We all have heard about the issues with Identity Theft and the possible personal threat. There are all types of avenues for these thieves to get your personal information. I wanted to write about checking account theft, because it has happened to me recently again. I have had this checking account fraud happen to me twice over the last 5 years. I thought I was very careful, but evidently I was not careful enough. Here is how it happens.
Stealing your checks- The thieves have to get your account number before they can do anything. Typically they can get it via your mail box, or personal checks you have wrote to a business or individual. The recent event that took place with me was a check I wrote to my kid’s private school. This check I wrote disappeared and was nowhere to be found. We are not sure who stole the check, but we know the school was the source.
Check Fraud – Here is what the thieves do once they get your checking account number. They create new checks under an assumed name and transpose your account number on these checks. In some cases they will write the phony checks to a bogus business account. Once all of this comes out in the open you will discover that all of these assumed names lead to nowhere. This is how thieves operate. They create fraudulent checking account names and bogus company checking accounts.
Money Lost – Once this has happened to you and money has been withdrawn from your checking account, don’t worry. You will get your money back from the bank. This type of activity is insured with your bank. Yes, it’s a violation of your money, but you will get every cent back.
How to Avoid – To avoid this from happening to you, I would recommend not writing personal checks from your check book. I recommend writing all bills on-line. Here ways to avoid what was mentioned.
• Pay all bills on-line with your bank
• Make sure you computer virus software is updated
• Run malware software with Microsoft to avoid hackers on your computer. This software with Microsoft is free. Go here.
I hope this helps you avoid what has happened to me twice. I don’t care who it is, I pay them on-line now through my bank.
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