[capitalist pig]

Has anyone else gotten form letters in their bank statements? I received them from two different national banks this week. Im sure they go out with everyones monthly statements, since I got them in (2) accounts that have never recieved an off shore check before. Basically they said, if we determine that funds deposited are from illegal gambling processors that they will confiscate the funds and can or will close the account.

So basically Im guessing this means that as of December 1st 2009, when the banks have to start enforcing the IGEA laws that they will now pay more attention to certain checks. Its getting to the point that I question the safety of leaving large amounts of money in my accounts.Since now it appears any bank can question a check and confiscate it. JMO.

later

[bettman]

interested to see what others say.....

[miektheman]

thats scary shit. what banks?

[strahanfan92]

also which books do you use?

[patswin]

haven't received anything yet, will be on the lookout for this

[patswin]

how can they confiscate the funds, that makes no sense. I can see them not cashing the check but on what basis can they confiscate the funds, and who keeps them the bank?

[johncrud]

I don't leave that much money on my bank account..

Use **/W.U more often.

[capitalist pig]

how can they confiscate the funds, that makes no sense. I can see them not cashing the check but on what basis can they confiscate the funds, and who keeps them the bank?

Sir, I just posted what the form letter said, I have no idea what the legal stand is on them confiscating the check or what happens to the funds. If I had to guess Id say, there must be some legal consequences to the bank if they process a check from a offshore books processor. There must be some govt agency that they are required to pass it on to. I really have no idea, just a guess.

There is a bank lobbying group thats trying to move the date ahead to 12-1-10, but from what I understand it hasnt happened yet.

Not mentioning the banks till I see if anyone else has gotten these form letters, and what books I use isnt relevant, sorry.

later

[RickySteve]

Post a scan of form letter, sensitive info removed, or you're full of sh t.

[bleedblue]

Anxiously waiting for more info/comments here.

[DukeJohn]

how can they confiscate the funds, that makes no sense. I can see them not cashing the check but on what basis can they confiscate the funds, and who keeps them the bank?

I watched the hearings or whatever they are called on C-Span about this and that was one of biggest complaints the banking industry was having... That they must police this policy... Usually, if there is any criminal activity or something along those lines they report it and another agency takes over, but the UIGEA puts the burden on the Banks and that is not something they are happy about.

[soxwin1917]

Since I don't use ** or ** for payouts this is a little worrisome.

[capitalist pig]

Post a scan of form letter, sensitive info removed, or you're full of sh t.

Well sir, you can call me full of sh1t if you want, but they got shredded along with the statements yesterday. You know I had nothing to gain by posting this info to members here,I was just trying to share some important info along to others. Next time I will keep my mouth shut and let some of you find out the hard way.

Like I said it was a form letter, not addressed to me personally, no account info was on it, its just one of those letters they put in statements that most people just throw in the trash.


later

[miektheman]

capitalist- can you please mention the banks they were from? its strange that you receieved 2 letters from 2 seperate banks and nobody else has claimed to recieve 1. maybe you are on some list or something.

[johncrud]

Well... If you deposit check by the tens of thousands, they will get suspicious. Even 4-5K will draw an alert. I will do a combination of debit card, ** and check withdrawal to be safe.

Amount + deposit frequency = problem

[WileOut]

Has anyone else gotten form letters in their bank statements? I received them from two different national banks this week. Im sure they go out with everyones monthly statements, since I got them in (2) accounts that have never recieved an off shore check before. Basically they said, if we determine that funds deposited are from illegal gambling processors that they will confiscate the funds and can or will close the account.

So basically Im guessing this means that as of December 1st 2009, when the banks have to start enforcing the IGEA laws that they will now pay more attention to certain checks. Its getting to the point that I question the safety of leaving large amounts of money in my accounts.Since now it appears any bank can question a check and confiscate it. JMO.

later

Are you sure they said "confiscate the money"? If this is the case then we may be screwed. I thought the most they could do is close your account and send you the money. If they can confiscate funds, that aint good.

[GELATINOUS CUBE]

Rickeysteve, please stop posting.

[aggie]

no, you stop posting

[Halifax]

Has anyone else gotten form letters in their bank statements? I received them from two different national banks this week. Im sure they go out with everyones monthly statements, since I got them in (2) accounts that have never recieved an off shore check before. Basically they said, if we determine that funds deposited are from illegal gambling processors that they will confiscate the funds and can or will close the account.

