Banks absolutely do have this ability and I would guess SARs from banks are what led to the Secret Service eventually uncovering this elaborate scheme. Though I

Banks absolutely do have this ability and I would guess SARs from banks are what led to the Secret Service eventually uncovering this elaborate scheme. Though I imagine more SARs would have come from the outgoing transfers (from the mules’ accounts to the criminals) than from the suspicious unemployment deposits. Generally government money is considered “clean” but if a mule suddenly started receiving more money than usual it would be investigated regardless of the source.