<VV> Scams are fun but don't send ANY $$$ ! (No Corvair)

[airvair at earthlink.net]

Show you just how lax they are in handling checks, I once got two bill
payment checks crossed in the payment envelopes. Both were similar (though
several dollars difference) amounts. The company that received the low
amount sent the check back, and I had to write another check for the proper
amount. The company that received the high amount CASHED the check, and
credited me with the overage. Just how one company can cash a check made
out to another totally different company amazes me to this day. You KNOW
you or I could never get away with a similar stunt.

Bottom line: checks are more hazardous than most people realize.

-Mark

> [Original Message]
> From: Ian Harding <harding.ian at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Scams are fun but don't send ANY $$$ ! (No Corvair)
>
> Yup.  A workman's helper walked off with a checkbook from our house,
> and a bunch of people's cel phone bills got paid with our bank account
> number and routing number.  Unlike credit card fraud, I don't think
> the banks are under any obligation to give you back your money.  They
> generally do because they want to keep the problem quiet to maintain
> the consumer's confidence in the system.
>
> I think it's funny that the cel phone company would allow a bank
> account that has a different name and address from the account holder
> of the phone to be used to pay the bill without at least asking a
> couple questions.  Paying with an "e-check" seems like an extra
> convenience that should at least have that safeguard, but it doesn't.
>
> - Ian
>
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 4:17 AM, airvair at earthlink.net
> <airvair at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > The BIG problem with checks, as you point out, are the readable account
and
> > routing numbers on the bottom of each check and deposit slip. It makes
> > checking accounts HIGHLY vunerable, more so than even a credit card, to
> > theft.. All any thief has to do is write down those very visable
numbers,
> > and then go to town. They don't even have to steal a check, because
> > (especially with internet shopping) they can simply use those numbers to
> > charge up a storm, faster than you can stop it all. It's why I
frequently
> > and periodically check my bank account online. And anyone who has any
kind
> > of bank or charge account should watch their accounts very, very
closely.
> >
> > If the people running the banking system had any sense to them, they'd
> > replace those visable numbers with a bar code and have NO (humanly)
> > readable numbers whatsoever on checks. (And maybe credit cards, too.)
But
> > then, that's too rational an idea.
> >
> > -Mark
> >
> >> [Original Message]
> >> From: Marc  Marcoulides <hharpo at earthlink.net>
> >> Subject: Re: <VV> Scams are fun but don't send ANY $$$ !
> >>
> >> Charles Wrote: This works because banks can "clear" the original check
in
> > YOUR account, making you feel that you actually got the money, and then
> > pull the money
> >> back out weeks later, when they "change their mind" (claiming int'l
check
> >> takes longer to verify)
> >>
> >> I am going to comment on this because I am an Insurance Agent but the
> > agency I work for is owned by a credit union and we work closely
together.
> > The operations staff work very hard in an effort to prevent depositors
from
> > loss. What frustrates the effort is the scam artist who uses the real
> > account numbers along the bottom of the check from a real company check
of
> > someone out there and then creates a check with his name on it. It
clears
> > and then the company or person later sees it is not thier check. Since
the
> > real person did not sign that check the bank where it was deposited must
> > take it back and if your account has money in it the amount of the check
> > will be subtracted from the balance. Of course by then it is too late
and
> > you have been taken. Some of these checks can be spotted others can not,
> > when there are a volume of these in one localaty alerts are broadcast to
> > assist in fraud prevention.
> >>
> >