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#1996971 - 02/19/15 07:05 PM Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches
Cat Woman Offline
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Cat Woman
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New England
Does anyone search their database of transactions for keywords to identify possible marijuana-related activity? If so, could you share your list? Or if anyone had thoughts on some good keywords to search, I'd appreciate suggestions!

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#1996985 - 02/19/15 07:28 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
PrimeTime Offline
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Just out of curiosity, did this inquiry derive from an exam/audit? We don't do any sort of scrub due to the due diligence conducted at account opening.
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#1996989 - 02/19/15 07:30 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Cat Woman Offline
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It sure did! This would be in addition to the due diligence conducted at account opening. Sigh.

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#1997004 - 02/19/15 07:48 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
MagicCity Offline

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I cannot imagine what the keywords could be, that would not also generate a ton of false positives.
And how do you separate illegal from legal/medical?
And what do you do with anyone that does business in Colorado, Washington State et al.
And what's related? Pipes? All tobacco shops now high risk?
A slippery slope.
Hope that does not come up in our next exam! smile Ugh.

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#1997005 - 02/19/15 07:49 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Derwood Offline
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Who did this come from, internal or external audit or examiners?
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#1997065 - 02/19/15 09:19 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
BrianC Offline
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Since the names of marijuana related businesses could be anything, all I can do is suggest that you start with the keywords "Cheech" and "Chong" and then go back to whomever made this ludicrous recommendation and ask them for a citation where it would be required and ask them what could possibly be gained.
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#1997070 - 02/19/15 09:22 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
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Who made the recommendation? In writing? The exact wording?
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#1997073 - 02/19/15 09:28 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
ms.understood Offline
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Washington
And define what you're looking for: members/customers who use the stuff and buy it at their legal retail/medical shop, or business owners as account holders?

Yikes, that is a big task.

Speaking as someone who deals with this on a regular basis over here in WA, the names these businesses come up with are quite creative, and the possibilities are endless. Good luck.

Higher power/utility bills, lots of garden supply purchases, security system monthly fees...those are the kinds of things that start us on the path to investigating. This could all vary by state though, and each state has different laws that govern marijuana.

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#1997115 - 02/19/15 10:10 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Princess Romeo Offline

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Not to mention all of the hydroponic supply companies. Hydroponics is not necessarily illegal - people grow tomatoes using hydroponics, but a lot of people also grow pot.

You can really "what if" yourself to death here.
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#1997268 - 02/20/15 04:23 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Cat Woman Offline
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New England
The first thing we could really think of was hydroponics.

I'd rather not get into specifics, but it was suggested that we start doing this as the result of a BSA audit. We were wondering if anyone else does this and what keywords to use.

Thanks for all the responses!

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#1997273 - 02/20/15 04:27 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
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Okay, without the specifics there's no real way to offer anything constructive except to say that you really need to get a new auditor; they are sending you on a fool's errand.

Hydroponics? Depends on what part of the country you are from. My understanding is that most growers just buy their equipment at Lowes, Home Depot, or some other garden supply store.
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#1997592 - 02/23/15 06:01 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Anna S. Offline
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We are in the middle of the 'emerald triangle' in Mendocino County.... and our policy is that we will not bank marijuana-related businesses (or even individuals who work in the marijuana industry). We don't maintain any specific list of keywords to search. The growers generally don't admit that's what they do.... they come up with all sorts of occupations, but most are landscapers, permaculture designers, self-employed construction, student, etc. At account opening, we ask the nature of the business and expected transactions and conduct a site visit and we measure actual activity to the expected activity. And Google maps is quite helpful at times as a marijuana grow looks quite different than vineyards, apples, etc. We search on-line for dispensaries, and check weedmaps.com for local listings if we suspect marijuana involvement.

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#1997723 - 02/24/15 12:49 AM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Princess Romeo Offline

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That has got to be tough because from what I have heard, almost any business in the "emerald triangle" will have some sort of involvement in the marijuana trade simply because of the dollars that are spent.

Example: Employee of a dispensary gets his car serviced at the local mechanic. The local mechanic gets paid and presumably the funds are coming from the employee's salary at the dispensary. So now, the mechanic has received funds from the sale of marijuana.

The deeper we go, the more ridiculous it is to have an item be legal on a state level but illegal on a federal level.
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#1998481 - 02/26/15 07:54 PM Re: Marijuana-Related Activity and Keyword Searches Cat Woman
Pat Patriot Act Offline
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Originally Posted By: Cat Woman
Does anyone search their database of transactions for keywords to identify possible marijuana-related activity? If so, could you share your list? Or if anyone had thoughts on some good keywords to search, I'd appreciate suggestions!


You should build a list of MRBs in your footprint and scrub it against your customer base.
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