Bank Check Fraud Protection

By Arman Forbes


Modern day banking and checking is very safe, nevertheless, there are a few things to be mindful about. Whenever money is concerned, there will be those operating from the dark side who desire to relieve you from your wealth. A few safeguards and observations can prevent the onset of financial pain cause by those with evil intent.

With gold, silver, jewels, wampum and other physical hard money the only alternative was using false weights and measures or outright stealing. But with the onset of paper money and electronic record keeping, these fallen souls and thieves could resort to other methods to steal your money.

The process by which a check travels through the banking system can give one an indication of how criminals look to defraud the unwary prospect. When a Check is issued and deposited, the bank sends it immediately to a clearing house that makes certain that funds are available to cover the amount of the check.

Forging checks is a common type fraud among the criminal. They sign the check in a way that looks like your signature and proceed to cash the check. They then disappear with our money. Making sure you keep your checks in a safe place goes a long way to preventing this type of fraud.

Sometimes they steal a check from a mailbox or other unguarded location. The stolen check may be signed by someone other than the person it was intended for. The fraudster, if not caught, disappears.

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

Thieves and con artists are technologically resourceful and may resort to gaining access to security print paper as well as a good printer. With a good graphics program a fraudster can copy check numbers and other features they want to fake.

Altered checks are genuine checks with a twist. The intended recipient can be altered or the account number details altered so a con artist can reap the benefit using acetone or some other type chemicals.

Prevention of check fraud is best done by looking over your account information monthly for anything that looks suspicious. Simply looking over your order personal checks online is the best safely net.




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