check fraud

[Praefection]

Well this should be an interesting post but I'll try and explain what happened then any advice you guys can have will be most helpful.

In May of this year I went out drinking and got pretty messed. I ended up at a house party with people I had seen around but didn't know personally. Needless to say once I was dropped off the next morning I was missing the keys to my appartment and my checkbook. The next day after stopping by the bar I was at several times and leaving my name/number in case the people came in with my checkbook felt like returning it. I went to the bank and canceled all the checks and put in a report that it was stolen. Anyway, about two weeks later I started getting bounced check fees from the checks I had stolen. (I live in Montana so ANYONE with a checkbook can write it out and not be asked for ID) so I went to the bank again, canceled that account and and made a police report. I thought everything was fine until this Friday were I got a summons to appear in court since I was being sued by the company that most of these stolen checks were written to. I'm pretty pissed and stressed out. I KNOW I am not responsible for these items and I went back to the bank and recalled the guy who was working on my case at the police station. They said they should be able to get affidavites (spelling?) of the checks and if they can prove they were stolen I won't need to pay.

My main question is I've called a lawyer and should be getting a return call this morning (the guy who dropped off the court papers said it might be a good idea) and I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone else and what kind of advice you can give?

[Adhara]

I'm surprised the US still use checks so much. So very cumbersome and unreliable. Debit cards or credit cards with a pin/photo are the way to go.

[Latrinsorm]

Debit/credit card = trust a computer.

No thanks.

Check = trust a bank.

No thanks.

Cash. Mmmmmmm.

[Scott]

The worse that ever happened to me was I was putting in my checking account information on the internet to pay my credit card bills when they are due. Well anyway, someone must have got it because they were taking the numbers off the buttom of the check and making electronic checks and cashing them. They took out about $1,000 out of my checking account. I didn't have to pay a cent though, Commerce Bank took care of everything..... which is part of the reason why I will never switch banks.

[Soulpieced]

I'm very pro cash myself. Granted I have a check card, checks, and credit card. I ONLY write checks for rent and utilities, and the CC for gas and other stuff I want my parents to pay for.

[HarmNone]

Since you reported the checks stolen to both the bank and the police, and cancelled the unused checks through the bank, I would not think you could be held responsible for this. Once the checks clear the bank, comparison of the signature with yours should give you the proof you need that you did not, indeed, write them.

Good luck. This is a horrible thing to have happen to you. :(

HarmNone

[Overlord]

My ex was stealing bout 500 bucks a month from me without me knowing, i was moving around and not getting any bank statements. When i finally got them it had been 3 almost 4 months since the initial theft, and the folk at the bank allowed me to fill out an affidavit. Took them a week to process it and well ya see you can't argue any transactions over 60 days so she managed to get away with 1500 and some change, not a hell of alot but when your in debt it sure as hell is worth griping about. Can't stand banks, its straight up theft, she was billing her attorney dirrectly to my account electronically which i did not authorize at all, she did this about a week after we broke up. I mean come on, the bank authorized the release of my money i should sue the bastards for that.

[Bestatte]

You should have receipts or written confirmations from the bank.

They should show that:
1) You asked for the checks to be cancelled, with the check numbers included in the request.
2) You asked for them to be cancelled on a certain date.
3) You asked for them to be cancelled because they had been stolen.
4) You obtained a police report of the theft.
5) You obtained a police report on a certain date.

Any checks cashed after the initial report to the bank are not your responsibility. However, any checks cashed between the initial report to the bank, and the report to the police, might be questionable.

Once the bank is informed that one of their customers has had their checks stolen, they become owners of the debt and need to seek compensation from the thief, not you.

A roommate in Florida wrote out a check for herself on my account for the same amount as the rent, signed it, and cashed it. At my bank. She didn't even try to fake the signature on the bottom, the stupid git.

I didn't realize I'd had a check stolen til the statement came the next week with the cancelled check. I went immediately to the bank and told them what happened, brought the cancelled check with me and showed them that no way in hell could this have been written by me.

The bank is ultimately responsible for ANY money lost as a result of theft, as long as the loss occurs AFTER you report it. Any money lost before the report is a matter for the courts to determine.

[Skirmisher]

Praefection: You should have received a confirmation of the stop payment request from the bank in writing shortly after placing it on the checks in question.

That should have some fine print and it would be good to read it but generally it will say there may be a short(read 1-2) day period immediately after requesting the stop on those checks that they may still be negotiated but after that, they are the responsibility of the bank.

You should not have received any overdraft or unavailable or uncollected fees from those checks assuming you gave them a complete list of the checks that were stolen.

I also would assume that the lawsuit will be an annoyance, but nothing more as it will be clear to the judge what the situation was. Be sure however to talk to your bank and get a letter explaining why if any of the checks you had the stop payments placed on were still cashed.

Future reference, any bank worth banking at will always advise you to close any account if the security of that account is in ANY way compromised. Read that as in even suspecting that checks may be missing or in the hands of someone you would not trust with open access to your account.

Good luck and sorry for the pain in the butt this has been but things really should work out in the end.

[JustMe]

I had a credit card and checkbook stolen from me, luckily both had been about 3 years out of date so nothing happened. However, I still called the credit card and bank to let them know.

If you can prove that you didn't write those checks and you have a good lawyer you might be able to get away without paying for the ones they wrote before he cancelled it. So make sure your lawyer knows what he is doing.

Also, hopefully you changed the locks to your doors, some people aren't shady about walking in your apartment/house and stealing everything within eye sight if they have the chance.

[AnticorRifling]

If they have a key it's not B and E :cool:

Rules to live by:

1) Don't get shitty drunk with people you don't know.
2) Don't take your keys with you if you're planning on getting shitty.
3) Don't take your checkbook, wallet or anything like that with you if you're going out for heavy drinking. Take one credit card and one form of ID, keep it in your pocket and don't get flashy with it.
4) Get confirmation of cancellation in writing. Don't be the person that is stuck up shit creek because all you have to go on is some customer service rep's word.

[Overlord]

One problem with all of that for what i was saying.... she wasn't writing checks, she was billing it directly to my account electronically....how the hell did that get authorized.

[Skirmisher]

Authorized? Well clearly it wasn't but in this modern society we have many conveniences that are double edged swords and banking is one of them.

Many many people like to use automatic payments using debit cards, ach's and electronic checks as it saves them of the headache of writing out yet another check each month. The problem is that each of these 'conveniences are yet another channel to be exploited by thieves.

Debit cards like any credit card can be exploited by anyone who knows both your account number and expiration date. Ach (automated clearing house) debits and electronic checks ( known by some as check-by-phone) are both able to be accesed by anyone with knowledge of both your checking account number and the routing number of your bank. All they need to get the ac# and routing# is one copy of one of your checks.

As someone who works in a bank I will only use my debit card for recurring payments to businesses and never an ACH or electronic check. Debit cards can be cancelled and reordered with relative simplicity but the other two are more difficult to stop esp if the company is small and less than reputable.

The way things generally work in a bank is that due to the incredible number of debits and credits they process each day the average check is never ever looked at. Only the infrequent check that is spot checked or one of a very large amount is actually reviewed by a person and the ACH or electronic checks will pretty much always go through unless the customer has made some sort of request the specifically stop them.

Long winded though it has been in arriving my point is that your account security is something you as the consumer needs to be constantly aware of. If you have a person or business that you need to make a payment to but have doubts as to their trustworthiness then please use something like a money order or a bank check that insulates you.

Remember that any good fraud artist only needs a copy of one of your checks to give you a hard time. Yes in the end you will get your funds back, but it will be awhile before the bank finshes its investigation and your patience as well as your credit rating may be stressed even though you do get your cash back.

When in doubt, ANY doubt, close the account and open a new one.

[Blackroses]

Oh Man do i feel for you.. Something like that happened to me only it was my ex husband who stole the checks and wrote them all over town .. 2300.00 later .. I was in HUGE trouble Yeah i got a lawyer but b/c we were married he " had the right " to sign my name .. What a crock of shit... I hope it goes better for you


edited because i was mad and couldnt think how to spell ..LOL

[Edited on 11-27-2003 by Blackroses]

[Praefection]

It's really sad how sick people can be to each other but I guess I did learn my lesson about trusting people, the hard way. I'm still banging my head against the walls about how disgusting this whole mess is but I'm almost glad that I know I'm not the only one. So, thanks for the information provided and hopefully I can get this fixed without a loss to my sanity.