Sad reminder - do not travel through an airport with lots of cash

[georgina]

Just saw a local news story about a woman whose elderly dad had saved a lot of cash (over $80,000!). She was going to take it home to put it in a bank account, but it was seized by the DEA and they are keeping it. She said he gave it to her Saturday night and she had an early Monday flight home so took it with her. Not the first example of lawful citizens having cash seized permanently under dubious circumstances.

https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stori...rnational-airport/R343IROJKJFQVBPZT27MZINPJM/
https://viewfromthewing.com/nationw...a-dea-for-seizing-travelers-cash-at-airports/

 

[NYCgrrl]

Weird.

 

[bcla]

Some people are freaked out and don't declare cash when traveling internationally. But at least entering the US comes with a US $10,000 cash limit per person without needing to declare.

I've heard from Chinese friends of the cash culture they tend to have. Some people have come into the US (or Canada) with the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and they're often distrusting of officials.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/undeclared-cash-vancouver-airport-1.3755414

 

[Pamlur]

She wasn't traveling internationally.

 

[amcnj]

I’d be so worried carrying that much cash that I’d be pulled out of the line for looking suspiciously nervous!

 

[wenrob]

I feel like there has got to be more to this story. Someone traveling with $82,000 is going to make anyone raise an eyebrow. My first thought was the DEA would be all over that. She can’t be THAT naive to think it wouldn’t be questioned. I’m sure there would have been questions if she showed up at the bank with that much cash.

 

[DLgal]

This is a situation where you reschedule the flight home and stick around long enough to open the bank account. Sheesh.

Why do people do this? What if the guys house burned down? I'm guessing he didn't even have it in a safe.

 

[mnrose]

Exactly. Who travels with that kind of CASH? That's all kinds of naive. Frankly, you are going to have a problem opening a bank account with that kind of cash. It will definitely generate additional reporting to bank regulators. Honestly, that kind of cash has drug money written all over it.

 

[VandVsmama]

I'm sorry that happened, but it was just stupid and foolish.

 

[lifesavacation]

Foolish or not, she didn’t break any laws. Hopefully she gets her father’s money back.

 

[wenrob]

I’d like to know why if the dad didn’t trust banks (and collected $82,000 in cash because of it) he suddenly had a change of heart and decided to let his daughter open a joint bank account. That smells awful funny to me.

 

[wenrob]

Foolish or not, she didn’t break any laws. Hopefully she gets her father’s money back.

According to her anyway. That kind of money in cash throws up red flags for a reason.

 

[RamblingMad]

The IRS is going to want their cut.

If you go to a bank and deposit this much cash, you're going to get flagged.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/...-accounts-on-suspicion-no-crime-required.html

 

[georgina]

The IRS can’t have it if the DEA kept it !
Yes it was foolish, but having seized it months ago they more recently told them they weren’t giving it back. So it seems the red flag is as good as a guilty conviction.
I personally have traveled to Orlando with $5000 worth of gift cards to pay for 3 hotel rooms for a family trip.

 

[NYCgrrl]

The IRS can’t have it if the DEA kept it !
Yes it was foolish, but having seized it months ago they more recently told them they weren’t giving it back. So it seems the red flag is as good as a guilty conviction.
I personally have traveled to Orlando with $5000 worth of gift cards to pay for 3 hotel rooms for a family trip.

Fortunately, gift cards, don't have the same liquidity as dollar bills.

 

[Searc]

The IRS can’t have it if the DEA kept it !
Yes it was foolish, but having seized it months ago they more recently told them they weren’t giving it back. So it seems the red flag is as good as a guilty conviction.
I personally have traveled to Orlando with $5000 worth of gift cards to pay for 3 hotel rooms for a family trip.

Gift cards aren't cash and will never be treated as such.

 

[wenrob]

The IRS can’t have it if the DEA kept it !
Yes it was foolish, but having seized it months ago they more recently told them they weren’t giving it back. So it seems the red flag is as good as a guilty conviction.
I personally have traveled to Orlando with $5000 worth of gift cards to pay for 3 hotel rooms for a family trip.

Where does is say they told her they were just going to keep it?
From the article you posted:
“The DEA declined to comment on the lawsuit, but law enforcement sources told Channel 11 there is more to the story and probable cause is needed to seize the money.”

$5,000 in gift cards is not $82,000 in CASH. I’m not buying her story so I can certainly see the DEA not buying it.

 

[barkley]

Why do people do this?

paranoia over financial institutions.

my dad didn't trust 'banks' but did trust savings & loans (depression throw back-didn't live long enough to see the savings and loan disaster crisis). a friend's uncle died and no one could figure out where he had his money squirreled away-he had dozens and dozens of small accounts at different banks b/c he figured if one went under he could go to another (basically every bank, credit union and savings and loan with a 4 hour one way drive radius of his home).

this is why it's vital if going through an elderly family member's household when they go into care or pass to check every pocket of every jacket, look between piles of sheets and quilts, OPEN FRAMED PHOTOS (this is where my mom kept her 'emergency money'-in between my kid's photos and the cardboard on the back of the frame), look in cookie jars, shoe boxes....i've known some people to hide large denomination bills inside book pages (that's a nice bookmark surprise for someone who picks it up at goodwill).

 

[Julie's Haircut]

this is why it's vital if going through an elderly family member's household when they go into care or pass to check every pocket of every jacket, look between piles of sheets and quilts, OPEN FRAMED PHOTOS (this is where my mom kept her 'emergency money'-in between my kid's photos and the cardboard on the back of the frame), look in cookie jars, shoe boxes....i've known some people to hide large denomination bills inside book pages (that's a nice bookmark surprise for someone who picks it up at goodwill).

My father-in-law had several bank accounts and plenty of investments so he didn't distrust banks. But he also kept cash around. DW knew he kept an envelope containing about $1000 in a kitchen cabinet as his "everyday money." He had a credit card but usually paid for everything in cash. He also went to the casinos often.

What she didn't know was that he had cash elsewhere in the house. After he died we found $10,000 in a round decorative metal box, the kind Christmas cookies come in. Plus $2000 in an old hinged lid metal Band-Aid box in the medicine cabinet. We searched elsewhere but didn't find any more.

 

[mnrose]

Where does is say they told her they were just going to keep it?
From the article you posted:
“The DEA declined to comment on the lawsuit, but law enforcement sources told Channel 11 there is more to the story and probable cause is needed to seize the money.”

$5,000 in gift cards is not $82,000 in CASH. I’m not buying her story so I can certainly see the DEA not buying it.

Exactly. 82k in cash is going to raise red flags. Under 10K in cash will not. When we went to Bali, we traveled with 6000 in cash, mainly in $20 bills as many places in that part of the world do not accept credit cards. It was scary as heck to me to be carrying around that much cash, but we had no choice. I did carefully check to make sure we were violating no laws of either the US or the countries we were entering. The triggering amount is $10,000 USD (or equivalent in foreign currency) for most countries. Even so, DH and I divided it equally between us, and we carried it in money belts strapped to our persons under our clothing. It was not an issue at all in any airport we visited. I'm more than willing to bet there's a whole lot more to this story than is being reported.