Bitcoin Forum

I have a need to be anonymous, and make a anonymous purchase. The business accepts bitcoin.

From my question, it will be obvious I'm in america.

I see I can buy bitcoins via a deposit at a Bank of America branch, or other banks now as well. My problem is this. The last time I cashed a check at a megabank without a account there, that was written from their bank, they recorded a thumbprint.

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Furthermore, this is a po-dunk town. The twelve year old twits they call employees would talk all day about that customer that made the "special" deposit. Especially if they had a clue what bitcoin was. I know it's illegal, I know its against bank policy, but I still call bullshit. People talk. You would not believe the medical information I have heard people talk about, HIPPA be damned. Do not for a minute think your banking information is any more private. It isn't.

But I would like the convienence of just making a deposit. The postal service has burned me before, I don't trust mail. And when you mail a money order, you wait. And hopefully get lucky and see a deposit.

Do any of you know the policy of Bank of America deposits to the bitcoin exchanges? Do they take a thumbprint? Do they demand photo ID?

And shame on this forum for blocking TOR. I'm trying to be MORE anonymous, not less.

Anon

Forum block TOR?  This is first i've heard of it.  You may want to try clicking the "change identity" button.  Its possible some IPs there have been blacklisted b/c of bad behaviour.

1) It isn't like the account is labeled "John WARNING THESE DEPOSITS USED FOR ILLEGAL BITCOINS. POSSIBLE TERRORIST. Smith.  It is just an account like any other account.  It has an account number you put that on the deposit slip.  You hand the deposit slip and cash to teller they give you a receipt.

2) The services which accept deposits from banks accept cash only.  Period.  No bank on the planet requires a fingerprint to deposit cash.  

3) For all the teller knows it is your account.  

I'm pretty sure you don't get ID'd for making deposits.  I've deposited cash into someone else's checking account at a Chase bank without being asked for ID/thumbprint.

What is Bank of America's attitude towards bitcoin? Are they in favor of it? I am assuming no, since it most likely goes against the banking system in being decentralized. If this is true, it seems they would try to get rid of bitcoin in the long run perhaps?

I haven't seen anything from them that implies an opinion one way or another. My guess is that they don't care as long as they get their cut of whatever transaction is happening. I wonder why all these large organizations are fighting BTC instead of getting on the bandwagon too? They will eventually fail. BTC isn't going to go away and they are just screwing themselves out of potential revenue.

I believe this is pretty much the case, but possibly at the higher-management level they are trying to stop Bitcoin transactions. I don't think banks care very much about this though, and most probably just think Bitcoins are some sort of scam/fad that will go away. I agree with QuickBitcoins that they should jump on the bandwagon rather than fighting it :)

I made a delivery of barn wood the end of last week to Indiana and purchased wood to bring back to Illinois. The client I sold to, cut me a check for $5K drawn from BoA. I had ample cash on me to complete my intended purchase, but opt to cash the check at BoA, opposed to bringing it back to Illinois and depositing it into my account (different bank). I was not able to cash the full amount. I received $2,500 in cash and a cashiers check for the other half. I asked the manager why, and her reply shocked me. First, I didn't have an account with BoA. Understandable. Second, and you're not going to believe this, she told me they didn't have enough funds on hand to cash such a large check. In fact, she said that if I did have an account at BoA, I would have had to call in a couple days prior to inform them that I was bringing in such a big check so that they would have the funds readily available (paraphrased!). This was on a Friday when people normally get their paychecks and cash them and I was at the bank well before noon. I've thought about that incident the whole trip back home, with the intention of relaying that event to this community. I recon this thread is as good as any.

~Bruno~

Reminds me of all the videos I have watched that opened my eyes to the reality of fractional reserve banking, and the ultimate conclusion that debt creates "money".  The videos go over how banks are just there to create debt, which in turn just adds virtual zeros to the total (virtual) money supply.  I know this isn't news to you, but man it's just a hilarious joke they are playing on us, isn't it?  It almost doesn't surprise me that you asked a bank for money, and they literally didn't have any.

