I was just wondering the other day when signing a bazillion forms that the signiture is meant to be the unique identifier that guarentees that the person filling out the form is the intended recipient yet, Seeing as they have no copy of my signature on file and I don’t see how they could gain access to one, how do they know Joe Bloggs didn’t intercept the form in the mail and sign it Shalmanese using his handwriting?
Even more disturbingly, At my old High Schools clothing shop, all you had to do was to put down what clothes you bought, what your Student No was and sign your name and you could then take the clothes out of the store and the money would be put on your account. I can think of several other instances where just that occurs and there is the strange notion that just because you write somebodys name down, that person must be you. What is the point of a signiture if they could never check it and even if they did, still not konw who you are.
Additionally, doesn’t this pose a security risk with so many signatures floating around since anybody could snag one of yours at any time?
Doesn’t seem to be a problem if no one complains. Ah, but if someone complains, all hell could break loose. For example, forgery or embezzlement or false personation (impersonation) allegations. Felonies. Jail time. Auntie Em!
I would imagine that if there was a problem, they would compare signatures. Let’s say someone else fills in all the paperwork using your name. You find out (what? I didn’t sign up for a Visa! I’m not paying this bill). They pull the paperwork, compare your signature to the ones on the application form, and voila! You are off the hook. I would imagine it would go that way, anyway.
On something like insurance forms, I don’t have any previous signatures of my client to compare to, but if the signatures proved to not be from the proper person, the insurance company would then have good grounds to refund the premiums and not pay the claim.
I know what you mean, though. I went to a small, very trusting, Christian college that would give you anything in the mail room you pointed to, as long as you signed their form, never producing any form of ID. In fact, the preferred form of “ID” was the notice they put in your mail box that you had a package. I got pretty upset when I realized that they were willing to give out my packages to anyone who might have found my slip where I accidently dropped it on the ground.
The next day, there was a sign: “I.D. required for packages.”
Which brings up the question: What’s the point in checking IDs if they don’t compare you to the picture? The most they ever do is glance at it, which is not enough to identify a stranger who just walked in. I have friends who I can’t recognize in their ID photos!
So what happens if I sign up for a new Visa and use a singnature that looks nothing like mine, then say it wasn’t me, and that someone else had done it? Or would that just start a whole host of new problems?
A few years ago I received a Discover statement which showed two charges from Jewel for the same amount on consecutive days. It seemed to me that this was probably a duplicate charge, since it’s highly unlikely my wife would have bought exactly the same groceries two days in a row. I called Discover and asked for a copy of the charge slips (Mrs. L, despite repeated requests from me, almost always managed to forget to give me the receipts when she charged stuff). Eventually I received a copy of the second charge slip; the signature did not look that much my wife’s, but what caught my attention was the date and time stamp on it. At the time my wife was supposedly signing this slip, she was in the hospital having cataract surgery. I called Discover and pointed this out to them, suggesting that they might want to investigate this possible fraud. I was told they’d look into it. The duplicate charge was removed from my records, and that’s the last I ever heard of it.
I occasionally wondered why no one had ever gotten in touch with me to get some sort of statement for their investigation.
About signing something and having them think it’s not you… once when I was 14 in Quebec I signed one of my traveler’s cheques at the hotel; the dude looked at it, and said it wasn’t the same signature (there are 2 on those cheques). I said it was, he thought for a couple minutes, then cashed it. Not too many 14 year-olds traveling with a group of kids who’ll try forgery in front of their teacher I guess. Then again the clerk was a Quebecer who worked in a hotel, so that explains some of it.
I also once paid for a school course over the phone with a credit card number. 4 months later when I went to get my mark, they said I wasn’t registered and hadn’t paid. After some very annoying leg work I finally figured out that someone fucked up the number after I gave it to them and they charged it to someone else’s card (the carbon copy was very faint). The few hundred had been disputed by that person, and the amount was refunded. Only problem was nobody ever bothered to tell me about any of it, and never would have it I hadn’t acted like a thorn in their side. Doesn’t fill me with confidence about how credit card companies or the law investigates small amounts of disputed purchases… it could have been argued that I commited fraud (even though 5 seconds worth of talking would have shown that I didn’t), but apparently no one is trying too hard to find out who put that $300 on this guy’s credit card. And no, the school would not have told them; schools in general and this one in particular are completely incompetant when it come to communication with anyone.
When I got married and wanted to give my wife signing powers on my cheque account, she had to sign a piece of paper five times in order to supply some sample signatures. I had great fun mocking her signature (which in any event looks like a spider dipped its feet in ink and then had a muscle cramp on the page!!), saying anyone could pretend to be her as they were all different!!
Several years later, I was signing a bunch of travelers cheques for a trip and as I signed my way through the 50 or so cheques, I noticed that my signature varies in small but significant ways (a cursive “s” in this one, printed in another; a loop at the end of my “g” in some, none in others).
It really surprises me that signature fraud is not more common - given the variation in signing result and the lack attitude toward checking the sig anyway…
It’s very expensive to investigate these and there probably was no investigation at all. They usually only investigate when there is a pattern of repeat offenses. It’s cheaper just to remove the charge and forget it.
I remember a cop show that I saw, must have been back in the 60’s, where there was a forgery. In court, they proved it was a forgery by overlaying the forged signature on top of a genuine signature of the same person and showing they were exactly the same, a perfect fit. The point was that nobody signs their name exactly the same way twice so it had to be forgery by tracing the signature.
My point is, though, even if they can prove it is a fraud, they cannot do anything about it because the person who signed it is gone forever and they left no trace. I could not even know Joe Blogg’s signature and just sign his name with a completely different style but by the time they check, I am off in Vanuatu enjoying his Real Doll ™ and they have no idea who I am.
