Sunday, July 7, 2013

Reorder Checks Safely - Beware Of Bank Check Fraud

By Josh Golden


The lure of easy dishonest money is temptation for many a criminal. Illicit gain has attracted thieves into the financial arena. Dishonest fraudsters are easily prevented by employing ordinary security measures.

The axiom, prevention is better than cure, is a good tactic to employ. Vigilance helps.

With the advent of paper money and financial institutions, bank check fraud became the number one money transaction crime. One needs to be aware of a few situations.

Consider that when a bank check written to someone, they deposit it in a bank. The bank then sends it to a clearinghouse whereas the clearing house determines if there are sufficient funds to cover the transaction. With this knowledge, the bank is assured that funds are available and deposits the money in that persons account.

For instance, consider home thefts and in store thefts. Studies support that most thefts are done by individuals working for and friends of the company. 80% of thefts are in house and equally divided between employees and delivery persons, so-called friends of the company. All research studies support these general conclusions.

The most common fraud is check forgery. The con artist will steal a blank check or make their entirely own check using your account number codes and sign the bank check with a likeness of your signature and make it look like you are issuing the check. He/she then cashes it and disappears with the ill-gotten loot.

Criteria for bank check security is the hallmark of the American National Standards Institute's (ANSI). It is accepted and adhered to by all financial institutions. One security feature is that small micro-print is employed that makes photocopying unfeasible. The print breaks up and is easily spotted.

American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) has created specific criteria for bank check printing which is the adhered to same standards followed by all accepted financial institutions. The MP icon, indicating that micro-security print is used in the design of the check. One of these security features used is that the very small print if photocopied will visually break up and can be identified and detected. Erasures and alterations smudge and are detectable as well.

Another ploy is to alter the bank check by changing the details. The criminal takes a good check and uses chemicals such as acetone or brake fluid or other means to erase the payee information and/or the amount.

Check altering is commonly done by changing the payee name or the amount of the bank check. Using acetone, bleach or other chemicals, the con artist take a good check and changes the information to his benefit.

Routinely check over your check supply. If necessary, reorder checks early as a preventative.

Left unchecked, fraud can damage you business or personal finances. Prevention is better than cure




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2 comments:

  1. A significant amount of check fraud is due to counterfeiting through desktop publishing and copying to create or duplicate an actual financial document, as well as chemical alteration, which consists of removing some or all of the information and manipulating it to the benefit of the criminal.
    reorder checks

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  2. Very informative article.Thanks for sharing.I got to know the information about these checks after reading this article.It is very easy to understood.Read More

    ReplyDelete