PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – With the growing concern about cyber scams it's easy to forget that check fraud is still a scheme used by criminals. Few of us use paper checks these days, but forgery is still prevalent.
When a Local 10 News viewer became a victim of check fraud she "Called Christina" to help get her money back.
"It was very maddening for us to get that money deducted from our bank account," Noela Pereira said.
Noelia Pereira said her mother, Alicia Loguzzo, discovered she was a victim of forgery after the bank deducted money from her account. Gone from her account was $2,395 after a bad check was cashed with her forged signature.
"It's money that we needed, and it's money that was theirs, not for somebody else to take," Pereira said.
They called the bank and filed a police report. But what seemed to her to be an obvious case of fraud turned into a nightmare.
"This is the initial letter that we received saying that my parents did receive the benefit of the funds in question, and that was after they did the investigation with the fraud department," Pereira said showing Local 10 News consumer advocate Christina Vazquez a letter from the bank after they questioned the fraud.
"They have to act fast. There is a time limit between 30 days and a year, probably closer to the 30 days, in order to tell the bank that something has been forged," consumer protection attorney Jason Weaver said.
"That's when Pereira "Called Christina" for help. What Vazquez discovered about bank fraud was no surprise. According a survey in 2015 by the Association for Financial Professionals, paper checks are still leading the list of payments most susceptible to fraud.
Click here to view the Association for Financial Professionals fraud control survey.
"There's what I call an 'honest bad check' and what I call 'trying to fool you bad checks.' When somebody is purposely trying to steal something from you by giving you a bad check," Weaver said.
Here are some tips to keep you from becoming a victim of any type of check fraud.
- If you do take a check do what the retailers do. Verify the check writer's information with a picture ID like a driver's license.
- Ask for vital information like date of birth.
- Keep the information on record until the check clears.
- Never accept check from people you are not familiar with.
- Keep tract of blank checks.
- Fill out the check completely and don’t leave blank lines.
- Make your signature complex signing in a straight line is easy to forge.
- Check your account every month
"Writing a bad check is a crime and if you are charged for a bad check that somebody gave you are a crime victim," Weaver said.
In Loguzzo's case, Local 10 News asked the bank to take another look. They did and realized the signature did not match Loguzzo's, which means the money was put back into her account.
"We received this letter saying that their research indicated that the transaction was processed incorrectly and was not authorized," said Loguzzo's husband, Luis Pereira.
Remember if you are a victim, notify your bank immediately. Time does matter and file a police report because forgery is a crime.