News

USA PATRIOT Act Section 314(a) information requests will resume on Tuesday, February 18, 2003. Information relevant to the operation of the system will be disseminated directly to participating financial institutions prior to that date. Financial institutions should refer questions on system…

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will be reinstating information requests associated with section 314(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act during the week of February 17, 2003, as described below. Generally, section 314 authorizes law enforcement authorities to communicate with financial…

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued today its report on Informal Value Transfer Systems (IVTS), including hawala, in its ongoing effort to gain a more complete understanding of the nature of these systems.…

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced today that it hasofficially launched the Patriot Act Communications System (PACS). PACS is designedto allow participating financial institutions to quickly and securely file Bank Secrecy Act(BSA) reports over the Internet. Phase one of…

The perpetrators of Advance Fee Fraud schemes are often very creative and innovative. This scheme is commonly known as "4-1-9" fraud, in reference to the section of the Nigerian penal code that addresses this type of activity. Nigerian nationals, purporting to be officials of their government or…

On August 23, 2002, FinCEN launched a survey of a statistically valid sample of banks, savings and loans and credit unions to gather information on the costs of filing CTRs and SARs, as well as the use of the exemption process for CTR filings. Sampled institutions were notified via email and…

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued today its fourth SARActivity Review – Trends, Tips and Issues. This issue of The Review contains information related topotential terrorist financing activity as well as an analysis of SAR filings since September 11, 2001that referred…

In a continuing effort to expand the coverage of suspicious activity reporting to all potentiallyvulnerable sectors of the financial services industry, today the Financial Crimes EnforcementNetwork (FinCEN) announced a new rule requiring brokers and dealers in securities to reportsuspicious…

A seminar to discuss issues surrounding informal value transfer systems, to include hawala, washeld yesterday at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The seminar wasattended by over 50 representatives from the law enforcement community.Hawala is a method of monetary value…