Peggy Theisen

The majority of scams these days are committed via quick and easy electronic means, so it might surprise you that the low-tech, pricier version of fraud — counterfeit checks — still works.

But we do continue to see checks every month that look real — printed on real check stock, complete with perforations, most likely purchased legitimately at an office supply store. The scammers create their own checks and use actual company names, addresses, and bank account and routing numbers. All of this is public information easily obtained online or from genuine checks.

The counterfeit checks I’ve seen cannot be judged as phony simply by looking at them.
But it is simpler than you may think to keep our customers and the bank safe from check scams.

When we see an unusual check, we just need to dig a little deeper and ask a few questions. Did the customer enter a lottery? Did the customer apply for a job online? And does the check make sense in relation to the situation? For example: If the customer won the Reader’s Digest sweepstakes, why is the check drawn on an auto body company in New York? Shouldn’t it be from Reader’s Digest? If the customer applied online for a job from ABC Marketing in Omaha, why is the check drawn on a cable company in Florida?

You can also try to verify the check yourself. Caution here: Don’t call the bank the check is drawn on to “verify funds.” Remember, bogus checks bear the actual names and account information of real, valid companies that keep lots of funds in their accounts.

Instead, Google the name of the company, click on the company’s website, look for a phone number, and call them. Tell whoever answers the phone that you are calling from the bank and would like to find out if a particular check drawn on their company and brought in by a customer is valid. Chances are, the person on the other end of the line will tell you the check is bogus before you even finish your sentence. Often, the company has already received dozens of phone calls from banks around the country and is aware its checks have been counterfeited.