I attended a Profit Protection BSA seminar where the speaker stated that you should be filing a SAR for R29 returned ACH items that are over $25,000.00. You can just state in the SAR that your customer received an unauthorized debit from XYZ Company via ABC Bank for $50,000. The suspect would be the originator (whose name you have).

Are any of you doing this at this time or have you heard the same guidance ? I haven't had one of these in MONTHS and wouldn't you know it, I set procedures in place to report them and BOOM - I get one within one week

Thanks,

WandaM

If the customer didn't authorize the transfer and the amount is more than $25,000, I think you have an identified suspect and a suspicion of an attempted fraud, whether the return reason is R29 or some other code.

This is the catch - you file the SAR only if over $25,000.00 because you do NOT know specifically who the suspect is - you only have a name.

The speaker's reasoning was that if someone is sending multiple unauthorized debits to various financial institutions and all of them file a SAR, the government will investigate and "find" the suspect, if possible.

I know SAR regs specifically state to file on suspicious activity if over $25,000 and over and you do not have a suspect. BUT---I find it odd that no one else has ever mentioned this issue before nor have I seen any documentation or specific guidance in any other training sessions I've been in.

Can you or anyone add anything further?

The ODFI warrants all entries made through their bank. They have a responsibility to the rest of us that they are not allowing crooks to use the network for their own ends. I would be thinking of a Rules Violation Report before a SAR. If I was thinking SAR I would go with the $5,000 because you have a named suspect. That's all you ever have. In a lot of cases, you don't have proof that you know the true identity of any SAR filing. Their ID may have been good enough to fool the DMV so their faked breeder document became accepted. Short of DNA testing, a name is basically what you have for any situation.