Structuring
Breaking cash transactions into smaller sums, including amounts at or below $10,000, in order to avoid a bank's currency reporting. US rules prohibit it in itself.
US banking rules require financial institutions to file reports of cash transactions exceeding $10,000 in a day, and to report suspicious activity, according to FinCEN’s summary of the Bank Secrecy Act. Structuring is the attempt to slip under that line.
The regulation defines it broadly. A person structures a transaction if they conduct, or try to conduct, one or more currency transactions in any amount, at one or more financial institutions, on one or more days, in any manner, for the purpose of evading the reporting requirements. The text says that includes breaking one sum over $10,000 into smaller sums, and that the transactions do not need to exceed $10,000 at any single institution on any single day to count. A separate regulation, 31 CFR 1010.314, says no person shall structure or assist in structuring a transaction for that purpose.
For someone being recruited into a scheme, the practical lesson is this: if you are told to split cash into smaller deposits or withdrawals so that a bank does not notice, the instruction describes the very behaviour the rule prohibits. It is a warning sign that someone wants the money moved without a record.
Where it shows up
- Money mule recruitment · The job pays you first, with money stolen from someone else, and your name on the account when it gets traced.
- Bitcoin ATM and crypto kiosk scams · Cash into a machine in a petrol station, gone before you have driven home.
Sources
- 31 CFR 1010.100 and 1010.314 (Structure and Structured transactions). Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (US Government Publishing Office). Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The regulatory definition of structuring and the prohibition on it.
- The Bank Secrecy Act. US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: That regulations require reports of cash transactions exceeding $10,000 (daily aggregate) and reports of suspicious activity.