Dollars For Dollars -- What's The Risk?

[tqtqtq]

I am still a newbie at this money changing thing. Hypothetical. Say I find someone with a quantity of dollars in Argentina and a US bank account. What are the risks associated with transferring dollars from my account in the States to his in exchange for a physical hand over of his dollars to me here? Would counterfeit dollars be the only problem? Advice? Caveats? Thanks.

 

[Splitty]

Hypothetically it is quite common

 

[Rich One]

what is the commission? Depends on the level of trust with the exchange place!

 

[tqtqtq]

Hypothetically this would be a private party, friend of a friend. No commission since the deal would be mutually beneficial. I am having trouble seeing the down side.

 

[tqtqtq]

Haven't heard that there is a problem with counterfeit dollars here. Anyone had trouble with faker dollars?

 

[nlaruccia]

There are a lot of fake dollars here. You can buy a marker in a paper supply store to mark the dollar bills to make sure they're real or you can buy one of those blue light machines.

 

[HenryNisental]

IF YOUR FRIEND COULD OPEN A DOLLAR ACCOUNT HERE AT A LOCAL BANK, HE COULD WITHDRAW US DOLLARS FROM THE CASHIER IN FRONT OF YOU.
IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY THAT THOSE ARE FAKE (BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE)
THEN YOU CAN GIVE HIM A CHECK OF YOUR US BANK.

 

[nlaruccia]

But what would you do with the check from the US bank? It can't be cashed here. You would have to transfer your money from your US account to his or her US account which can take several days and hope, that once it shows up in that account, that he or she will give you the dollars you transferred. A lot of expats living here have the same problem.

 

[Rich One]

IF YOUR FRIEND COULD OPEN A DOLLAR ACCOUNT HERE AT A LOCAL BANK, HE COULD WITHDRAW US DOLLARS FROM THE CASHIER IN FRONT OF YOU.
IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY THAT THOSE ARE FAKE (BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE)
THEN YOU CAN GIVE HIM A CHECK OF YOUR US BANK.

That puts the shoe on the other foot, your friend must be willing to accept a rubber? check!!!

 

[Iznogud]

You can trade checks from the US here in pesos or dollars. A bunch of "financieras" do that. They then sell those checks to ppl trying to get their money out of the country.