Moving Money "Quietly"

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The obvious answer is cash - high denomination
notes, but remember, banks in the U.K. and Europe
are under an obligation to inform the authorities
of transactions in or out of an account of more
than œ10,000. (try several transactions of
smaller amounts over a period of time?). If
moving cash on your person, avoid a wallet - the
mugger's friend; cash, credit cards, home address
in one neat package. Keep it on you in a zipped
or secure pocket. Don't wear expensive watches,
jewellry; look ordinary. The reason for this
report, though, is to look at other non cash
methods that do not leave a paper-trail back to
you.

MONEY ORDERS: Walk into your nearest American
Express office, same as with cashiers cheques,
and purchase a money order, then mail it to
whoever or wherever you need to pay off. You do
not need to show ID and the money order is made
out on the spot. These money orders are
available at a nominal charge in just about any
country and are accepted for clearance by banks
anywhere. They are also insured against loss if
you keep the carbon copy. You will be asked for a
name to be put on the money order when you buy
it, but no ID is required.

INSTANT TRANSFERS: Western Union and Thomas Cook
offer similar money transfers. How long it takes
depends on how much you wish to pay. Western
Union is located in all EU capitals and is busy
signing up banks and businesses in the provinces.
Its charges are steep but head offices are open
24 hours a day. You need one person paying cash
in one end and another to collect at the other
end.

POSTAL MONEY ORDERS: In the UK a postal Giro
account holder can usually be supplied with
International Giros, cashable throughout Europe
by going to a Post Office at your destination and
cashing the Giro. Enquire at your post office
about British postal orders - can they be paid
into a foreign bank account after conversion
charges? They are available just by paying over
cash at a post office, with no identity required.
The highest postal order value is œ50.

TRAVELLERS CHEQUES: Thomas Cook is not
recommended as they charge 1% commission to cash
their own cheques and both Cook and Amex give
exchange rates worse than banks. Ordinary
travellers cheques can be purchased by anyone
walking in off the street. Only when cashing them
do you need to show ID. If you want someone else
to cash them the other end, make sure their name
is put on the cheque(s) this end. Is it possible
to pay travellers cheques into a bank (ie
offshore account) - enquire: if it is, ensure the
name put on them will tally with whatever name
the offshore account is held in.


BEARER BONDS: The type of financial instument
dealt with by banks and stockbrokers. As the name
suggests, the value of the bond is payable to
whoever is bearing it, with no ownership details
written on it (so don't loose them). This might
be a good idea if the amount in question is what
we can only call "serious money". Some bearer
bonds could have a face value of œ100,000, so
that with just 10 of these bond certificates you
could be carrying œ1,000,000, but not in cash
which if restrictions apply at boarder crossings
would be a problem (and the very large suitcase
full of banknotes).

Remember that no central register exists for
bonds, so that you could just buy stolen bonds,
and end up kissing your money goodbye. The same
would apply if you bought bonds that had been
cancelled but never quite made it to the
incinerator. You would need to purchase from a
major bank or broker who then guarantee the
bond's worth.

Cash is great but bulky but it can start to take
up a lot of space. œ1,000,000 (chance would be a
fine thing) would equal 2,500 Swiss 1,000 Franc
notes; 18,500 US 100 dollar notes; 20,000 œ50
notes. If you transport cash, strictly on your
person you could manage 600 to 1,000 notes
strapped to your legs and in a money belt, but
after that you have to carry it in some sort of
container.

What about gold? Down the ages this has been a
favourite commodity, but first make sure there
are no retrictions to wherever you intend to take
it and turn it back into cash, and the second is
weight. With regard to the above, after a while,
depending on the actual amount of cash value you
might wish to move, even a body builder is going
to have problems.

There is a little story about someone moving a
million dollars of gold from New York to Zurich,
Switzerland some years ago. In those days there
were no reporting requirements for gold, and
likewise, the Swiss customs would not care if you
were importing 20 tons of the stuff into
Switzerland. The trunk containing the gold broke
the axle of the heavy duty baggage cart at Zurich
and took three porters to lift it. Now that we
have anti-terrosist precautions at our airports,
try getting through the scanners with just a
modest amount of gold, let alone a trunk full.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend - they would be
your friend , too, if you had to carry them any
distance. The question is how much are you likely
to loose on the transaction in buying them and
then selling them on reaching your destination,
and just how much cash are you hoping to move?
Works of art assuming no export restrictions
apply would do; valuable stamps better still.