Credit Card and Bank Transactions Watched

On March 14, 2008 ABC News reported that “every time you swipe your credit card, take cash out of an ATM or transfer money into your bank account, a sophisticated network of computers is keeping track. The fraud detection systems want to know: Are you trying to launder money or has somebody stolen your credit card or ATM card and making purchases? Some data is kept by the banks and credit card companies and other information is passed on to the federal government…”

“Since April 1996, banks, casino and other institutions that handle large amounts of cash have been requested to file reports to the government any time they notice a transaction that doesn’t seem right. These Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, go to a unit of the Treasury Department, known as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

“In 2006, 1.08 million such reports were filed… Stephens is concerned because banks can essentially report whatever they want to the federal government. But these reports are just one small part of the mountain of financial data collected on Americans each day… “Some banks have better systems because they have been hurt by fraud…

“But what about other transactions, say that $30 meal placed on your credit card or the $200 taken out of the local ATM? Those are tracked more than any other kind of transaction. The reason? The banks have the most to lose…
“With credit cards, Litan said, the systems set up a profile of each customer’s spending habits. If you divert from that, an alert is then sent out.”

So the system is getting tighter and more carefully watched. Perhaps once the system has matured……………… system will be so well organized and matured that except for the protection of God, there will be no way to survive.

From ABC News Article