FBAR Max account value?

I've reported my tax return for the first time this year as my income was below threshold in previous years. Now I'm filing this FBAR for the first time and I don't really see the use of it, unless I'm doing it wrong.

To me the maximum account value you have to report for each account is a bit meaningless. If I had 10 accounts and only one had $10k and the rest null, if I transferred this $10k from one account to the next ten times within a year, I would have to report each one of these ten accounts having a max value of $10k. The actual aggregate value of my accounts is $10k but based on the information I report it could as well be $100k. If I'm correct about this then what is the purpose of reporting any numbers when anyone can look like a multi-millionaire by simply having many accounts and transferring between them?

This is not meaningless. It is how the law is written. Your position is identical to everyone else. It is no surprise to FinCEN and will in due course enable good matching with FATCA reporting by FFIs.

I've reported my tax return for the first time this year as my income was below threshold in previous years. Now I'm filing this FBAR for the first time and I don't really see the use of it, unless I'm doing it wrong.

To me the maximum account value you have to report for each account is a bit meaningless. If I had 10 accounts and only one had $10k and the rest null, if I transferred this $10k from one account to the next ten times within a year, I would have to report each one of these ten accounts having a max value of $10k. The actual aggregate value of my accounts is $10k but based on the information I report it could as well be $100k. If I'm correct about this then what is the purpose of reporting any numbers when anyone can look like a multi-millionaire by simply having many accounts and transferring between them?

It does sound strange but that is exactly how it works. A few years ago my wife had an inheritance that went into our checking account and was immediately transferred to our savings account.  Both accounts were reported at their maximum value but the total of all accounts at any one time or at year end was below the threshold for IRS 8938 reporting.

Thank you for confirming this for me. Even though this is how the law is written in my opinion it could be written better because this way it seems like it is exposing US persons to higher FBAR fines for no reason.

http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2011/12/19/the-term-aggregate-in-irs-speak-is-a-fraud-perpetuated-on-us-persons/