What are some good ways in which you can stop check forgery from happening to you? There are many things on a check, and many extra steps that you can take to make sure that you don’t take a forged check. By taking a few seconds to look over the check and make sure that everything is legitimate you can make sure that the money that you are taking is actually in the account and the check itself won’t bounce before you bring it to the bank.
The first thing you can do is to always ask for ID when someone is presenting a check. Some locations require that you provide ID such as a drivers license or a military ID. This is so that you can check that the person giving you the check is actually the person who the money belongs to. It would be really easy for someone to write out or bring in a check that doesn’t belong to them or simply isn’t real to begin with.
Make sure that the person who brings in the checks signs the check in front of you. This will ensure that the money going to that person really is supposed to go to that person. If the person who signs the check doesn’t get the money, or it isn’t a real check, they will be in big trouble from the law and it will be real easy to track that person down.
When you take a check, make sure that the check has a name, address, and the name of the bank that gave out the checks. Not having these doesn’t mean the check is necessarily a fake, but most checks will have that information on them provided by the bank. This is a huge red flag and I know of some places that won’t accept checks without this information on them.
Accepting starter checks can also be a sign that a check might be a forgery. Most of the time people aren’t going to start a checking account with a lot of money in it. To see if it is a starter check, simply look at the number on the check. If it is under 100 then it is a starter check. Again, this could be a possible red flag that someone is trying to scam you.
Check forgery is a crime, but for you it is going to be a huge hassle and a loss of money. Accepting forged checks is the same thing as accepting counterfeit money and has no value. Protect yourself and your business against taking forged checks so that you can make sure that the payments you receive are valid and will save you the hassle of going to court.