Am A Counterfeit Check!"
HOT CHECKS
The most common type of bad check is the proverbial "hot" check. A hot check is a check drawn from a legitimate checking account that lacks the funds to cover the amount, or has been written off of an account previously closed.
There are a number of ways to detect a hot check, but many people who cash checks fail to know the easiest one of all. Ninety percent of hot checks are numbered in check sequence between 101 and 200. A check numbered 118 would represent an account about three weeks old. A check number of 1315 suggests an account that's about three years old. Hence, many retailers over the years have become very leery of cashing so-called new account checks with numbers less than 200.
To circumvent this, bad check passers, when they set up accounts, try to obtain the highest possible check number they can get. This is usually done by asking the new accounts department to start their checks with a sequence number like 800. In many cases, they are denied. Most banks use a standard starter number of 101 for new checking accounts. Unfortunately, in recent years many new accounts departments have become very lax and, to oblige customers, will let them start their account with any number they request. Or they don't pay attention to unusual reorder activity, even though criminals reorder checks every twenty or thirty days so they can get a higher sequence number. If all else fails, a criminal can buy checks through the mail, requesting any sequence number he wants.
For this reason, you can't depend on the check number alone, but it's a good tip-off for when you should use discretion. If you get a low-numbered check, that would be the time to ask for additional identification, to call the bank if it's a large purchase, or to use a check verification company to guarantee the check. Remember: 90 percent of worthless checks are numbered between 101 and 200.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Over twenty years ago, a technique was developed that is referred to in banking as "date coding." A date code is a tiny three-digit or four-digit number that appears on the front of a check to indicate when the account was opened. For example, the number 879 would mean that this checking account was opened in August of 1979. This coding is done automatically by the check printer. No matter how many checks a customer orders or reorders, this number will always appear on the face of the check. The date code helps you determine the stability and credibility of the person writing the check. Even checks ordered through the mail from a catalogue will have a date code on them if it's required by the state where the person lives.
I recommend that all institutions date code checks. And I recommend that retailers teach employees how to read date codes on checks. The date code is sometimes found above the signature line or above the "pay to the order" provision, but most commonly next to the customer's name. The older the date code, the more established the person who has written the checks.
THOSE HANDY DEPOSIT SLIPS
I was speaking one day with a new acquaintance, and I asked him for a business card so I could stay in touch. After fumbling around in his pockets, he could only come up with a deposit slip from his personal checking account. He handed it to me with a smile. I smiled back and told him, "I'm the last person you want to give this to."
Deposit slips seem harmless enough. That's why most people write grocery lists on them, hand them out as business cards, or simply discard them when they run out of checks. But a deposit slip is actually an exceedingly valuable slip of paper. To a forger, a deposit slip is worth ten times more than a blank check.
The slips are used in a common scam called "less cash deposit" or "split deposit." After obtaining a blank deposit slip, the criminal will write a forged check to the person named on the deposit slip. He'll then proceed to the bank listed on the front of the deposit slip, and deposit a check in the amount of, say, six hundred dollars. In the line "less cash received," he'll write three hundred dollars back. The teller, especially a busy one, will think, Why should I bother to ask for ID? The person is obviously a customer of our bank and