So basically Im guessing this means that as of December 1st 2009, when the banks have to start enforcing the IGEA laws that they will now pay more attention to certain checks. Its getting to the point that I question the safety of leaving large amounts of money in my accounts.Since now it appears any bank can question a check and confiscate it. JMO.

later

Which two banks ?

[DukeJohn]

I am sure that once the deadline hits and it is not pushed back all banks will put out similar letters... It is what the UIGEA was made for. Banks that do not follow it will be subject to criminal charges which no US bank wants.

Thank you CP for posting this so I won't freak out when I receive the letters thinking I am being targeted...

The UIGEA gives banks the power to confiscate funds and once it happens, and it will, the courts will be flooded with lawsuits and UIGEA will be either removed or changed if legislation doesn't come along to repel it before then.

Never fear though, the industry will change for Americans, land of the free, to combat this. There is a few silver linings... The banking industry stated before the Finance Committee that there is no way to enforce bank wires or EFT's... so... it is time for books to end the paper trail and enter a fully electronic age....

[Hareeba!]

This is just a US thing I presume?
The rest of us don't have to put up with this BS?

[oiler]

Has anyone else gotten form letters in their bank statements? I received them from two different national banks this week. Im sure they go out with everyones monthly statements, since I got them in (2) accounts that have never recieved an off shore check before. Basically they said, if we determine that funds deposited are from illegal gambling processors that they will confiscate the funds and can or will close the account.

So basically Im guessing this means that as of December 1st 2009, when the banks have to start enforcing the IGEA laws that they will now pay more attention to certain checks. Its getting to the point that I question the safety of leaving large amounts of money in my accounts.Since now it appears any bank can question a check and confiscate it. JMO.

later

i find it funny u dont name the banks that sent u the letter plus my checks come from a us bank

[capitalist pig]

Ok, the banks were Wachovia and Wells Fargo. Different letters from each one.So know one misses them, when you get your statement, they were in the crap thats tucked in the return envelope. You know the 3-4 pages of disclosure sh1t thats so small know one reads it. I have other accounts with these banks and when another statement comes in I will post the letter to make everyone happy.

Do a search on Wachovia and net gambling and you will see they and a few other banks (BkofAma,Citi,etc.) had alot of proccesor funds confiscated a few weeks ago. http://www.osga.com/artman/publish/article_7237.shtml

For those who were questioning the confiscation of funds, its the criminal division of the IRS who gets the info on accounts who are red flagged by the banks.

Hope this answers everyones questions.

later

[johncrud]

I rarely open my bank statement from mail. I got curious yesterday.. I found a similar piece of message attached to my bank statement but this one is only regarding to deposit made from oversea. For any deposit from oversea, they will block or hold for further investigation before the funds are cleared. I assumed this is for oversea wire transfer included.

I am going to be more careful myself. If you request for **, you can get ***********.. That is what I am going to be doing.

[DukeJohn]

Ok, the banks were Wachovia and Wells Fargo. Different letters from each one.So know one misses them, when you get your statement, they were in the crap thats tucked in the return envelope. You know the 3-4 pages of disclosure sh1t thats so small know one reads it. I have other accounts with these banks and when another statement comes in I will post the letter to make everyone happy.

Do a search on Wachovia and net gambling and you will see they and a few other banks (BkofAma,Citi,etc.) had alot of proccesor funds confiscated a few weeks ago. http://www.osga.com/artman/publish/article_7237.shtml

For those who were questioning the confiscation of funds, its the criminal division of the IRS who gets the info on accounts who are red flagged by the banks.

Hope this answers everyones questions.

later

These confiscations are not individual player funds. Once the policy goes into effect, then the individual could have the "check" frozen and possibly the account while under investigation. However, here is a huge, huge problem with individuals. The UIGEA exempts horse racing, since we all know horse racing isn't gambling... Anyway, this is a huge issue for the bank because they asked how are they going to know whether the check is horse racing related or not and congress still has yet to answer this for them.

[wildemu]

I am having tremendous trouble now with my Wachovia account, they basically have me on lockdown. I can't do echecks, **/**, or debit card deposits because the fraud department is declining everything. I am in desperate need of a new bank. If anyone can pm me some suggestions, I'd appreciate it a lot.

