Washington, DC, Jan. 22, 2024. The US House Judiciary Committee has obtained documents suggesting that banks were advised to query transactions with keywords like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s, and Bass Pro Shops.
Banking regulators are increasing their surveillance and controls over banks to impose far-ranging monitoring of transactions. The government is applying the Patriot Act’s “know your customer” rules with increasing severity. There is a worldwide movement of governments to de-bank those with anti-government tendencies or views.
And bank accounts are increasingly needed for most transactions.
he House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government gave updates on the federal law enforcement’s “receipt of information about American citizens without legal process and its engagement with the private sector.”
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, wrote, the Treasury Department’s Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, gave banks “suggested search terms and Merchant Category Codes for identifying transactions on behalf of federal law enforcement.”
“According to this analysis, FinCEN warned financial institutions of ‘extremism’ indicators that include ‘transportation charges, such as bus tickets, rental cars, or plane tickets, for travel areas with no apparent purpose,’ or ‘the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views,’” wrote Rep. Jordan in a letter to FinCEN’s former director, Noah Bishoff.
