How do scammers get away with cashing a fraudulent check?

A few weeks ago 2 checks were lost or stolen in the mail. Then some crook wrote a $950 check to themselves & made it look like we made the check out to them. I saw the photocopy.

It’s possible that the maid took a check from the checkbook as I don’t recall if I hid it or not. I might’ve forgot to do that.

She was here on 11/13 & the check was cashed on 11/21. I can’t do anything about it as accusing her of anything can get me sued the bank manager said.

I won’t hire her again just to be safe. The name wasn’t one we recognized.

It was cashed in person. My husband found out sbout it then blocked the account. I heard this is a common scam & checks that are under $1000 are considered a misdemeanor if they’re caught.

The police probably won’t do anything about this I was told. How do they get away with this? Has this ever happto anyone on here?

How can we keep this from happening again other than using online checking which my husband refuses to do?

Are those different checks? You said you recently sent checks by mail and they got lost in the mail and they someone checked them. Are those the same checks?

Scammers are really hard to catch. And they usually don’t work alone, which makes it ever harder.

I don’t know if they get caught. Some do and some don’t. You aren’t responsible for the amount though and banks would reinstate it. I don’t suggest you accuse anyone but you should have a police report done and let them investigate.

No matter how careful you are, scammers find the way. But as a step one you should hide your checkbook and your cards when you have strangers in the house.

I remember that movie Catch me if You Can, based on a true story. Leo Dicaprio played an expert check scammer. Then, to reduce his sentence, he helped the FBI on check fraud cases. He was an expert on all the techniques used. Even in the time depicted in the movie, people would steal checks from the mail and use special solutions to erase information. They would then make the checks out to themselves for higher amounts. I am sure there are much more sophisticated techniques these days.

A credit card that I only use for an occasional purchase online and never take out of the house was cloned recently. That card didn't even have a PIN activated. Nothing is foolproof these days, it seems. My bank did a fraud investigation and credited my account pretty quickly, at least.



The mail where I live is untrustworthy and people rarely use checks. I have had my bank account since 2016 and have only written one check, when we bought our house. Like everyone I know, I pay bills online and have never had an issue. The only problem I ever had was that credit card. Oh, I just saw that your husband doesn't want to do online banking. Maybe the check problems might make him more open to the idea?

The 2 checks that were lost or more likely, stolen was never received from the credit card company. I dropped both letters off at the post office inside & gave them to the clerk there.

I don’t know for sure if the fraudulent check was stolen in the mail or IF the maid stole one of our checks. I might have forgot to put the checkbook in my purse which I kept right by me at all times.

I’d hate to think the maid stole the check. Especially since I was watching her most of the time from another room. I walked into the kitchen a few times when she was there too.

I heard that scammers can erase ink off of checks. Scary! I’ll never hire that maid again as I suspect it was her. The copy of check looked real. I didn’t say anything to her after hearing what I did of course.

I forgot about the main character in ‘Catch me if you Can’. I’ll need to watch it again sometime. I heard of the special solution that they use too.

The scammer definitely knew what they were doing as the check was under $1000 which is a misdemeanor if they’re caught.

They’d be in more trouble if it was more than that. They’d arouse suspicion too.

Sorry to hear about your card being cloned That’s scary!

Honestly I think your husband is up to some shady stuff. He owes IRS and supposedly has a bad credit and had bankruptcy. Yet he has 90k randomly sitting in his bank account and can afford to pay a maid even tough his wife doesn’t work. That’s some shady stuff. He now moved all his money elsewhere. He’s scheming something

I sat on a jury years ago about a massive giro cheque fraud case.

This was when the government paid welfare benefits (unemployment benefits etc) by cheque in the post, I think these days it’s all electronic which is much more traceable.

The cheques were probably stolen within the Mail sorting office (although those thieves were never caught they’d be Royal Mail staff) then the cheques were altered to different amounts and made out to different names. They were then cashed in person by gang members - this was where the guy was caught whose trial we heard. We found him guilty.

They used to choose smaller post offices which didn’t have CCTV or good enough CCTV. Usually when fraudulent cheques are cashed in person the first thing they do is check the CCTV. In this case he was caught red handed when the clerk got suspicious. But really he was just one small cog in a bigger machine. He did go to prison though.

I’m wondering why your husband uses cheques? They aren’t as secure or traceable as electronic transfer. In fact over here banks don’t even issue cheque books anymore, unless you request them. They’re almost obsolete.

I agree with what you said. I had to fight for the maid though. He didn’t want to hire her until I kept telling him that I can’t clean the house that throughly due to my knee pain & my fibromyalgia.

She only came here 2-3 times a year.

As for everything rlse, I don’t understand why he’s been in debt with the IRS for do long. It’s been at least 10 or more years. He doesn’t ‘know’ how much he owes them which is b.s.

He hides financial information from me. Even my friend & her husband thinks he’s sending money to someone in his home country. Why would he do thst though? He has family & friends in Israel.

I’m glad to hear that scumbag was caught. How much time did he get! I thought all banks & post offices have CCTV. They should. Is it the same as a regular camera or not?

I can’t go to the police as thet would probably only investigate major fraud like a crime ring & not a misdemeanor. Ugh!

Btw, my husband uses checks because he’s convinced thst they’re much safer than using online checking. He’s super paranoid that a hacker will empty his account. He said that he doesn’t have the ‘time’ to log into his account for everything & yet he has time to find a mail ox? lol! That’s pure b.s!

He just likes having a b.s excuse to use when the bills arrive late! You can’t say thst an online payment wasn’t made in time unless it was paid late online, lol .