I have told them it is for a small business. I am going to start making meth in my bathtub.
Generally, I just make up something - Vegas trip, car, etc. . They have to ask. They don't need to know

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
There are trigger amounts that require reporting, but a teller can file a report anytime they feel something is out of the ordinary/suspicious.

This is how I was trained when I took on a part time job as a teller in the early 1990s.

I remember the time I withdrew that much money...

No, no I don't.

Here's my plan. I'm going to start depositing and withdrawing the same $5,000 or so every couple days and each time politely specify "business investment". Let's see how long before someone in a blue jacket shows up at my door for a beer.

I predict a branch manager would ask me to stop before anything else ever came close to happening.

As others said, it's to keep old people from getting scammed.

My ex-boss's grandmother fell for the "grandma, I'm in jail and my lawyer needs bail money for me but I'm so embarrassed so don't tell anybody." The scammers sent the taxi to pick her up at her home to take her to her bank. Only a teller was able to stop the scam.

I tried to Zelle a someone I know for just graduating college. It got stopped until i talked to someone. They wanted to know if I personally know the person. Have I ever met her. etc.

I sold a car and delivered it to a guy in Los Angeles. He wired me half the money and gave me the rest in cash when I delivered the car. I didn't want to carry that kind of cash around for the weekend in LA, so I went to a share branch of my credit union in Burbank. There were a lot of people there and the line really grew while the teller tried to figure out what paperwork was needed to let me deposit over $20k in $100 bills. They even asked for Mrs. Lee's ID and employer, as she was with me. It was pretty silly, but I didn't want the cash on me.

When I sold a motorcycle to a guy on eBay, it took him several Zelle transactions to get me the money due to their daily limits. I then took it all out of the bank, rode the bike to deliver to him in San Diego, bought another bike in LA for cash and rode it home. My bank didn't ask me anything about it, but I would have told them to pound sand if they had.

BTW, remember how Dennis Hastert got busted? It wasn't that his paying hush money was illegal. He got busted on structuring to keep the withdrawals small enough to avoid reporting.