Sorry if I did a mini hijack on this thread but this is stressing me a lot.

[miektheman]

does anyone have any links on the subject? i am sick to my stomach since reading this thread

[DukeJohn]

does anyone have any links on the subject? i am sick to my stomach since reading this thread

If you are feel this way then I would suggest only doing **/** withdrawals and deposit cash into your bank accounts.

There is lots of information on the UIGEA, however you might watch some Youtube videos with Barney Frank, as he is the head of the Finance Committee. Keep in mind the deadline has been pushed back many times before and hopefully will be pushed back again...

Good Luck to you and don't worry too much over it... yet...

[miektheman]

problem is i have too much $ offshore to get it all in through ** or moneygrams. i dont know what i would do. ineternt gambling is not illegal, right??? i pay my taxes, im so stressed. now there are 3 steps to being successful. 1- winning 2-getting paid by book 3-sneaking winning past the governemtn(not even for tax purposes, just like we are in a communist country!) im so pissed

[DukeJohn]

problem is i have too much $ offshore to get it all in through ** or moneygrams. i dont know what i would do. ineternt gambling is not illegal, right??? i pay my taxes, im so stressed. now there are 3 steps to being successful. 1- winning 2-getting paid by book 3-sneaking winning past the governemtn(not even for tax purposes, just like we are in a communist country!) im so pissed

The legality of online gambling depends on your state, but that is another matter. Reading over what CP sent me concerning Wachovia, it appears they plan to try on December 1st, to stop transactions they identify as suspect. They also, "may close the account or end the relationship."

At least they didn't say they would confiscate funds, but not allow a certain transaction from going through. If a transaction was suspect, you could always deny it was gambling related. They would probably tell you they no longer accept transactions from so and so or cancel your account, but you still get your money. If they had absolute "proof" this transaction was gambling related, then you could always state it was horse racing related.

Now, this is still a big pain and we will see what really happens in the end. Keep in mind, if the bank accepts this transaction they are the ones that committed the crime according to the UIGEA and not you...

[miektheman]

offshore horse racing is legal??? 100%

[DukeJohn]

offshore horse racing is legal??? 100%

That is not really the question per se...

Horse racing is exempt in UIGEA, which makes it perfectly legal for financial institutions to accept transactions dealing with horse racing wagers. The problem is, the banks do not know if the transaction in question is horse racing related and thus has to block all transactions so they do not violate the law. This will include many, many transactions that have nothing to do with gambling and the banking industry is about to have a lot of problems when they start blocking transactions especially when they have nothing to do with gambling. However, according to way the UIGEA is written, they will be committing criminal acts if they don't, but when they start making mistakes left and right, you can believe there will be civil lawsuits brought against them and this could quickly spiral out of control for the banking industry.... We shall see....

[miektheman]

but when i deposit a bank check from country xyz, how would my bank know its gambling anyway? and i assume the same for bankwires. does not seem so obvious for them.

[Fishhead]

Ok, the banks were Wachovia and Wells Fargo. Different letters from each one.So know one misses them, when you get your statement, they were in the crap thats tucked in the return envelope. You know the 3-4 pages of disclosure sh1t thats so small know one reads it. I have other accounts with these banks and when another statement comes in I will post the letter to make everyone happy.

Do a search on Wachovia and net gambling and you will see they and a few other banks (BkofAma,Citi,etc.) had alot of proccesor funds confiscated a few weeks ago. http://www.osga.com/artman/publish/article_7237.shtml

For those who were questioning the confiscation of funds, its the criminal division of the IRS who gets the info on accounts who are red flagged by the banks.

Hope this answers everyones questions.

later

GEEZUS DUDE.....

These two banks, along with CHASE, are the absolute worst banks to be with right now..............CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNTS BEFORE IT'S TO LATE.

WOW, what are you thinking???????

[DukeJohn]

but when i deposit a bank check from country xyz, how would my bank know its gambling anyway? and i assume the same for bankwires. does not seem so obvious for them.

You are correct. It is a huge problem, because if the bank accepts a transaction they committed a crime and yet how do they determine if a transaction is suspect. They have to be Judge, Jury, and Executioner or they could face criminal charges. The UIGEA is just a crazy law with no hope of really being enforced and places a huge strain on the banking industry that is already in a crisis...

You might want to check out www.apcw.org There is a lot of information there...