found that, for a plurality of respondents, inflation and the cost of living was the most important issue facing the country.

Economists feel the same way.

Responding to a question from NBC News at a March 18 news conference, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted that “real” wage gains — a measure of wages adjusted for inflation — need to be positive in order for Americans to feel better about affordability.

“it will take some years of positive real earning gains for people to feel good again, we think. But you’re right — when you talk to people, they do feel squeezed,” Powell said.