Stubs are Wikipedia entries that have not yet received substantial attention from the editors of Wikipedia, and do not yet contain sufficient information on their subject matter. In other words, they are short or insufficient pieces of information and require additions to further increase Wikipedia's usefulness. The community values stubs as useful first steps toward complete articles. Anyone can complete them.
Just thought this was an interesting addition to the definition of Stubs... More information can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Stub
I still like the traditional "short little stubby things", but the above is like "The Stubs Grow Up"
version.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Simple and Cost Free Things You Can Do To Prevent Check Fraud
The fraudulent creation, manufacture and cashing of checks which were not generated by the company has become more and more of a problem for businesses. These can include payroll checks, as well as checks that are made to appear to have originated from a direct sale or B2B transaction. This type of fraud is most common place in big cities, where even small time white collar criminals have access to computers and printers.
You would think that manufacturing and cashing checks that are professional enough in quality to withstand the scrutiny of a trained bank teller would involve access to some pretty high technology. A high quality laser printer, the right type of paper stock, and the ability to print the MICR (magnetic ink recognition) information found on the bottom of the check all seem like they would at least be difficult to accomplish. Well, that isn’t entirely true.
The acquisition of the MICR ink is by far the biggest stumbling block to a criminal, but it certainly isn’t an impossible task. Anyone who is resourceful enough to be able to convince the clerk at the ink supply store that they work for a legitimate company and then can fork over the 100-200 dollars to cover the price, can walk out with a laser printer MICR ink cartridge. Or, there are MICR cartridges made for inkjet printers now that are able to be bought at chain office supply stores for less than $100.
That, and the common proliferation of home check printing software and supplies- complete with security check stock, has made check fraud one of the top things of which a business owner needs to be aware.
Banks try to safeguard against that type of thing from happening by putting a cap on the money that can be made from one fraudulent check transaction between $500- $1000. That doesn't mean however that $1000 is all you can lose.
Considering the fact that it takes anywhere from 48 hours or more to catch the discrepancies in account activity and the fact that each person the criminal has working with him can each go into the bank and cash a separate check, the amount of money a company can lose to this form of fraud can be substantial.
For example, let's say a white collar criminal has five people under him or her who are also willing to go into the bank and cash a check. The bank that the checks are drawn from has a $1000 limit on the value of a check before they require verbal approval to authorize the transaction, and it takes 4 days to discover that the account has been compromised. That means that 6 people have gotten away with cashing one $1000 check each for four days. Thats $24,000 lost and doesn’t take into account the money paid out to cover employee's time spent correcting the problem, or time spent by the company in proving that the checks did not originate from their organization.
So, what can you do, as a business owner, to safe guard yourself against this?
* First, and this is by far the most effective measure, you should call the bank and request that they require verbal approval before cashing every check presented to them. All banks should comply.
* Another route is to register each and every check on a separate basis, which is more trouble but also effective.
*Make sure that your signature file at the bank is comprehensive and kept up to date.
* Check your account regularly, preferably on a daily basis. Don't be lackadaisical about balancing your books.
* This is another big one. Try to keep the checks that are being written in a strict order as far as check number goes. Don't let several different series of check numbers be in use at once. Many a criminal has been uncovered because the check they presented to the teller was out of sequence.
* Always lock your garbage and always shred all of your records once you are ready to discard them. White collar criminals often employ less tech savvy individuals to do their dirty work and “dumpster dive" to procure accounts. Most accounts that are used for manufacturing fraudulent checks have been gotten this way. Shredded records don't provide criminals with very lucrative information.
* Check the fine print in the insurance that you are guaranteed by your bank, to be certain of the precautions you need to be able to prove were in place, should something like this ever happen.
I think it's safe to say that if you are diligent about the above precautions and you have just a wee bit of serendipity on your side, you should never need to worry about falling victim to check fraud.
Good luck to you in all your business endeavors!
Jennie Amerman
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You would think that manufacturing and cashing checks that are professional enough in quality to withstand the scrutiny of a trained bank teller would involve access to some pretty high technology. A high quality laser printer, the right type of paper stock, and the ability to print the MICR (magnetic ink recognition) information found on the bottom of the check all seem like they would at least be difficult to accomplish. Well, that isn’t entirely true.
The acquisition of the MICR ink is by far the biggest stumbling block to a criminal, but it certainly isn’t an impossible task. Anyone who is resourceful enough to be able to convince the clerk at the ink supply store that they work for a legitimate company and then can fork over the 100-200 dollars to cover the price, can walk out with a laser printer MICR ink cartridge. Or, there are MICR cartridges made for inkjet printers now that are able to be bought at chain office supply stores for less than $100.
That, and the common proliferation of home check printing software and supplies- complete with security check stock, has made check fraud one of the top things of which a business owner needs to be aware.
Banks try to safeguard against that type of thing from happening by putting a cap on the money that can be made from one fraudulent check transaction between $500- $1000. That doesn't mean however that $1000 is all you can lose.
Considering the fact that it takes anywhere from 48 hours or more to catch the discrepancies in account activity and the fact that each person the criminal has working with him can each go into the bank and cash a separate check, the amount of money a company can lose to this form of fraud can be substantial.
For example, let's say a white collar criminal has five people under him or her who are also willing to go into the bank and cash a check. The bank that the checks are drawn from has a $1000 limit on the value of a check before they require verbal approval to authorize the transaction, and it takes 4 days to discover that the account has been compromised. That means that 6 people have gotten away with cashing one $1000 check each for four days. Thats $24,000 lost and doesn’t take into account the money paid out to cover employee's time spent correcting the problem, or time spent by the company in proving that the checks did not originate from their organization.
So, what can you do, as a business owner, to safe guard yourself against this?
* First, and this is by far the most effective measure, you should call the bank and request that they require verbal approval before cashing every check presented to them. All banks should comply.
* Another route is to register each and every check on a separate basis, which is more trouble but also effective.
*Make sure that your signature file at the bank is comprehensive and kept up to date.
* Check your account regularly, preferably on a daily basis. Don't be lackadaisical about balancing your books.
* This is another big one. Try to keep the checks that are being written in a strict order as far as check number goes. Don't let several different series of check numbers be in use at once. Many a criminal has been uncovered because the check they presented to the teller was out of sequence.
* Always lock your garbage and always shred all of your records once you are ready to discard them. White collar criminals often employ less tech savvy individuals to do their dirty work and “dumpster dive" to procure accounts. Most accounts that are used for manufacturing fraudulent checks have been gotten this way. Shredded records don't provide criminals with very lucrative information.
* Check the fine print in the insurance that you are guaranteed by your bank, to be certain of the precautions you need to be able to prove were in place, should something like this ever happen.
I think it's safe to say that if you are diligent about the above precautions and you have just a wee bit of serendipity on your side, you should never need to worry about falling victim to check fraud.
Good luck to you in all your business endeavors!
Jennie Amerman
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