{"id":55050,"date":"2025-11-07T05:11:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T05:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/criminals-keep-finding-new-ways-to-steal-checks-heres-how-to-avoid-being-the-next-victim\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T05:11:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T05:11:26","slug":"criminals-keep-finding-new-ways-to-steal-checks-heres-how-to-avoid-being-the-next-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/criminals-keep-finding-new-ways-to-steal-checks-heres-how-to-avoid-being-the-next-victim\/","title":{"rendered":"Criminals keep finding new ways to steal checks. Here&#8217;s how to avoid being the next victim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>Late last year, a man named Todd wrote a $10,000 check to the Internal Revenue Service. Months later, the government reached out, wondering where his payment was.<\/p>\n<p>After following up with Wells Fargo, his bank for decades, Todd discovered he&#8217;d been a victim of &#8220;check washing,&#8221; a practice in which thieves wash the ink off of checks and write their own names in the recipient line.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Instead of the United States Treasury, it was the individual&#8217;s name,&#8221; Todd said.<\/p>\n<p>He filed a fraud claim with Wells Fargo. They rejected it, since it was more than 30 days after the check was cashed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We never want to see anyone experience a financial scam or fraud,&#8221; Wells Fargo told CBS News California Investigates. &#8220;We continue to raise awareness to help our customers avoid, detect and quickly report incidents.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Todd said he&#8217;d personally brought the check to the post office to ensure it was safely sent to the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We really had no idea that something you that put in the mail in the post office wouldn&#8217;t be handled with care,&#8221; he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says Americans lose more than $1 billion to check fraud each year.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to check washing, a process called &#8220;check cooking&#8221; is often used, which involves creating a digital replica of a check.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, the criminals have all the right hardware, all the right printers, all the right inks [to successfully commit check fraud],&#8221; said David Maimon, a Centrelink fraud expert.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Experts say it&#8217;s impossible for banks to catch every instance of check fraud, and that some responsibility must lie with the check writer.<\/p>\n<p>Cal Poly Pomona forensic accounting adjunct professor Victor Cardona gave the following tips for avoiding check fraud:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Follow the check through your banking service<\/li>\n<li>Notify the bank as soon as you suspect fraud<\/li>\n<li>Contact law enforcement, and the United States Postal Service if the check was mailed<\/li>\n<li>Freeze your credit if you are a victim so there&#8217;s no further damage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If he could do it all over again, Todd wouldn&#8217;t bother writing another check for big money.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unless you&#8217;re writing a check to your nephew, or your gardener, that you&#8217;re handing the check to them personally, I think electronic is the way to go,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"chartbeat\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation component--type-recirculation-collection\">\n<div class=\"component__heading-wrapper recirc\">\n<h3 class=\"component__title\">CBS News California Investigates<br \/>\n                          <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/sacramento\/feature\/cbs-news-california-investigates\/?intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3a\" class=\"component__view-more component__view-more--lg\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\"><br \/>\n                More<br \/>\n                <svg viewbox=\"0 0 32 32\" class=\"icon__caret-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n                  <use xlink:href=\"#icon-caret-down\"\/>\n                <\/svg><br \/>\n              <\/a><br \/>\n                      <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><br \/>\n    <\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/check-washing\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Late last year, a man named Todd wrote a $10,000 check to the Internal Revenue Service. Months later, the government<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Criminals keep finding new ways to steal checks. 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