 |
BIFRANCHISE
| Joined: | 2009-02-16 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 1281 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Check fraud is one of the largest challenges facing businesses and financial institutions today. With the advancement of computer technology it increasingly easy for criminals, either independently or in organized gangs, to manipulate checks in such a way as to deceive innocent victims expecting value in exchange for their money.
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. Victims include financial institutions, businesses who accept and issue checks, and the consumer. In most cases, these crimes begin with the theft of a financial document. It can be perpetrated as easily as someone stealing a blank check from your home or vehicle during a burglary, searching for a canceled or old check in the garbage, or removing a check you have mailed to pay a bill from the mailbox.
more: ckfraud.org/ckfraud.html |
|
|
Back To Top
|
BIFRANCHISE
| Joined: | 2009-02-16 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 1281 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Check fraud is one of the fastest-growing problems affecting the international financial system. With increased sophistication in laser printers, more accurate color copiers and desktop publishing capabilities, duplicating and forging checks has become more accurate and thus more difficult to detect. Another factor in the rising fraud rate is greater participation in crimes by employees. There are several check fraud schemes, such as:
1. Paperhanger – an individual asking for a cash-back from the purchase of an item at the mercantile establishment when paying by the check. In some cases, the checks being used are counterfeit; in other cases the checks are purposefully being written on a closed account. A variation of this scam is making a fraudulent deposit at a bank and asking for cash back. Women with crying children are often quite good as paperhangers.
2. Stop Payment Orders – purchasing an expensive item with a check and then notifying the bank to stop payment or purchasing the item and notifying the bank to stop payment, than going back to the store, wishing to return the item and receive a full refund. If the merchant refunds the amount in cash, then the scheme is successful.
3. Check Kiting – opening multiple bank accounts “depositing” money from account to account, although the money never exists. Floating (additional value of funds generated in the process of collection and arises because the current holder of funds has been given credit for the funds before it clears the financial institution upon which it is drawn) makes check kiting possible.
4. Travelers’ Checks – making a small purchase using a fake $100 travelers’ check and receiving the bulk of the amount back in cash.
5. Payroll Check Fraud – printing duplicate payroll checks which are later sold to third parties or are cashed by members of the organized crime syndicates.
6. Dumpster Diving – rummaging through garbage cans looking for anything that might contain personal information such as:
a. Pre-approved credit card offers - Millions of consumers receive those pre-approved credit card offers every month. Many just discard these applications without shredding them. If an identity theft comes across one while dumpster diving they could complete the application and attempt to have the card sent to them at another address.
b. Bank Statements - If a thief comes across a discarded bank statement they now have your account numbers. They may try to impersonate you and have your address changed at your bank or create bogus checks with your account number.
c. Checks - If you discard voided checks or copies of checks, the thief could easily create duplicate bogus checks. Many computers programs and printing equipment out there make this procedure simple.
7. Scanning – manufacturing checks by scanning a corporate logo from a business card onto a simple business size check.
8. System Password Security Compromised – having legitimate access to sensitive account and daily code information and effecting improper transfers through unauthorized access.
Check Fraud Detection
Usually, fraudulent check passers use the following common techniques:
• Attempting to open an account with a corporate check or other third-party check
• Trying to flatter, hurry, or confuse the teller to draw attention away from the transaction
• Delaying endorsing a check or producing identification during peak hours to frustrate the teller and hurry the transaction
• Presenting for cash a low-numbered check drawn on a new account
• Offering foreign documentation (birth certificate, passport, visa) or non-photo identification (credit card) in lieu of photo identification to open an account or cash a check
• Using altered or damaged identification to open an account or cash a check
• Cashing or converting several small checks into wire transfer, gold, or other tender
• Requesting an exception to established rules to force the transaction
|
|
Back To Top
|
|
|
|
