If you write checks READ THIS!

[gjts00]

Some of you probably know about this, but for those of you who don't...My wife & I were recently the victims of a scam, where the perpetrators (perps) steal your outgoing mail (bills with checks in them). Then, the checks are "washed" and made blank again. the perps then write and pass the checks under your name & account. The way that you'll catch this is when one of your creditors notifies you that they haven't received payment. That's because it got stolen right out of your own mail box!!! The recommended course of action then, is to get the actual check back from the bank, take it to the police & they will turn the case over to a detective & be investigated. The amounts of the stolen checks are typically small, to avoid attracting attention. In my case $61 & change. Here's the kicker...The cashier even took down a driver's license number & it wasn't mine!!! So don't count on a cashier doing their job the way they're supposed to. I'm going to contact my lawyer on Monday & find out if I can take action against the store (Wal-Mart), for their negligent check acceptance blunder. And I will let you all know what I find out.


The best way to guard yourselves from this scam, is to mail your checks from a post office (I know that it sounds like a pain in the ass, because it is), but that's your safest bet.

 

[BlueMonday]

Dude, you don't want to get in a lawsuit with Walmart over this. Your lawyers fees and court costs will cost you far more than what you are liable to get ($61). Do nothing more than send a letter to Walmart or go and talk to the manager and I'm sure that they would be happy to refund your lost cash so long as you can prove that it was a faulty check.

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<FONT COLOR="blue">I don't ask why, I just fall into the meadow; I close my eyes, and I, I wait to die.
Yes I am a liar, yes I am a sinner; please forgive my broken soul.</FONT c>

 

[gjts00]

It's not about the money BM. The thing that pisses me off, is people who have simple jobs who don't do them well. I.E. burger flippers, cashiers, and so on. I mean, how hard is it to confirm that person presenting you with I.D. is the person that they're claiming to be? Answer, difficulty isn't the issue, the cashier wasn't paying one damn bit of attention to his/her job. To be honest, I most likely won't pursue legal action against Wal-Mart, but I would like to have some leverage when I try to get the clerk in question at least repremanded, if not (hopefuly) fired.

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Listen, strange women lying around in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system government.

 

[BorderPatrol]

The way the wife and I avoid this is that we put all of our outgoing mail directly in a USPS public mailbox. That way nobody is going to get our checks or other personal info. We are fortunate also in that our mailbox at our condo has a lock on it too so that avoids the other problem of identity theft where a perpetrator takes credit card from your mailbox when it is dropped off.

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[scorch]

well, the moral of the story is.


use credit card.

 

[drake]

Well you have to send a check to the credit card company scorch

The cashier even took down a driver's license number & it wasn't mine!!! So don't count on a cashier doing their job the way they're supposed to. I'm going to contact my lawyer on Monday & find out if I can take action against the store (Wal-Mart), for their negligent check acceptance blunder.And I will let you all know what I find out.

Well my friend, if these guys are smart enough to rip you off of a check, think they might be smart enough to make a fake id? It's a very simple procedure really.

Just goes to show you that thieves are everywhere huh?

 

[Leowind]

gjts00, so sorry to hear of your check troubles.

That sounds like a real drag. My wife mails all our checks from her work, to avoid this type of problem. And don't think just using a credit card solves the problem, either. There are ways to steal credit card numbers, too.

 

[Kev]

I saw a television report on check washing, and I was astounded as to how easy it was. While they did not reveal the materials involved on the show, I believe it was a mixture of 2 or 3 very common products that would wipe away the ink and not the printing on the check itself. Another thing that they will do is make tiny pinholes along the signature of a second check if they have one. Then, make ink marks through the holes on the erased check, then they just connect the dots to produce your signature.

These "white collar" thefts are becoming more and more common. The whole thing with people taking on your identity is just plain scary. For this same reason, I always make sure I run those credit card applications through the shredder before I throw them out. Thieves can get them from your garbage and apply in your name.

Boy, if some of these people put the same kind of thought and energy behind a legitimate career they'd probably do pretty well.

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Diplomacy - the art of
saying "Good Doggie"
until you can find a rock

 

[SlowwHand]

Are you talking "P notes"?
Those are currency just scanned, altered somewhat, and printed.
Big business these days.

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It's In The Way That You Use It
Tuatha De Danann Tribe
ICQ 51553293

 

[scorch]

heh.

ok, lets all go into the future kicking and screaming.

reminds me of a calvin and hobbes cartoon.

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