5 ms·

Is this really that surprising? Having more than roughly $10,000 cash in the US is nearly illegal, in that you're guilty until proven innocent and the police ca

Is this really that surprising? Having more than roughly $10,000 cash in the US is nearly illegal, in that you're guilty until proven innocent and the police can just take it until you prove that it was obtained legally. You may not be charged with a crime, but you're still going to lose the money. The courts are slowly inching away from this unconstitutional insanity, but a duffel bag of cash is still going to end up turning into a new Hummer for whatever local police squad finds it.

heelix 7y ago
Hah. So years back, I was going to buy a car. Went to the bank and they wanted (what I considered to be) a ridiculous service fee for a cashiers check. Fine... I'll take cash from my account! Ah, need a couple days to do that sort of thing... I, was miffed and stubborn as hell... so I did just that. Came back, got fingerprinted, and picked up my pile of cash to go buy the two year old 996. The dealership, when time came to close, absolutely freaked when I pulled out the cash. Another set of IRS forms... and sorted it after several phone calls.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  A cashier's check costs $1 in my experience...
  - heelix 7y ago
    TCF wanted $8 or so. I am not a clever man.
    - perl4ever 7y ago
      It may be more than $1. I feel like I was surprised to only pay $1 not long ago, but I may be remembering getting a money order.
gist 7y ago
> Having more than roughly $10,000 cash in the US is nearly illegal Where are you getting that from? [1] There is nothing even close to being illegal to possess in the US any amount of cash. There are laws to prevent illegal activity and against structuring (attempting to deposit below some limit to avoid disclosure). Now to what appears to be your point having $100,000 in cash in open display in your car when you are stopped by the police will definitely raise suspicions. But then again so will many other things that are not illegal but might raise suspicions depending on the context of where they appear. (Walk into a bank with a toy pistol vs. walk around your friends backyard with a toy pistol). [1] And what is 'nearly illegal' is that like 'nearly pregnant' (the classical example actually 'pregnant' or 'not').
- throwaway2048 7y ago
  Look into civil forfeiture laws, cops will seize that amount of money if you have it, and it can be almost impossible to get it back.
  - gist 7y ago
    Very generally you would need to be a suspect in a crime which is completely separate from having cash and not being a suspect.
    - refurb 7y ago
      I get your point, but currently just the possession of a large quantity of cash is enough to be suspected of a crime. “Only criminals carry large quantities of cash”.
    - astrange 7y ago
      It's pretty easy to become a suspect for walking while black, smelling like marijuana, resisting arrest, driving suspiciously, having a dog respond to you…
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    Has anyone ever just withdrawn cash from their bank account that was obviously from a legitimate source and had it seized by police and not been able to get it back? Because the way people talk about civil forfeiture is as though this happens all the time, but ostensibly there's not supposed to be a problem if the cash is traceable. Stories about civil forfeiture abuses that I've read don't delve into whether the victim actually was able to prove the source of the money in a normal way.
Razengan 7y ago
...How is this not practically tyranny? People here show concern over digital privacy and net neutrality etcetera but that's just tightening the noose, because apparently they've already put one on the bare basics.

heelix 7y ago

Hah. So years back, I was going to buy a car. Went to the bank and they wanted (what I considered to be) a ridiculous service fee for a cashiers check. Fine... I'll take cash from my account! Ah, need a couple days to do that sort of thing... I, was miffed and stubborn as hell... so I did just that. Came back, got fingerprinted, and picked up my pile of cash to go buy the two year old 996. The dealership, when time came to close, absolutely freaked when I pulled out the cash. Another set of IRS forms... and sorted it after several phone calls.

perl4ever 7y ago
A cashier's check costs $1 in my experience...
- heelix 7y ago
  TCF wanted $8 or so. I am not a clever man.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    It may be more than $1. I feel like I was surprised to only pay $1 not long ago, but I may be remembering getting a money order.

gist 7y ago

> Having more than roughly $10,000 cash in the US is nearly illegal Where are you getting that from? [1] There is nothing even close to being illegal to possess in the US any amount of cash. There are laws to prevent illegal activity and against structuring (attempting to deposit below some limit to avoid disclosure). Now to what appears to be your point having $100,000 in cash in open display in your car when you are stopped by the police will definitely raise suspicions. But then again so will many other things that are not illegal but might raise suspicions depending on the context of where they appear. (Walk into a bank with a toy pistol vs. walk around your friends backyard with a toy pistol). [1] And what is 'nearly illegal' is that like 'nearly pregnant' (the classical example actually 'pregnant' or 'not').

throwaway2048 7y ago
Look into civil forfeiture laws, cops will seize that amount of money if you have it, and it can be almost impossible to get it back.
- gist 7y ago
  Very generally you would need to be a suspect in a crime which is completely separate from having cash and not being a suspect.
  - refurb 7y ago
    I get your point, but currently just the possession of a large quantity of cash is enough to be suspected of a crime. “Only criminals carry large quantities of cash”.
  - astrange 7y ago
    It's pretty easy to become a suspect for walking while black, smelling like marijuana, resisting arrest, driving suspiciously, having a dog respond to you…
- perl4ever 7y ago
  Has anyone ever just withdrawn cash from their bank account that was obviously from a legitimate source and had it seized by police and not been able to get it back? Because the way people talk about civil forfeiture is as though this happens all the time, but ostensibly there's not supposed to be a problem if the cash is traceable. Stories about civil forfeiture abuses that I've read don't delve into whether the victim actually was able to prove the source of the money in a normal way.

Razengan 7y ago

...How is this not practically tyranny? People here show concern over digital privacy and net neutrality etcetera but that's just tightening the noose, because apparently they've already put one on the bare basics.