Suspicious Action Reports

[Brad Dolan <bdolan@use.usit.net>]

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And as for FinCEN, it has recently become the repository for the new SAR's
(Suspcious action reports) to be filed by all banking entities and replacing
the multiple paperwork forms and sites, as stated in the Federal Register.

One thing I noted was the expansion of surveillance responsibility for
banks and other financial transaction organizations.  And whether new or not,
I experienced horror upon reading that financial institutions are supposed
to file a SAR for any suspicious activity, as perceived by the bank, and
is prohibited from disclosing the fact of the SAR to the subject and required
to make financial transaction records, which must be retained for ten years,
available to law enforcement "upon request" - a description which is lacking
a search warrant.

The regulations in the FR, identical for all institutions, actually discussed
bankers and related organizations as entering into "partnerships" with the
federal gestapo in naming names.

Names, that is, of people and monetary transactions that bank and other
financial facilities find "suspicious" - a subjective assessment based on
whatever criteria happen to be in the minds of employees.