The SAR Activity Review Issue 12 - FinCEN

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Other Institutions SAR Narrative Analysis
Of the 14,816 SARs produced for this analysis, only 146 were filed by money services
businesses, casinos and card clubs, and securities and futures industries. Therefore,
each individual narrative from these industries was evaluated for this analysis.
Money Services Businesses
The search resulted in 70 Suspicious Activity Report by Money Services Business
(SAR-MSB) filings. Of those SAR-MSB filings, 50 listed convenience check(s),
and 20 listed credit card check(s). No SAR-MSB narratives contained the term
“courtesy check(s).” The total reported value in these SARs was $865,019. Exhibit
4 illustrates the activity by year. 5
25
20
15
10
5
0
Exhibit 4: Money Services Business Suspicious Activity Reports filed for the
Period of January 1, 2003 through March 31, 2007
2
1
0
13
0 0
The SAR-MSB narratives described the presentment of stolen convenience and
credit card checks for cashing. The fraudulent activities include:
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• Subjects presented stolen convenience and credit card checks in exchange
for cash, alleging they had been paid for rendering services. The MSBs
attempted to verify this by contacting the owners, who then advised that the
checks were stolen. The MSBs contacted authorities. In two instances, the
subjects were arrested.
3
0
14
9
0 0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Convenience Check(s) Credit Card Check(s) Courtesy Check(s)
5 For MSBs other than currency dealers or exchangers, the rule that requires the filing of SAR-MSBs
applies to transactions occurring after December 31, 2001. However, no activity was reported in 2002.
7
0