Reported by: Mack DeGeurin

If you’ve sent a money transfer over $500 to another person in recent years, there’s a decent chance U.S. law enforcement agencies could know about it. That’s according to new documents unearthed by The American Civil Liberties Union and The Wall Street Journal that show more than 600 law enforcement agencies reportedly had access to a database that includes more than 150 million transfer records for Americans and people from more than 20 different countries. Officers were reportedly able to access those records, which include the full names of senders and recipients, without a warrant. In a statement sent to Gizmodo, the ACLU described the previously undisclosed monitoring system as, “One of the largest government surveillance programs in recent memory.” 

Law enforcement agencies, from small-time local police departments to some of the largest federal policing agencies, accessed the records from a shadowy database housed in Arizona. Ostensibly, those records would help law enforcement collect evidence of fraud, money, laundering and other crime. Critics, however, say the program vastly overstepped its reach and potentially puts at risk immigrant and low-income communities mostly likely to use money transfer systems. Continue reading for some of the biggest takeaways of the report. 

The database in question reportedly includes money transfer traction records of more than 150 million people in the U.S. as well as records of individuals in more than 20 countries. The transfers reportedly include full names of the sender and recipient and each transaction amount. Money transfers like these are used for a variety of purposes and are often used by unbanked people to send funds abroad. 

Crucially, the database isn’t just a long list of names and records. Law enforcement agents are reportedly able to search through the database using a variety of keywords to search for trends. In one internal slideshow viewed by The Journal, for example, an investigator demonstrated how officers could sift through the database using demographic keywords like, “Middle Eastern/Arabic names.” 

Critics of the database say immigrant communities and low income individuals are more likely to use money transfer services, which in turn means they are potentially the most at risk if law enforcement misuses the system. The ACLU says it was able to trace at least three criminal prosecutions back to the database but claims the real figure is likely much higher.

Read full report: https://gizmodo.com/money-transfer-surveillance-aclu-1850006859/slides/3