Check Forgery

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I don’t think this rumination is really worthy of the other forums. Mods, do as you will.

Mid-month, my bank informed me that my account had “reached rock bottom, and had begun to dig.” That is, I was carrying an ever-increasing negative balance.

Running on the thin edge of financial disaster and not keeping good records, I thought the problem was me.

Getting my bank statement, I found the photocopies (yes, my bank gives me photocopies of my cancelled checks) of checks with my driver’s license number and account number. The name was different (a woman, I’m a man). The check-writer, whom I assume to be a woman, had written several checks early in the month, the last for a $400 vacuumn cleaner. I believe the name on the checks was probably that of a fellow victim.

The good news is that the bank has covered the fraudulent charges and subsequent late fees. I am waiting to hear from the detective assigned to my case (on vacation). I am pleased that it seems to have been a woman forging my checks. Had it been a man with my name on the forged checks, I would be in a much worse predicament of identity theft.

My apartment complex had the outgoing mailbox broken into a few months ago, and several payments of mine about that time never got to their recipients. I believe that my outgoing mail and checks were stolen then.

I have a new checking account. I will need to get a new driver’s license as well. I will get a credit report just to be safe.

My plans for the future are:
1.Never send outgoing mail via a mailbox, take them to the post office

2.Don’t put anything more than the legally required amount of information on checks. Pick new checks up at the bank, don’t have them mailed to you.
I hope this information helps someone. I have heard from others just how common this crime is. So, to sum up, does anyone want to relate similar stories (I know I got off easy compared to some victims) and/or have advice?

Thanks,

kookalouris

2

Surely your bank offers online banking? If not find one that does. It’s worth the 8-10 bucks it costs per month if for nothing else but the peace of mind.

3

kookalouris, make sure you have done the appropriate affadavits of forgery through your bank, and given copies to the police and the stores where the checks were written. The store may have a home office that you need to mail them into instead of to the local branch of the store-find out from each chain.

I had 50 checks stolen during an apartment burglary several years ago, and it was one of the biggest messes to clean up. I ended up changing banks over it, because my bank gave me huge amounts of problems.

My favorite part of the mess? Two of the checks written were and $800 and a $500 check to Wal*Mart, where the cashier neglected to check ID. When the cops took copies of the checks and were able to see the videotapes from the register, they found that it was a man. (I’m female and the only signer on my checking account.) About a week later they caught the guy breaking into someone else’s apartment, with a book of my checks in my car. He got charged with theft and 5 counts of forgery from the break in at my apartment alone. :stuck_out_tongue:

4

Don’t want to scare you or anything, but…
A friend of mine ended up same way, but what had happened is that some one she was dating stole a deposit slip off of a pack of checks and set about getting new checks made etc. big hassle.

5

Wouldn’t he only be able to make deposit slips, hence only put money into her account? :D:D

A bank once asked for my roommate’s ID when he was depositing his paycheck. “What!? Is someone putting money into my account again!?” he blurted to the teller. She shyly recanted her request for his ID.

6

um AWB I don’t want to post how the guy did it. but no, he wasn’t depositing into her account.

7

um… wring, it was a joke… the guy stole a deposit slip, so he should only be able to make deposits… get it?

8

sorry AWB didn’t have my sarcasm filter on that day. (shouldhave noticed the two cheesy grins afterwards, ya think?)

9

Another piece of advice… KEEP GOOD RECORDS! I used to be like you too at one time. After a few accidental bounced checks, I learned my lesson.

In your situation, keeping good records will help you to spot any anomaly right away. Personally, I’ve used both Quicken and Money (I now use Money) and they are excellent for keeping records.

At the very least, make sure your hand-written register is always up-to-date.

Zev Steinhardt

10

A “friend” of my mother’s actually stole a check from her. It seems they were waiting for the cable guy to install cable. She had already written the check number, say it was 2500, in the register, anticipating she’d write the check later. When it came time to write the check, she did so without looking at the check number. She had actually written check #2501 to the cable company, and discovered the error later.

She thought perhaps she had lost check #2500, but was a little worried about it. For the next few days she called her bank to make sure check #2500 hadn’t been cashed. She found that a woman (who was associated with her friend, not some stranger) had cashed check #2500 in the amount of $3000 (!) to her.

The detective gathered that the “friend” stole the check and wrote it out to the woman. They concluded the woman wasn’t involved with the scam, because the check was written in her name.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure of the final outcome to the “friend” because my mom was so embarrassed that it happened, she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. :frowning: