Per the Wall Street Journal today:
Visa Suspends Processing Purchases of Ads on Backpage.com
Joins MasterCard, Amex in move at request of law enforcement, amid concerns over sex trafficking
By Robin Sidel And
Mark Peters
July 1, 2015 12:16 p.m. ET
Visa Inc. said it has stopped processing the purchase of all ads on classified website Backpage.com after receiving a request to do so from the sheriff in Cook County, Illinois.
The move follows a similar action taken Tuesday by
MasterCard Inc. and one that was taken earlier this year by
American Express Co.
“Visa’s rules prohibit our network from being used for illegal activity,” Visa said in a statement.
Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart sent a letter on Monday to MasterCard and Visa, asking them to “immediately cease and desist from allowing your credit cards to be used to place ads on websites like Backpage.com, which we have objectively found to promote prostitution and facilitate online sex trafficking,” according to the letter released by the sheriff’s office.
Backpage declined to comment on the letter. It has long been under fire from law-enforcement officials, attorneys general and members of Congress who say the website helps fuel the illegal sex industry.
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Like the above might really make a difference. Except LE can claim a "victory" of sorts and meanwhile BP sheds the LE monkey on its back.
So instead of posting in the "escorts" section, they'll move to the "body rubs" or the "adult jobs" or another area of BP before the posters figure out how else to do paid ads - PayPal maybe, Green Card? money order, etc. BP is in for the long haul to make money and many of its categories are free for posting I think.
Suspecting I am that we might see a surge in new ladies showing up here. Plus all sorts of new boards out there.