Sometimes truth is much stranger than fiction. On Monday, the New York Post, citing a report at KTVU, reported that a man’s payment was placed on hold because someone confused a dog’s name with terrorists.
The Post reported:
The Department of Treasury flagged a California man’s bank account — because his dog’s name, Dash, was similar to a term used for ISIS in the Islamic world, Daesh.
The alarm bells went off after Bruce Francis, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, put “for Dash” in the memo line of his monthly payment to his dog walker.
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“The dog walker comes to me and says, ‘I haven’t gotten your check,’” Francis said. “I looked in my Chase account and there was a message saying, ‘Please explain what ‘for Dash’ means.’”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, run by the Treasury, confirmed the mix-up and apparently thought the dog’s name was a reference to “Daesh,” another name for ISIS.
“I thought to myself, ‘Great, they’re stopping the world’s stupidest terrorist,” Francis said.
Financial institutions are required by law to report suspicious transactions, but some, like Edward Hasbrouck, who represents a civil liberties group called the Identity Project, are concerned about over-reach.
“What happens is that the government requires the banks to become in effect, outsourced spies for the government,” he told KTVU.
Nevertheless, Francis says he’s okay with what happened.
“I think anything we can do to stop the terrorists and the funding of terrorists, let’s do it. And if it means an inconvenience to me and my dog walker then that’s a price I’m totally willing to pay,” he said.
Here’s a video report of the incident:
Related:
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- Obama finds time to lead delegation at opening of largest mosque in the US
- Police trash man’s home, take all electronic gear over alleged ‘anti-Islam’ tweet
- Donald Trump calls for ‘total and complete’ end of Muslim immigration to U.S.
- Calls to deport Muslims, restrict Islam grow in wake of Paris attacks
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