I should explain my comment further. The OP after getting two good explanations immediately apologized and is no longer angry. This happened in like the fourth post.
Unrelated to the bank transaction, you’ve touched on an interesting issue here.
If law enforcement were to stop you while traveling with a large amount of cash, they may seize it and then require you to prove it has a legitimate source.
It’s called civil forfeiture, and there are lots of examples of people being stopped with a large sum of money, and then having it confiscated despite the fact that they themselves haven’t committed any crime. (I represented a guy who had this happen to him as he was traveling through the airport)
So, to some extent, the answer to the question is “No, not without a paper trail explaining where they got it from.”
I read the OP and responded to that. I’m at work and sometimes can’t read them all. If he’s upset with me, I’ll be happy to apologize to him directly.
Another fraud I’ve heard of is claiming that they’re from the bank or from the FBI. They need you to remove the money to expose criminal activity at the bank. Not sure why they need to keep it, but I remember that there was a reason given.
A friend of mine used to work in a liquor store with a Western Union counter and had to regularly grill people on suspicious transfers for the same reason. I’ve also heard of it happening in retail locations when someone is buying a small ransom in gift cards.
While I assume the good bank people don’t want you to get scammed, they also don’t want you returning once you realized you were scammed and demanding or begging the bank (or Western Union) to get their money back. Better to try to cut that off before it happens. It arguably IS somewhat “their business” because they regularly have to deal with the customer fallout from these scams.
Excellent point. There is an “it’s everyone elses fault but mine” attitude that pervades much of our society, so a CYA methodology is certainly warranted.
Now that’s a wrinkle I had not heard of before. The bastards are clever, I’ll give them that.
Now that we’re griping about gift cards, my only gift card gripe was 3-4 years ago when I tried to buy a gift card for Kohl’s (midmarket US chain department / housewares store) at the customer service counter at a Kohl’s store near me. And they would not sell it to me. Not paid for by a CC and not paid for by cash.
Oh well, niece got a very nice gift to another store instead.
I see it simply as good customer service. Not a reflection on society.
As someone already touched on, sometimes the scam is that they need your help investigating the bank. You will be handsomely rewarded for helping them prosecute the fraud. The money you withdraw will be turned over to us as evidence and you will get 10X that amount when the prosecution happens. The tellers are in on it so you can’t tell them why you are withdrawing the money. If they ask, just say that it’s to pay someone to install a new fence around your property.
Are you new here? 
They don’t care what it is for, they care what it isn’t for.
When I had to pay my fence guys cash, I needed more than the ATM would let me withdraw, so I went inside the credit union to get an override. They asked what it was for, and I told them to pay cash to my handyman, not to buy gift cards to send to scammers. That’s all they wanted to know. Be very grateful that if someday you or your wife lose your marbles, they’ll ask a basic question that’ll save your retirement fund.
What would they do if you flippantly responded, “My drug dealer doesn’t take Zelle.”?
You got an override for your ATM withdraw instead of getting the cash from the teller you were already interacting with? Or am I misunderstanding?
Hopefully not care. The guy who mails me shroom capsules takes Venmo anyway.
See needscoffee’s answer above. They only care what it isn’t for (a dubious no doubt scam)
Dusting for prints
If you’re in a mood to be at once disgusted and encouraged, there are videos of store employees recognizing scams and stopping them. One I remember in particular was an older woman who plonked down several dozen gift cards at Dollar General or wherever and wanted to put several hundred dollars on each of them. The cashier realized that a scam was afoot and did as she was trained, and asked her what she needed them for. The poor woman would not be convinced that she was being scammed and kept insisting that the cashier fill the order. The cashier called in an actual cop and he, too, had a godawful time convincing the woman that she did not, in fact, need to buy $4800 in Google Play cards or go to jail for missing jury duty.
It may well be a Bank requirement but not a Federal Law- per se. However, I know that sometimes after an audit, the Regulators Require a bank to do that?
Correct.
Right. It is a good idea that they ask that.
True. Most scammers and con-men work on Senior citizens.
Generally you have to have at least $5000 for the authorities to be able to seize it (there are exceptions, like if someone is arrested at the same time with a craptonne of drugs, etc). In California, if the amount is under $40000 there are many more hurdles for the Authorities to pass to keep the money.
Under federal cases, state and local law enforcement may only receive an equitable share of forfeited property if there is an underlying conviction, or the property is $40,000 or more in cash. Cash under $40,000, vehicles, boats, homes, and other types of personal property will require a conviction regardless of the value;
Under state cases, cash under $40,000 may be forfeited if there is an underlying conviction, increasing the cash value threshold from the current $25,000. Boats, vehicles, and homes will still require a conviction regardless of value.
But the Civil Forfeitures laws can and have been abused. They need the CA version at least.
That scam has been around so long it was the very first one demonstrated in this anti-scam film from 1970: On Guard: Bunco!
It’s depressing that these scams have been going on so long that the people who were young when the first anti-scam PSAs came out are getting to be old enough to be the target of these scams now.
I overheard a lengthy/slightly drunken conversation about this very topic. It went on and on, but in the end they did actually reach consensus! The agreed upon answer is always, ‘A boat!’ apparently.
The reasoning was, anyone can buy a boat, from lots of places, second hand, from the paper, your neighbour, lots of kinds of boats, could be located anywhere, could be any price.
The advocate for this position insisted, they never had a follow up question. Probably for the reasons above.
It was both an amusing and educational conversation to overhear. I have used it since, and the teller didn’t blink, end of inquiry.