Please forgive me if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything in a search.

Would I file a SAR on this, and if so, how?

A customer called in and reported that someone tried to get her account number from her. The caller said she was with a company that protected people from ID theft by erasing them from computer directories. "Could you please give me the first nine digits of your checking account so I can erase you from these directories?" The customer said no, asked what company she worked for and a number to call her back once she found her account number. The caller would not give a company name, claimed she would be on the phone all day and would not give out a number. All the customer got was a name, and it is probably an alias.

I can't remember where I read it, but I thought that we were supposed to report ID theft via SAR. However, no actual theft occured, and information is lacking. Do we report ID theft attempts?

I don't see this as a reportable event, as no attempt was made to either obtain information from your bank, or use fraudulently obtained information to effect transactions at your bank.

I do. I would file with no suspect. If nothing else it alerts law enforcement of a possible ring attempting to steal information from customers. It may help them in some way.

I don't think such a report could even be marginally useful to law enforcement. With only a bogus name to go on, and no company name or telephone number, they have next to nothing to use to even match this call up with other reported calls. If there is more value to law enforcement in this type of report, I don't know what it would be. One certainty, however, is that the bank is not required to file a SAR in this instance.

Any SAR filing would be voluntary. It would also be a waste of time.

I wouldn't waste someone else's time with this type of filing. If we really read the rulings, known suspect is $5,000, whereas unknown is $25,000 and insider, anything! Not just in this instance but in many others, we are filing nonsensically (sp?).

I would not file a SAR. I can't see any value. Further, these attempted frauds have become as common as grass. According to our police department, many of the current frauds originate overseas anyway. The chances of of tracing this fraud back are nil. Just my opinion.