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Don’t they need to pay for the plane ticket?


No they mean that a family member in the US gives them some of their own money, but records it to a family ledger. At some other point funds or value will be transferred, but it isn't transferred within the family for every payment.

Similar to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala


This is exactly what it is. I kind of dig it and I'm glad I know the name now


Someone posted a link in response to you, but no money actually crosses borders.

I think the best way to explain it is an example.

My contact needs to get money to his family across the world. I happen to have a cousin that I love and trust who lives there and runs a gas station. My contact gives me 10k USD + a fee and then I call my cousin and tell him to give 10k to the contact's family member if they give the right password. At the end of the year, I meet up with my cousin and I bring him some gold or other goods depending on what our deficits are to each other.




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