structuring

Every reporting threshold in the financial system is a line drawn by a regulator: cash transactions above ten thousand, structured deposits below it, cash-equivalent purchases under ten. The system's design assumption is that honest people conduct business above the line and nobody has a reason...

A money order is cash pretending to be paper - bought at a counter, filled by hand, deposited like a check without ever touching a bank's routing imagination. Face limits, fill mechanics, deposit windows, serial-number exposure and a ten-day $900 walkthrough: the MO pipeline is hidden below.