Source: Civil Liberties Digest
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=0387c0def57e1cc42daf809c7b23216b
On July 2, 2003 the Civil Liberties Digest reported that "American financial institutions are using extreme interpretations of the U.S.A. Patriot Act to justify blacklisting Muslim account holders, reports An-Nahar, an Arabic weekly based in Southern California in its recent issue ending July 2... According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, Muslims are complaining that some of the biggest banks and credit agencies in the United States, such as American Express, HSBC, Fleet Bank, and Western Union, are canceling accounts and making intrusive demands for private information... Many of the cancellations seem to be inspired by the similarity of the account holder’s name to names that appear on a Treasury Department list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Individuals (SDN). In one high-profile case in early 2003, Western Union denied service and a refund to a Muslim African-American from New York unless he provided photo identification and information about his country of birth."