If banks create debt, which creates money, then when I deposit money into the bank does the cash turn into virtual money?  :o

Yes, cash you deposit turns into what you call virtual money.  But honestly, what's the big deal?  Fractional reserve banking allows the market to change the money supply, allowing supply to meet demand.  Surely that's a good thing.

anon: Have you considered moneypak?

Sure, unless everyone demands their money at the same time. Then the supply side kinda falls flat on its face. ::)

Exactly.  But if you want to take out a loan for a $20,000 car, magically they can make that happen without a problem.  Or say you want to buy a $750,000 home - hey no problem, here you go!  They just make fake money appear in the system.  The videos that show how that work made my jaw drop.

Another bank story that happened, and still is happening, here in Sandwich, IL.

A new bank just opened up here in Sandwich, and just in time for we only had over half a dozen to serve a population of approximately 7,500. My nephew informed my sister and I that the new bank is offering a promotion. Deposit $50 and get $150 bonus. We informed him that there are probably catches as to how that extra $150 is going to be doled out and that chances are he won't qualify. Needless to say, he didn't heed our advice and proceeded to go to some local money-bags for a $50 street loan. It seems that Mr. Money-Bags, having deep pockets, was ahead of the curve on this promotion and backed Several (with a capital S) people to take advantage of this. My nephew informed us that he did it and would be able to withdraw the money in a couple days, enabling him to give Mr. Money-Bags his cut (50/50). We laughed at him, so he went on his way. BTW, this all started last Monday. Needless to say, my nephew came back to report to us that we were...wait for it...wrong. He got all the money (showed us proof) sans $5 that had to be kept in the account. My nephew, being a responsible individual (notice we didn't seed his endeavor), used his newly found wealth to...wait for it again...buy drugs. Needless to say, again, Mr. Money-Bags is still waiting for his cut (includes seed monies) from Several (still with a capital S and growing) reliable clients of his. My nephew informed us that he looked for Mr. Money-Bags but couldn't find him, hence now owing him the money. He wants Uncle Bruno to help pay off Mr. Money-Bags of which I believe would be the nice thing to do. I told him that I will get my friends at BitcoinTalk to donate to a vanity Bitcoin address and that he'll have the $100 in a couple days. That said, please donate whatever you can to help my nephew repay the local drug dealer Mr. Money-Bags back $100 by using the following address: 1GoFuckYourselfJohnJohn (real first name at end of address).

Now somebody explain to me how the bank was able to do this promotion knowing, or without knowing, that 50+ (a pretty good guess) druggies would take advantage of their promotion. Is it possible that the bank is in cahoots with some law enforcement agency, thus providing them with names of people who took advantage of this promotion? That would be ingenious, paying only $150 per name of unscrupulous individuals.

Thoughts?

~Bruno~

I don't know what to say about your drug addicted nephew, but HEY, how are the sandwiches in Sandwich, IL?  I love sandwiches!

I'm sure the bank will lose out on a whole lot more money than they gain, being that they don't exactly know who is a "suspected" drug dealer. It would take weeks and weeks of investigation to just bust a SINGLE drug dealer. This drug dealer is probably just an ordinary man who sells drugs to generate income. The government could be spending this time and money to locate the source of where the drugs are coming from, rather than busting a petty dealer.

They do those promotions so they can say "look how many customers our bank has grown by in the last year!"  Not so they can catch people buying drugs...  LE doesn't care about people buying drugs.  They care about people selling large quantities.

Yeah, what Red Emerald said.

Bitcoins aren't illegal to buy. Go into Bank of America and give them your thumb print (never heard of a bank doing this). When you get your bitcoins, you can wash them using ewallet services so that you will receive different bitcoins to the ones you purchased, this way the paper trail is lost and, as long as your careful, you can spend the bitcoins without it being possible for them to be linked back to you.

Check out this guide for more information on how to stay anonymous:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Anonymity