Government Spying on Your Bank Transactions

Newsmax ^ | July 6, 2006 | Newxmax.com Wires

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The next time you do your banking, be sure you don't do anything out of the ordinary. If you do, you may end up caught in the crosshairs of a government program designed to target terrorists and money launderers.

According to critics, innocent American bank customers who are doing nothing more than conducting their honest financial transactions are being vicitimized by Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs.

A SAR is a secret filing, triggered by any financial activity the government deems unusual. Specifically, any group of transactions totaling $5,000 or more that "is not the sort in which the particular customer would normally be expected to engage."

According to Bankrate.com, the reports are filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, a division of the Department of the Treasury, and shared with law enforcement.

If your transaction is declared suspicious, your funds could be held up for weeks. But get this: You are never told if a SAR has been filed against you - it's against the law for that information to be revealed.

The program has led to the prosecution of crooks, but it has inundated federal agencies with secret reports of dubious value, on ordinary citizens - at a cost of billions of dollars.

About 1 million SARs will be filed in 2006 by depository institutions, money-services businesses, casinos, card clubs, and the securities and futures industries, says Bankrate.

The SAR was developed in 1996 as a way for banking organizations to report "suspected criminal violations of federal law or a suspicious transaction related to money laundering activity, or a violation of the BSA (Bank Secrecy Act)," according to Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, or FFIEC, documents.

Financial instituions have reported more and more SARs over the years to protect themselves from any potential legal liability that stems from illegal financial activity conducted through their institutions.

According to Bankrate, SARs filed by banks or other institutions simply to avoid the risk of penalty are referred to as "defensive filings." Banks are under pressure to file, not only from the government but from their attorneys. John Hall, spokesman for the American Bankers' Association, was quoted in the National Law Journal in May 2005 as saying, "Our bank counsel are saying if it smells just the least bit, file. File early and file often."

A major concern regarding the overabundance of SARs is the fear that the government will spy on legitimate private financial business of Americans.

Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr is the chairman of Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, a group that monitors the government's use of the Patriot Act, and president and CEO of Liberty Strategies, a consulting and public relations firm.

"The government has an insatiable appetite for getting more information even though they may never get through it," Barr told Bankrate. "Congress ought to be asking how much money is being spent on this, how much time and resources? What are we getting? How many prosecutions have there been? I suspect it's minuscule in relation to the number of reports filed.

"Something is out of whack," Barr stated.

[toddlintown]

Instituted in 1970. Amended in 1995.

Heil Bush my ass.

[mysterio]

Oh, I get it. I was a bit slow on the uptake. Sorry about that.

Not that there'd be much to find at this stage of my career, but anyway. lol.

[balch3]

More treason by the MSM, outing secret government security programs.

[ThomasThomas]

The trigger is $10,000 not $5,000 last I heard. But I seldom spend that type of money. It is not trigger by a single transaction but can be part of a group. This not a secret program. It is well know among those how have these amounts of money. Bank account imforamtion other than these reports must be subpoenaed before a bank a reveal them to a government agency. Rush Limbaugh talked about this on air a few times. Customers will not be told when it is filled out, you can assume it will be. This started as part of the war on drugs and money laundering. It is also why 100 dollar bill is the largest currency in circulation. You can only get about a million dollars in most briefcases now. This hasn't proved inconvenient for me... yet. There are still larger bill out but if they come to a bank they are taken by the Feds and shredded.

[Prodn2000]

Cash transactions at banks and casinos over 10,000 are subject to a CTR (currency transaction report.)

Multiple Money Orders and Cashier's/Official Checks that are purchased or deposited at banks that total more that $10,000 and are purchased with other money orders or cashiers checks are subject to a MIPR (monetary instrument purchase record/report.)

Cash that is received at a business that is more that 10,000 is subject to IRS Form 8300.

Any transaction that appears to be suspicious at a bank is subject to a SAR (Suspicious Activity Report)

These rules have existed for a long time.

[WackySam]

Multiple Money Orders and Cashier's/Official Checks that are purchased or deposited at banks that total more that $10,000 and are purchased with other money orders or cashiers checks are subject to a MIPR (monetary instrument purchase record/report.)

How about a certified check from the sale of a home? I have a rather large one going in tomorrow. Have any idea if this is something that is tracked?

[Prodn2000]

As long as no cash is used in the purchase of the check, then it'll be alright for the purchaser. As the recipient, just deposit it, and nothing will be reported. If you were to cash it, or take more than 10,000 out of it in cash (and deposit the rest), then some red-flags might be raised.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

More treason by the MSM, outing secret government security programs.

Media b*st*rds! :-)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

How about a certified check from the sale of a home? I have a rather large one going in tomorrow. Have any idea if this is something that is tracked?

You're obviously a drug dealer who laundered money through home purchasing. Now bend over and take it. /s

[LurkedLongEnough]

Business as usual in banks and H-A-W-A-L-A elsewhere.

The fact that this story even shows up tells two things:

1. people are very out of touch with laws passed by their own congress critters, and with banking regulations in general

2. laws already in effect that could create worry among Americans are being portrayed by leftist media as Bush's directives

[Still Thinking]

John Hall, spokesman for the American Bankers' Association, was quoted in the National Law Journal in May 2005 as saying, "Our bank counsel are saying if it smells just the least bit, file. File early and file often."

One way to protect the privacy of bank customers without running afoul of the law is to automate the process (not the report, that should be paper if at all possible, and barely legible, but automate the report generation) and file on EVERY customer transaction. Drown the bastards in a tidal wave of paper.