Tell me if I am totally off base on this situation. Potential customers visit branch and inquires on foreign currency exchange- Iraqi Dinar. We are a small bank and do not exchange this particular currency. The potential customer leaves the bank. The branch contacts me to let me know about the visit. The potential customers stated that they are missionaries and just returned from Iraq. According to what the branch employee was told The foreign currency involved is equivalent to approximately 500,000 USD. How and why would a missionary return to the US with that amount of foreign currency?

In my church, we give money to a missionary who sometimes takes it in cash with him to the country he is working in. He takes it to the people in need. He does not return with money because he leaves it there for the local churches and missions to use. And there is no way that he makes that kind of money in pay as a missionary.

Yes, something is fishy there.

nemsi,

Absolutely SARable!!! As smash said, they (missionaries)take money with (or withdraw overseas), they don't bring money back to exchange--what a lame story they had...and certainly not that amount of money, that's utterly smelly and suspicious--SAR it!

Agreed, the missionaries I have known generally take some cash; however, most funds are funneled through an account of the organization supporting them. And they never have that kind of money--that's why we know them. They need support to provide services.

Were you able to capture any identifying info on the individuals or the organization they were supposed to be associated with? If so, this might warrant a call to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Since a US dollar equals about 1150 dinars, they must have had a truck full of it.

Thanks everybody! Randy, your response is where my concern is. The branch employee has repeatedly said that it was the USD equivalent. I was not there so I have to rely on the employee. My thought is it's probably the value of the Dinar which would be about 450 USD!!!