Several state governments ignored informal remitters altogether, while others with large immigrant communities made half-hearted and clumsy attempts at regulation.
Yet unless the remitters became embroiled in a serious crime, often involving drug money, Western lawmakers largely ignored them, focusing instead on trying to dam the river of dirty money that flowed through traditional banking channels--chiefly through the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act, and later its amendments, which required banks to file reports of suspicious activity and high-dollar transactions, and to maintain information about account holders' identities.