"... Robinhood customers ... left in limbo in recent weeks after someone sold their investments and withdrew funds. ...some said they tried in vain to intervene, only to watch helplessly as their money vanished."
There's simple ways to avoid that, from brokers perspective, e.g. in this case, the account for withdrawal , could be only the one, from which deposits were made. ,,Welcome to Robbing The Hood. Simple to use & simple to lose''
When someone illegally withdraws money from a trading account it goes to a bank, so the receiving bank should simply refund the illegal transfer, where is the problem?
How can you do this if the funds keep jumping from one bank account to another in a series of transfers, which might either end up in an overseas bank or withdrew in cash?
It does not matter, a fraud was committed so the first receiving bank must return/refund the money, period.
What happens if the bank you made the deposit from no longer exists or you no longer deal with them or you use multi- banks? How does the owner of the account make a withdrawal?