FBI Monitored Accounts & Customer Disclosure Answer by: Ken Golliher, BOL Guru BIO AND CONTACT INFO
Question: Our bank has an account that has the possibility of a counterfeit Nigerian check being deposited. The FBI has requested we keep the account open waiting for the item. My question is, when we process the deposit, we will put it on a collection letter, and we will not be giving the customer the ability to use the funds until the item has cleared. Is there a time limit on a collection letter that is coming from a foreign country and how long can we put the customer off? Can we disclose to the customer that we will not give them credit until the bank has received payment from the other bank? Normally in the case of a foreign collection item, we would not place the funds into the customers account until we received payment. What is our Reg CC disclosure to the customer if the FBI wants the bank to put the deposit into the customers account? The FBI does not want the customer made aware that they are being monitored.
Answer: Follow your normal processes. If the item is sent for collection, Regulation CC does not apply; no disclosure requirement is triggered. You are not putting the customer off in any way. Tell him the other bank is solely in control of the time frame; it takes the time that it takes. Explain that you will credit the remittance from the other bank to his account on receipt, not before. In this case, the check will probably be returned to you unpaid and the FBI can use it to establish that the transaction was fraudulent.
The Nigerian schemes apparently have infinite variations, but it is doubtful it will actually be a "Nigerian" check. Also, for a variety of reasons, I don't think the FBI will encourage you to let the customer deposit the check. (In any case, remember even the FBI doesn't always get what it wants. Your bank is entitled to makes its own assessment of the risk vs. any real value your acceptance of that risk might have to law enforcement.) If you do accept a foreign check for deposit, Reg CC generally does not apply to a check that is not drawn on a U.S. bank or a U.S. office of a foreign bank. The length of any hold is determined by you, but you will eventually have to make the funds available if you allow the check to be deposited.
Following your normal processes has a second advantage if you are being asked to avoid arousing the customer's suspicions: You are not going to be fumbling around trying to figure out how to handle it.
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