A local business nearly lost more than $14,000 after a thief stole a check and recreated it.
The Howell business-owner tells TLS he was going through his account this morning when he noticed a check for $14,000 – a check he did not issue.
He immediately called his bank and reported it as attempted theft. The bank immediately cancelled the check.
After looking through his issued checks, the business-owner realized what must have occurred.
He said it appears that a $400 check he mailed out to a local vendor must have gotten stolen – or delivered to the wrong address. The thief then recreated the check to make it appear as if his business issued him this check.
The business-owner wants to caution others to stay on top of their accounts.
“If you don’t catch it right away, even if you eventually get the money back, it can be a huge hassle,” he said.
One word “safepay”. Ask your bank.
Recently experienced this my self, and was advised by my banker to do “safe pay” it will not allow a check to be clear without pre registering the check number, name & amount. If you pay many of your employees with checks, there are ways to put an entire file of checks from quick books which is what I use, straight into your bank file which automatically registers them for you, so you don’t have to register each check separately.
Worse still. Someone took a check with a different name and address, made out to someone that he owed $3,000, and just typed in on the bottom my account number. Nothing else resembled my account, not the names,address, or signature. The bank put it through against my account. Fortunately, I caught it, but the bank gave me a hard time despite the fact that the check didn’t match anything. So what good is the signature if no one checks it?
Checks?? That’s so 1990. Pay your vendors with credit cards or wire, and pay your employees with direct deposit.
It recently happened to also: I sent a business check by mail for $65 a small amount & than an elderly customer paid me by check instead of credit card, so on my way to Boro Park I stopped in a Howell Bank Branch to deposit the check and the teller tells me that my business checking account is negative, I was shocked, I told her that I have over $20,000 in it so she prints out an altered check for $25,000 which was deposited at an ATM in N. Carolina so I went to the desk and a Indian woman started taking care me so the Muslim bank manager tells her to drop me because there are other customers waiting but she didn’t listen to him and she was able to reverse payment on that check just in time and she immediately opened me up a new checking account, and I told her that I just ordered $90 of checks to be printed of which that I had to pay for. I looked up my carbon copies of that check # of which it was a $65 check which I mailed to Lab Corp , I don’t believe that it was stolen from my Lakewood homes mailbox; I strongly believe that some drug addict employee at Lab Corps office stole it and did that. From now on I pay all employee healthcare benefits by credit card only.
Mutty, maybe you can be kind enough to tell us the name of the bank and this way, if we do business with that bank, then we know that we have to really be on the ball, like checking our accounts every morning. I think usually by about 11 AM, banks will pay the check, so it is important to check your account daily about 9 or 10 AM.
I once heard a story that happened about 4 years ago, some thief printed new checks because he got a hold of an authentic check.
The customer lost about $1,800 through this phony check and the signature was no way close.
The bank manager told this customer and I quote, “We are not here to babysit your account.”
“You are expected to check your account daily.”
That manager no longer works there, so it is not relevant to mention the name of the bank. I think the new manager will be more helpful.
Sorry Mutty,
You are offensive to label an Indian woman and a Muslim bank manager….sir, it does not matter what the ethnicity is……
Also, labeling a drug addict employee at Lab Corp…….way off base…..
Lab Corp is an excellent lab. You are demeaning the lab and their excellent employees.
Dear Lakewood Resident,
You are offensive:
The Altered Check was deposited at an ATM in Burlington, NC , that’s where I mailed the check to and that’s where LabCorp headquarters is located; Burlington, NC has the highest crime rate in America, even higher than Baltimore or Detroit; The air in Burlington NC is Drugs or Dope; and for your information LabCorp is No Angel, I tried several times to call LabCorp to tell them of which they kept on transferring me around before hanging up on me; till today I was never able to tell them or ask them about it. I now pay them by credit card only and let them pay the 4% processing fee and I’ll get free vacation’s from the points .
BE ADVISED!!! The delivery of mail to the correct address here in Lakewood is very bad. A short time ago I did not receive my Anchor booklet from the state nor my monthly retirement check. Just recently I did not receive my tax statement (postcard) from the township. In both these instances I received, via email, images of the mail I was to receive. Many time I have received mail addressed to other addresses. I reported these missing mail pieces to the post office but nothing was ever done about it.
I had recently a direct (automated) payment for a business account from my private account $19000. Bh I saw it and while it was pending was able to block it. I had to pay a small fee. “Be on top of all accounts private business &credit cards.”
I had this to and was advised never to mail chks some how they find them wash and r Wright them
This is the method I’ve been using to pay my kids tuitions for the last 5 years.
So far so good….