I bought some postal money orders today. Over $4k worth. I was told I needed to produce identification because it was more than 3 grand worth.
Why?
The only explination I got was “that’s the rule”.:rolleyes::smack::rolleyes:
Is this a Fatherland Security regulation or what? So if I bought money orders totalling $2,999.99 I’m not a terrorist?
The USPS site explains nothing.
I suspect that it’s about money-laundering and tax evasion, and not about terrorism.
It’s for the same reason that banks have to disclose large cash transactions to the feds. Only in that case they already have your ID info.
The USPS is required to comply with the provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires the filing of a Suspicious Activity Report for certain kinds of transactions. This includes money order purchases. The USPS website says it’s any purchases $3,000 or more but other cites seem to indicate the limit is $5,000. I can’t seem to find the actual text of the Act though.
But then it’s retarded and unenforceable. I can walk into a post office branch, buy 2 grand worth of money orders, walk out, walk into another branch, buy another 2k worth. No I.D. shown. This regulation is goofy and easily defeated.
Yeah but the point is not to make it enforceable but make it harder for you to do. By only allowing smaller amounts it makes it harder to buy and time consuming. It’s like driving with a cell phone. Where I am the city has a law against it, but it’s unenforceable.
So why have it? In this example the law says you can’t talk and drive, but it’s up to the police to prove you were talking and not just listening to your voice mail. How can you prove the phone was even on? I guess if you wanted to get the records perhaps, but no one’s gonna do that for a $50 fine.
There are tons of laws that are unenforceable, but they exist to make it a burden to people and allow the cops to arrest you IF they choose. Another example is in some places the speed limit is 55 but the police are told not to give tickets until the speeder reaches 65mph.
You could always deposit the money orders in a bank account and then you wouldn’t need the ID.
Structuring transactions to avoid activity reports is also a crime under the Bank Secrecy Act.
It would take some detective work to track you down if they suspected you of doing so, but not much. While money order purchases are anonymous, each one has a serial number, and the Post Office knows who cashed it. Then it’s just a matter of asking that person who sent it to them (rinse and repeat if it turns out to be a money laundering front rather than a legit business.)
It was written by Congress and being enforced at the Post Office. You were expecting it to be anything other than goofy?
Although in all seriousness, I don’t know how interlinked the various USPS systems are. If your name is in any way attached to the purchases, it could be that your hopping from branch to branch would be picked up. If you fall into a pattern of getting $2,000 every day, that may also trigger requiring reports (bank transfers of $10,000 or more need to be reported but if someone repeatedly transfers $9,000 that also needs to be reported).
But a terrorist/drug dealer/mob hit man who was using them to help facilitate a more serious crime probably isn’t too worried about that.
I’m sure they are not too worried about that, but it gives law enforcement agents something additional to nail them with. Remind me again, what crime was Al Capone finally convicted of[sup]1[/sup]? Whatever it was, I’m sure it was something that wasn’t weighing heavily on his conscience.
[sup]1[/sup] For people not well versed in American trivia - mobster Al Capone was convicted of the heinous crime of tax evasion.
[del]They got Al Capone on tax evasion.[/del]
Simulpost
ID is required for purchases over $3,000 per 31 USC § 5325.
Specifically, the Monetary Instrument Log. If you bought $2999 worth, it may warrant a SAR (same link). A MIL is required if you buy two $2000 money orders, if they find out, or a SAR if they believe you were hiding it.
Thank you. I don’t know why I couldn’t turn that up earlier.