Just wondering how other banks handle this situtation. We had a customer come in and wanted a cashier check made out to a Grant Company. She said if she paid them $2500 they would find a grant for her. She was getting the $2500 from one of our other customers. I called the Attorney General office and they said it was a scam. We explained this to our customers but they still wanted to pursue this. The customer that was loaning the $2500 got a little irrate and said it was none of our business what they did with the money. Do you give them the money and refuse to give them a cashier check or what?

Jeez, you'd wonder if a SAR would be appropriate in this situation, however I read the SAR and the amount looks too low. It sounds suspicious to me though. That poor customer is going to come back someday and wish she/he would have listened to the Bank. I don't think you can refuse doing a transaction for your customer since it's their money, but I would keep something on file for future reference. My opinion only.

Unfortunately, there is only so much you can do to try protect people from themselves. I once participated in a conference call with a bank customer and several representatives of law enforcement who were trying to convince the customer that he was not going to get his millions from Nigeria. He had already sent over $300,000 and believed if he sent more, he would get his millions. I'm not sure he was ever convinced since I never heard the final outcome. Sometimes greed can be overwhelming and the idea of getting something for nothing (or a fraction of the promised sum) drives people to do crazy things in spite of warnings.