Too Much Privacy: Finnish Police Want Big Euro Notes Taken Out of Circulation

jones_supa writes The Finnish Police are concerned that larger banknotes, namely the €200 and €500 banknotes, encourage criminal activity and should therefore be removed from Finnish cash circulation. Markku Ranta-aho, head of the Money Laundering Clearing House of Finland, says criminals prefer cash because it is harder for police to track. In contrast, a record of electronic money transfers remains in the banking system, which makes the police's job considerably easier. Ranta-aho also says citizens rarely use the larger banknotes anyway, with which The Bank of Finland's advisor Kari Takala agrees. However, The Bank of Finland is skeptical about the ability of a ban on €500 banknotes to eliminate underground labor and trade in Finland. Takala suggests criminals would just switch to smaller bills. More illegal transactions take place via bank transfers, he says.

Comments

Re: if you ban cash

[Anonymous Coward]

"You got the stuff?"
Yeah.
"You got the money?"
Yeah. My trunk is full of unmarked quarters.

Great.

[Anonymous Coward]

When you start banning things just to make the job of police easier, you know that your government has at least a few problems with freedom. If freedom means that police have a harder job, then so be it.

USA 1969

[musterion]

And just why do think the Federal reserve retired anything abouve $100 on July 14, 1969?

Re:USA 1969

[bill_mcgonigle]

Only if you believe BLS numbers. Their latest "basket" offsets the inflationary impact of wheat doubling and heating fuel and beef quadrupling by counting in the rapid fall in prices of flat-screen TV's.

That's not how inflation was measured in 1969, but it's better for the politicians this way.

Re:To their defense

[Anonymous Coward]

As a normal person I don't use Raspberry Pi boards or metal lathes, either. There's no reason anybody should be allowed to have those, either.

Re:To their defense

[Sique]

I use the 100 EUR bill all the time. My average weekend shopping tops 100 EUR easily (we are a family of four), and then paying with the 100 EUR bill and additional cash just makes sense. And yes, I prefer paying cash. Maybe you are the exception?

Re:if you ban cash

[fustakrakich]

The big crooks are the ones making the rules.

Re:Not only in Finland.

[PPH]

Not a problem. We've switched our organized crime over to using mortgage and insurance backed securities.

Re:Not only in Finland.

[kilfarsnar]

Not only in Finland! I've heard that in the United States aswell the police is very proactive about taking notes out of circulation.

Civil forfeiture has got to be the biggest truckload of bullshit I have heard in a while. So now the state can just take my money because of what they think I might do with it? How can we be expected to respect law enforcement when they pull crap like that?

Re:Not only in Finland.

[mythosaz]

Oh man, I hope I'm there when you call the police, so when the police and the store laugh at you, I can join in.

http://www.treasury.gov/resour...

This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

Hilarious indeed.