How hard is it to deposit money in your own bank account without explaining it’s source or filling out those forms?
Let’s say you have $200k in cash altogether. Can you deposit $9,900 21x?
Over how many weeks?
Of course this money is legal so there is no risk of getting arrested for a serious crime.
Is it possible to open an account with a false SSN by mistake?
If you are in the US, I believe this is the crime of “Structuring”, and it does not require as an element that the money be ill-gotten.
Then why would you deposit it in such a way as to arouse suspicion?
Banks are required to report deposits of over $10k in cash. They are also required to report anything suspicious. Depositing $9.9k twenty-one times is very suspicious.
If you give a bank the wrong SSN they’ll figure it out pretty quickly and then demand that you get back to them with the correct one–that is, one that returns your name (as stated on your picture ID) from a database.
If you try this, your bank will most likely file a suspicious activity report.
What you’re describing here is called ‘structuring’, which didn’t turn out well for Elliot Spitzer.
And it’s just one part of money laundering. There usually is some kind of fictitious source created to explain the origins of the money.
Interesting answers. I watched someone do both of the original things in my question. Banks do not usually check to make sure the SSN matches the name on the account, according to a friend who is an employee. If they do look at all, they don’t make sure it is exact. As long as the last name matches. They might ask questions after 10 repeat deposits, but they are informal and do not always trigger any paperwork. They want us to be scared!
The IRS will wonder how you can have 200k without ever paying taxes on 200K in income. At least, that was a problem for the few drug dealers i have known.
The IRS looks at the balance of our bank accounts? Deposits? I mean outside of an official audit.
No offense, but I don’t think your friend knows what he is talking about. Or possibly he is just an incompetent employee. Since 9/11, there are strict requirements on verifying the correct identity of new account holders. If someone at my bank did what you say your friend does, he would be gone pretty quickly.
On your second point, don’t assume that nothing is being done if the teller doesn’t question the depositor. In fact, they are specifically told to NOT confront or inform the customer, but they are extensively trained on how to spot suspicious transactions. In fact, even though I do not work in a banking center, and never talk to customers or handle money, even I get some training on this yearly.
No, you are correct, it would be part of an audit, I just wanted to make you aware of a possible second level of oversight. Audits are rare, but it really only takes once, they put Al Capone in jail for tax evasion.
@Clark - That is correct they verify your ID with a DL. They make a copy of it, and look to see if the picture matches. I’m sure they also run the SSN thru an automated system. But it doesn’t have to match exactly the name on the DL. Or if he is incompetent not even close. They do not use an automated system to link these 2 documents. I have seen this happen numerous times. An employer is also legally responsible to verify any SSN’s on a W-2. But this quite often never happens. If they do secretly report suspicious transactions, nothing ever came of the 2 individuals I’ve see do it. What’s the point of reporting it when nothing happens? Maybe they only report amounts greater than $1million. If so that’s easy to fix.
What do you mean by “exactly”? Unless they can assure themselves that it’s the correct number, then eventually they will contact you and ask you to come in to clarify things. You can’t just give them the number of someone whose name and birth date “kind of” match without an eventual problem. They don’t want any possible trouble with the IRS. If you can find someone with your birth date, whose last name is identical, and whose first name is a plausible variation (e.g., Willard as opposed to Will), then they probably will accept that. But that’s not going to be an accident.
Just curious but I remember back around 2005-2006 seeing signs in spanish in a USA bank saying they accepted ID issued by the Mexican government, how exactly can that be verified?
This is not some right wing rumor either, it was in a area of Houston primarily populated by spanish speaking immigrants.
So I have about $250,000 in my basement safe.
:eek: did I just post that out loud?!
Okay, it’s off to the bank. Having read this thread I’m not going to take any chances with structuring, so I’m going to present all of my actual ID and deposit it into my actual account.
When (if?) the IRS comes calling and I tell them that I’ve socked away about fifteen grand a year for the past 20 or so years, what could they possibly do? I’ve filed modest 1040EZs and worked the same job at Spacely Sprockets all along. Or maybe I’ve filed some fairly complicated returns and owned a cash-intensive business for a few years. Basically, if there’s no proof of anything screwy (just odd habits), who has the burden of demonstrating the (il)legitimacy of the funds.
Didn’t we just have a thread on this?
By not exactly I mean… Not even close! Same first initial. This is the policy, or lack of policy at a major bank is SoCal. They had no reason to be suspicious with a copy of a valid DL. The automated system only verifies the validity of the SSN. It does not attempt to link it to the DL or name on the account. That is up to the discretion of the employee. Maybe it would have come up later. But not in the 2 months it took to do the transactions. You’re right, they will eventually contact the account holder to make them fix the “mistake”.
@grude - It appears there are many ways to launder money without a tax ID legally.
They can take all your money if they are SUSPICIOUS about it’s origin. There is no need to prove a crime with evidence. Want to rethink your decision?
They need probable cause to take. We need evidence to keep it.
The IRS is similar, I’ve been thru it.
Guilty until proven innocent!
I have read there are also computer programs that look at cash flows and determine situations that are suspicious and need investigating. Cash deposits to the same account over a length of time amounting to a large sum will likely raise a red flag for the money laundering team.
Recent thread on same topic:
Note that it features commentary by DrDeth, a certified expert in money laundering, who states clearly in posts 51 and 52 that concerns about the IRS swooping in to respond to a currency transaction report to assess taxes and confiscate money are not realistic concerns in absence of other facts.
I once deposited a $50k personal check into my checking account as part of a real estate thing. Two weeks later I got a cashiers check to a title agency and spent the money. I’ve been curious what happened behind the scenes in those two weeks. The deposit was surely reported and anyone who did the minimal of investigation would see it was from a stranger (as opposed to a business associate or family) but two weeks later the paper trail probably made sense. Did they get access to my account and watch it for six months? Did they run an extensive background check on me? Did they prepare a bed for me at Gitmo?
In reality, i bet they have enough backlog that they never looked at it until long after it made sense anyway, but it always makes me curious to think what goes on behind the scenes.