PSA — forged check wiped out my checking account

[Anonymous]

This morning I checked the balance of my primary checking account to find it at zero. Yesterday someone cleaned it out to the tune of $12k with a fake and forged check.

They essentially recreated one of our checks, although they got the address wrong, and forged it. Another big bank cashed it. My big bank honored it.

My bank told me that banks don’t even look at addresss, signatures or details, only at routing numbers. So anyone who saw our routing number could just go to Staples and print up some checks with our name and routing number.

Of course I have no idea which person might have done this. We use checks to pay for service things like gardening, cleaners, handyman work. All it takes is a photographs of that check before it is deposited and anyone can go make fake checks.

So no more check writing for me.

The good news is my big bank was helpful in immediately freezing the account, setting up a new one, and starting a fraud claim.

The bad news is the payments that went out yesterday that will now bounce since there is no longer an account to pull from.

Looking forward to all those fees and the time spent sorting it all out /s

Hope this helps anyone be more careful. I was woefully naive.

[Anonymous]

Yes! It recently dawned on me that every time I write a check I give someone an piece of paper with my account number and bank routing number on it. Why would you ever do that!

[Anonymous]

This happened to me; someone was using the numbers from my check to make ACH payments over the phone. Should have bene very easy to catch them, but neither the bank nor the local police cared to follow through.

I don't trust anyone who insists on payment by check.

[Anonymous]

When you use your banks check writing service, does that include the routing number and account number?

[Anonymous]

This kind of error really is the bank's fault. They should do their due diligence and check signatures, address, etc.

Are you going to get your 12K back?
The bank should be on the hook for all fees, etc due to bounced checks or missed payments.

[Anonymous]

This is why we keep as small of a balance in our checking account as possible and we only write checks or use our debit card when we absolutely need to. On all other purchases we use credit cards which have much better fraud protection in place. Also, it's not your routing number that puts you at risk, anyone can find a bank's routing number, it's your account number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why we keep as small of a balance in our checking account as possible and we only write checks or use our debit card when we absolutely need to. On all other purchases we use credit cards which have much better fraud protection in place. Also, it's not your routing number that puts you at risk, anyone can find a bank's routing number, it's your account number.

Make sure you remove overdraft protection. That was a lesson learned when this happened to us years ago (we had the same theory about a low balance checking account), now we specifically removed the ability of our checking account to pull from our savings account to cover overages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why we keep as small of a balance in our checking account as possible and we only write checks or use our debit card when we absolutely need to. On all other purchases we use credit cards which have much better fraud protection in place. Also, it's not your routing number that puts you at risk, anyone can find a bank's routing number, it's your account number.

Make sure you remove overdraft protection. That was a lesson learned when this happened to us years ago (we had the same theory about a low balance checking account), now we specifically removed the ability of our checking account to pull from our savings account to cover overages.

Yep, we never enabled it.

[Anonymous]

The Bank is 100% liable for this and any and all fees and returned payment charges you incur. They should re-fund the account immediately on forgery.

[Anonymous]

Yes my bank refunded me immediately.

I meant routing plus account number. The thieves need both.

I am a freelancer and sometimes we get big infusions of cash into my checking account. I normally transfer it out ASAP but not fast enough.

The crazy thing is they wiped out the account almost to a T which makes me wonder if there was an inside job aspect to it.

[Anonymous]

Yep. This is why when my purse was stolen several years ago with my checkbook in it I insisted that my bank close my checking account and open a new one. I had to talk to like three different people there before anyone understood why I wanted to do that.

[Anonymous]

Check fraud is up in general.

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1077766541/usps-checks-mail-fraud-bank

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. This is why when my purse was stolen several years ago with my checkbook in it I insisted that my bank close my checking account and open a new one. I had to talk to like three different people there before anyone understood why I wanted to do that.

Really I had a wallet stolen with a check and when I called to cancel my debit card they immediately changed my checking account number too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Bank is 100% liable for this and any and all fees and returned payment charges you incur. They should re-fund the account immediately on forgery.

I was just about to write this!

The bank didn't due their due diligence That is why "small" things like address, photo ID, and such are the standard safeguards in place - to avoid your scenarios

This guy cashed out $12k and nobody at the bank asked for a photo ID or any other sort of verification???

I'd demand security footage from the cameras.

Which bank is this Op? Blast it on Twitter.

[Anonymous]

You dont' even need to have checks. If they have your routing number and account number (many online bill payment services ask this), then they can make a fake check with that info.

I had it happen once when they stole a check from outgoing mail (from a USPS mailbox). Very annoying. It's happening all around MoCo, here's a case from yesterday:
http://www.rockvillenights.com/2022/04/mail-stolen-out-of-home-mailbox-in.html

I have an email alert on all my accounts for any transaction over $100. Sure it's a bunch of emails, but I've caught a credit card fraud pretty quickly that way.