Someone here had his bank acct seized, not frozen sized.

Another family got their home taken away.

And a third party got their safety deposit box drilled and the contents taken.

All this in a ten day period.

No events were related to each other.

And cars money and drugs get seized all the time over on I-74.

I imagine if a warrent to search is filed.

Officers can do or take any thing they want including damage to property.

So my question is.

Is anything / everything open and up for grabs if an accusation is made by anyone?

I don’t think I can answer your question, but to clarify, are you asking about seizures as part of a criminal investigation and/or forfeiture of things/money used in a crime? Or are you asking about seizures to satisfy money owed, such as a judgment in a civil suit, or for taxes owed?

Either.

Regardless of the reason.

Is the only way to make sure that people won't get your "stuff's
Not owning anything ?

Hide it well.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

Is anything / everything open and up for grabs if an accusation is made by anyone?

Yes, if a judge orders it, and does so in a way that does not violate your rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

quote:

Is the only way to make sure that people won't get your "stuff's
Not owning anything ?

Well, no. Pay creditors, and don't commit crimes in which forfeiture is a consequence. Additionally, don't get married, but if you do, don't get divorced.

It certainly begs the question if anyone truly owns anything not physically in their possession. The "do nothing wrong and it'll never happen to you" argument is delusional.

I know many in the outrage club don’t care about the why on some of it, but you know what the leading cause is for getting your bank account seized? Dope? Nope? Taxes? No? Being a dummy and allowing yourself to get scammed? Yep.

People seem to fall all over themselves to claim “prizes” that are way too good to be true. And often this allows the scammers to take control of their bank account. Some of the accounts just get drained. Others are used as pass through accounts. Meaning the scammers move the ill gotten money from the accounts that they drain to someone else’s legitimate account. They park the money there for a day or two and most often it goes unnoticed by the account holder. For a week or two, scammers will move the money around until such a time they move it to an account that’s off shore.

Millions of dollars a week. It’s big business. By the time that law enforcement gets the SAR on it, it’s moved off shore. Sometimes dudes that are good at financial crimes get into the game early enough and can freeze the accounts before it gets moved off shore.

And people get involved in this, unwittingly, by clicking on something that’s clearly a scam allowing scammers to take control of their phone or computer and access their online banking.

This happens a lot. Hell, one of my government issued phones gets text messages 4-5 times a week “kindly notifying me that my Netflix or Amazon account has been suspended”. I know it’s a scam because I don’t have either attached to that phone. If I click the link, it’s all they need to take control of the phone.

I was browsing FB marketplace the other day and saw a link for a give away for Texas Roadhouse. Free dinner for two for the 40th anniversary. The photo attached to it wasn’t even Texas Roadhouse food. And people were clicking the link left and right.

People need to understand that nothing is free and stop making it easy on scammers. Scamming is a several billion dollar a year industry that is often done to finance foreign actors that don’t have our best interests in mind. Oh, and banks usually refuse to cooperate with law enforcement. It’s the person that gets scammed that often gets screwed over.

Good post and good reminder.

If the gov't seizes your property, other than at sentencing after conviction, you need to file a form. If the seizure is significant hire a criminal defense lawyer who has expertise with seizures.

As to bendable's questions:
The governmental authorities can take anything you own.
Are warrants, judge's orders, criminal investigation, drug money or criminal-enterprise proof, etc. needed? It can differ from state to state, but most likely "No".
And it can cost you well into the thousands and years to get your property back.
Steve Lehto's videos on Youtube discuss civil asset forfeitures extensively.
It scares the crap out of me.