ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Here's How To Prevent Check Fraud

Updated on December 13, 2021
Source

Top Thee Forms Of Check Fraud

Victims of check fraud experience their checking accounts being totally wiped out and in many cases their credit is affected. It is considered the most damaging form of identity theft and is at the top of the list of complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. Avoid being a victim of fake check scams to steal your money. Read this and understand how these scams work. Always remember that you are responsible for the checks that you deposit in your bank accounts.

The top three forms of check fraud with legitimate checks:

1. Altered Information: such as the amount or the payee information

2.The endorsement forged: a check that is endorsed and cashed or deposited by someone other than the designated payee

3.The signature is forged: a check that is forged with the account holder's signature



Source

Here's How To Prevent Check Fraud

Do not sign checks until you're ready to cash or deposit in your account. If you need to write a check for cash, wait until you get to the bank to do so. When writing a check, use a gel pen and keep it with your check book. The reason for this, gel ink has tiny particles of color that penetrates into the check making it harder for check washing. Ball point pens are dye based and the pigments are dissolved in the ink, therefore a thief can wash the ink off and alter the check.

When ordering checks, limit the personal information on the checks. Do not add social security numbers, phone numbers and drivers license numbers. This is all the information a thief needs to open any type of account. Also add security features that help combat counterfeiting.

Criminals today are skilled thanks to computers, scanners and color photo copiers and they can defraud you by using a blank check stolen from your check book, statements or cancelled checks thrown in the garbage.

The annual losses due to check fraud is estimated in the billions and study rising. Criminals continue to seek ways to earn a living by defrauding others.

Many Fall Victim Of Fake Check Scams

There are many variations of the fake check scam.The checks are fake but they look real. The scam is for you to wire money after you’ve deposited a check sent to you.

If you’re selling something, the scam is to pay you by having someone in the U.S. who owes them money to send you a check. It will be for more than the sale price, you of course deposit the check and keep what you’re owed to you and wire the rest to them.

Then there is the work-at-home scheme, the scam on this one is that you’ll be processing checks from their clients. You deposit the checks and then wire them the money minus your pay or they may send you a check for more than your pay by mistake and ask you to wire them the excess.

The sweepstakes and foreign money offer variations of the scam, they tell you to wire them money for legal fees, taxes, customs, bonding, processing, or other expenses that must be paid before you can get the rest of the money.

Then there's the ad scam where the scammer place their own ads with phone numbers or email addresses for people to contact them and they call or send emails or faxes to people randomly, knowing that some will take the bait.

There is The scammers say it’s too difficult and complicated to send you the money directly from their country, so they’ll arrange for someone in the U.S. to send you a check. Fake check scammers hunt for victims but you are responsible for the checks you deposit. The checks are fake but they look real.

Use Uniball Gel Pens

The uni super ink, helps to prevent check fraud. These pens are acid free, fade and water resistant. The most important feature is, it is resistant to chemicals that wash dye based inks from checks. The ink formula used to create the gel pen contains pigment that bonds to paper. It actually sink into the paper fibers making the information on the check impossible to wash off.

Source

The Number One Techniques Criminals Use

Check washing is when the criminal uses a chemical to erase the ink from a check. Acetone is most widely used because it will remove most inks without a noticeable effect. That's why it is important to use a gel pen. Some of the other chemicals used are, bleach, high powered erasers, clear correction fluids, fox it, benzene, carbon tetrachloride and chloromice T.

Please Rate Before You Leave

Cast your vote for Here's How To Prevent Check Fraud
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)