Suspicious Activity Report
 

A friend of mine sold his caravan at the end of last year. He went to the bank to deposit the cash but the bank refused to accept it without proof of where he had obtained the money. Ditto his second bank. So he decided to just use the cash for everyday bills.

Last month he received a letter from HMRC demanding proof of where the original sum had come from, as they had received SAR's (Suspicious Activity Reports) from both of his banks. And "further investigations" had shown that his banking habits had changed in that he was not withdrawing cash or paying bills as he used to.

He has been unable to contact the person who bought the caravan, and it has been moved from the site it used to be parked at, so is a bit stuck to provide proof of sale.

A neighbour returned from a long winter/spring holiday abroad, and went to a Bureau de Change to change leftover euros to pounds. She was quizzed as to where she had obtained the currency, and they too refused the transaction. 4 other places did the same. Eventually she exchanged part of it in a Post Office.

She returned a few days later to exchange more, but was refused.

Knowing that we travel to France, she told me of her problem and offered to sell us the currency, but a holiday is not on the cards for us this year.

Last week she too received a letter from HMRC triggered by SAR's.

And in just our small circle of friends and family these situations are not rare.

Winnings from casinos refused by banks. Savings from "under the mattress" refused. Cash to buy a second hand car refused. Even old style pound coins saved in a jar refused!

And we're not talking about large sums at all. The caravan raised £8k, the euros were about £4k worth, the savings under £2k, the car purchase under £3k.

I understand that HMRC have told banks and vendors to report suspicious financial activity to thwart money laundering, terrorist support et all, but it all seems to have become a tad too much Big Brother.

HMG would love for us to become a cashless society so that all monetary transactions could be monitored. In fact recently there was a call for people not to pay windowcleaners, etc, in cash....

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

IIRC anything over £1.000 has to be reported. Easiest way, keep it under that amount and spread it around.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Big brother is indeed watching you eh. We're fast moving to the point where our glorious leaders will be able to switch our lives on and off as they see fit. Once your life is run entirely via your phone watch out...

---------- Post added at 12:12 ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 ----------

Meanwhile we have this situation:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/414935...ealth-selfies/

Wonder if big brother is paying them all a call?

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

However if you just use cheques and bank transfers no problem..as for coin savings as long as it's less than £100 my bank will take it in my tiny rainy day savings account.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Didn't you read the article? They are serving prison sentances.

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Yes I did read it. I wasn't referring to just those men - the problem is widespread or didn't you read the article? Police discovered a photo of one of the men when they'd already raided him but it doesn't say whether on not the other images shown led to the capture and prosecution of these guys. The Albanians are a now significant presence in UK drugs dealing, people trafficking etc. etc. etc. Cash rich I'd have thought and unlikely to be declaring much. Maybe that accounts for all those Albanian owned car washes that keep popping up all over the place.

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Well if they get too close to the system then yes.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

I wonder. Maybe as much as they do when it comes to making 'travellers' pay their dues perhaps.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Well the people in the article got caught and it's not as if we're talking about tax dodging here, they're dealing drugs. Police would be pretty interested.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

They got caught yes but the article doesn't say whether it was as a direct result of them publishing these pictures. That evidence may have come to light after their arrests. They should be done for tax dodging as well as anything else.

Let's be honest, it's much easier to target someone like Taff's mate than some of these people who often have multiple ID's etc. and live beneath the radar as much as possible.

---------- Post added at 12:43 ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 ----------

Interestingly, from what I've seen, High Court Enforcement Officers don't appear to have any problems accepting any amount of cash when enforcing writs. Doesn't anyone wonder where that cash comes from and whether it's legit? :shrug:

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

A neighbour's son was contacted by HMRC after paying in around £50 cash per week over several months. It was pocket money from his grandparents. But guess what, there are limits to how much you can "gift" to your grandkids! Something to do with Inheritance Tax I think.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Sounds like HMRC are after everyone associated with you! :shocked:

I think you can gift as much as you like but you get into allowance territory if you day within 7 years of the gift, it's to stop people offloading money as a gift ahead of their death to avoid tax. £50 a week would fall into a £3,000 allowance even then.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Interesting topic. I know when I've paid cash in (must admin not those sums) I use the automated machines to pay in, saves the questions at the counter although I did bank several hundred quid of change in a backpack a few months ago, the only look I got was an oh god this cannot be happening to me when I chucked the bag over the counter!

I've never heard anything like this before so will bear it in mind.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

:D

Taf IS the lowest common denominator. I've removed him from my friends list... ;)

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Think we might have to remove him from here lest we all get audited! :shocked:

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

:eeek:

:D

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

We looked this up a few months ago on gov.uk and from what I remember you can give them as much as you like if its coming from income and not affecting your lifestyle.
If its coming from your capital then I think the limit per grandchild is £1000.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

I could be wrong but I think the local cosa nostra is called the Cardiff Tafia :erm:

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

That's correct and it hasn't been updated since it was introduced years ago.

Whenever I tried to report suspicious transactions years ago in a previous role the police were totally uninterested, so I stopped bothering.

---------- Post added at 18:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:02 ----------

Typical. They go after potential petty tax evasion whilst allowing rich people and companies to effectively decide whether to pay tax or not and if so, by how much.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Had my bank question me why I wanted to take £2000 of my own money out in cash. Told them it's none of their business and they said that was ok but they had to ask.

So it's not just putting money in.

Let them try and link a bitcoin wallet to me and question me about incoming and outgoings. Not happening :)

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Is this really a surprise? Why is anyone surprised that 'they' want to bring an end to cash transactions? 'They' continue to push 'tap and go' cards (which aren't secure), debit cards, credit cards etc. for a good reason. It's all a bit like selling us the dream of cheap electric cars - when there's no alternative the cost will rise, they'll no longer be cheap and and we'll have no alternative. IMHO this is far more about 'them' controlling us than trying to maximise the tax take.

Oh and before anyone offers me a tin foil hat, just check that you can see beyond the end of your nose.... ;)

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

There was a big queue at the ASDA bureau d'exchange earlier (the £ went up against the euro). One by one they got to the front of the line, looked puzzled and left fuming (and some were swearing).

A handwritten notice said " All cash transactions to buy foreign currency over £850 require passport or national ID, plus proof of domicile. All transactions over £1850 require the same plus valid travel documents for a minimum 5 day stay outside the UK."

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And it's best to keep the transaction printout if you want to exchange the currency back again after the holiday otherwise you get the same rigmarole all over again. :rolleyes:

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Hasn't the requirement for proof of identity been required for foreign exchange been required for a while. I've always had that asked of me for sums less than £850.

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All this fuss about money laundering and tax evasion yet I've just seen yet more cases of debtors settling debts to High Court Sheriffs, this time with £8k and £1500 in cash. No questions asked about where the money had come from or whether any tax had been paid on it. :shrug:

Despite all the money laundering hoops we have to jump through nowadays, some sections of society seem more than able to conduct their affairs and deal with the courts in cash and nobody gives a stuff.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

Debtors settle debts ? Obviously up to no good then, probably lefty hypocrites too I should think :rolleyes:

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Yup, the usual suspects ;)

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It hasn't become illegal to keep your money under the mattress yet..However if you can't prove where you got it you may well have problems if it get's stolen and you report the theft.

Re: Suspicious Activity Report
 

That's the point I was making. These people weren't asked to explain where it all came from at all. Try buying something with a wad of thousands in cash and see how far you get. I don't have any issue at all with anyone having that amount of cash I'm just wondering why they never seem to be asked where it came from even though it all looks very suspicious and in many cases has probably never been declared to HMRC. :shrug: