Spain’s tax agency, Hacienda, has confirmed it will fine individuals who deposit or withdraw cash without proper declaration and will suspend bank accounts and credit cards for certain taxpayers with outstanding fiscal debts. The measures, reported by El Cronista, form part of a broader enforcement strategy against tax evasion and money laundering.

Banks are now obliged to report any cash deposit or withdrawal exceeding €3,000, as well as any transaction involving €500 banknotes regardless of the amount. The reporting itself does not render a transaction illegal, but it can trigger a request to justify the origin of the funds. For movements of cash within Spain exceeding €100,000, individuals must file a Form S1 declaration; failure to do so can result in a fine of up to 150 percent of the undeclared sum. Entering or leaving the country with €10,000 or more in cash also requires a mandatory declaration, even within the European Union.

In a separate but concurrent enforcement action, Hacienda is moving to suspend access to bank accounts and credit cards for taxpayers listed on its official register of large debtors. According to El Cronista, this list is published annually and includes individuals and companies with confirmed tax debts exceeding €600,000 that have not been paid or placed on a payment plan. A new criterion also allows for the inclusion of repeat offenders who have ignored multiple administrative requests, even if their individual debt is lower. The suspension, executed under Article 162 of the General Tax Law, involves a temporary immobilisation of accounts and cards to prevent the disposal of funds before a formal collection procedure is executed.

Viewed from Latin America, separate reports detail distinct fraud schemes targeting bank customers. In Brazil, the television programme Fantástico obtained videos revealing how criminal groups operate fake bank call centres to deceive victims into making transfers, with one case in Cascavel resulting in a loss of approximately R$600,000. In Mexico City, authorities arrested six individuals in connection with an alleged Ponzi scheme operated by Strategic Capital Agency, known commercially as Inverforx, which reportedly defrauded 410 victims of approximately 700 million pesos by promising returns of between 10 and 90 percent. Investigations into that case remain ongoing, with four international red notices issued for other suspects.