TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief

Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief

John McHarry (jmcharry@comcast.net)
Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:11:41 GMT

I am pretty out of date on this, but, last I knew, banks were liable
for processing checks that didn't bear a reasonable facsimile of the
signature on file against the account. Since the golden rule, in the
sense of he who has the gold, prevails, it has been held that if the
signature is the same name that is on the account card, it is close
enough. For that reason, I have always had my name printed differently
on checks than is on the card. Whether that is of any use today, I
have had the pleasure of not finding out, although I noticed a few
years ago a check I hadn't signed at all went through quite
nicely. Since it was for some sort of utility bill and was correct, I
just winked as well.

Like PAT, I write very few paper checks these days. I moved across
state lines over three years ago and have never had new ones
printed. Since all I have used them for is to pay for services already
rendered, it hasn't been a problem. I would guess it would be hard to
get cigarettes and cash back with one, however.

It wouldn't surprise me to see paper checks go away. Even point of
sale debit cards are more secure, and we are all being charged the
skim off for credit cards whether we use them or not.

Looks like a bull market for wire fraud! I had a rather large ACH
transfer executed in the wrong direction a while back. The company
that screwed it up managed to straighten it out, but the bank that was
supposed to receive funds, and instead disbursed them, didn't do
squat. Apparently there is no security in that system beyond trusting
those who are admitted, which is pretty much all the big corporations.

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