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The effects of having checks stolen can be long-lasting

BY RHONDA ROSS
Traveler Staff Writer

In recent months, the Arkansas City Police Department has investigated more than its share of forgery reports.

"There have been a lot lately," said detective Anthony Rider. "I'm working on four of them right now."

Forgery is classified as a white collar crime that involves the "passing of a false or worthless instrument such as a check or counterfeit security with the intent to defraud or injure the recipient." Besides checks, this includes credit, check or ATM cards.

Police Chief Dan Givens said that employees at businesses don't check IDs like they should. "I think it's because they don't want to offend anybody," he said. "There's still that mindset out there that it's going to inconvenience someone to ask for an ID; especially if there's a long line."

"We have a lot of forgeries in our community," Givens said. "It's a problem, but we'll continue to track the forgerers down and bring them in."

On Wednesday, at least four of them were arrested by Ark City police after it was discovered they had been passing counterfeit checks in Texas and Oklahoma, and were attempting more of the same in Kansas.

John Sturd, president of Union State Bank, said the bank has seen more cases of identity theft, where someone attempts to use another person's name to get a loan, than forgery cases.

"It's the customer's responsibility to make sure all activity in their checkbooks match up."

Who hasn't seen the public service television commercials that warn of identity theft? They're so outrageous; most people can't help but laugh. Though the TV ads focus on how devastating the theft of a credit card can be, check fraud can be even harder to get a handle on, and for those who have been victimized by this crime, it's no laughing matter.

Check fraud is a crime of equal opportunity that affects both small and large businesses, as well as the consumer, racking up more than 10 billion dollars in losses each year. That's not so hard to understand with more than 500 million checks forged annually.

What frightens most people is the ease with which it occurs. Thieves have been known to pull checks from the middle of a pack that was stored in a drawer or a closet, and the victim didn't even realize the checks were missing until months, or in some cases, years later. Then there are those who write a check for one amount, only to have it come back altered as a much higher amount.

Credit cards can be cancelled and checking accounts closed with new ones opened, but the lingering effects, most notably dealing with credit card companies, banks, and credit agencies, can be long-term and very frustrating.

Most banks are cooperative; it's the debt collection agencies that can render a person bald, and turn him or her into a raving lunatic. While it's true that a victim can place a stop payment on a check, it can be expensive, and often, it's too late.

Though Rider said there were 30 forgeries in Ark City from June, 2005 to June, 2006, Givens sees that number dwindling in the near future. "I think businesses are doing a lot better now, because more people are using a check card and businesses can tell with one swipe if customers have money in their account or not," he said.

Even with more and more safeguards in place to decrease the odds of a person becoming a victim of stolen identity, it's still not impossible.

Tips for avoiding losing your identity

Caution is needed in handling checks and other important papers. Here are some guidelines.

* Review your bank and credit card statements as soon as you get them. Don't assume they are correct and toss them aside to be dealt with later. Just as with other devastating occurrences, early detection is crucial.

* Don't write your pin number on any card. It's not even safe to have the number written anywhere in a purse or wallet, in case of theft. Even if it's not identified as your pin number, thieves are clever enough to figure it out. If possible, this number should be memorized.

* Don't use your deposit slips or checks as scratch paper or for notes to pass along to others. If this can't be avoided, tear off any personal information first.

* Shred, shred, shred. This can't be stressed enough. Shred all bank-related documents, even unused checks from a closed account, before you throw them away. If someone discovers them intact in a refuse pile and makes use of them, you are the one who has to "pay the piper." The same goes for credit card information.

* In a home safe, or other secure place, maintain at least a copy of all receipts, whether you use them for tax deductions or not. They could prove the value of a purchase you made, in the event of theft, and they can also help assure that your credit card charges are correct.

* Weigh carefully any decision to add another person to your bank account or safe deposit box. Consider enacting a "power of attorney" so that the person is required, and held accountable, to act in your best interest, not theirs.

* Do not sign or endorse a check until you are prepared to relinquish it to the proper recipient. Signing multiple blank checks to save time is an open invitation to thieves and can cost both time and money.

* Do not give out bank account or credit card information over the phone- to anyone. If someone is telling you that you won a free prize, remember the word FREE. This means that it shouldn't cost you anything. In addition, an officer of a bank or credit card company would not be asking you for that information because they already have it.

* When you write a check, eliminate all blank space that would allow someone to alter the amount. Fill up the space with a horizontal line, if necessary.

* Don't give out your ATM card, period.

Once it has been determined that checks were stolen, take the following steps immediately:

* Notify the bank and stop payment on stolen checks. Open a new account but don't close the old one until all outstanding checks have cleared.

* If you are able to change your license number, do so.

* You may want to contact Check Service/Recovery Companies, before they contact you, to begin what could be a long, arduous reporting process. Write down names of everyone you speak with, the time of call, and what was said.

* Once a creditor confirms fraud, ask for a letter of confirmation.

* Contact your local law enforcement and insist on receiving a case number. Request that a report be filed and that you be given a copy.

* Prepare a file for each creditor and have a cover letter containing all important information for each of them.

* You will need a notarized affidavit of forgery to show that any use of your check was unauthorized. This will be sent to either the bank or the check service company, if the merchant was stuck with the forged check.

* Make sure to keep the following items together and readily available: The notarized affidavit of forgery; a copy of the police report; a copy of your driver's license; a cover letter containing any case numbers and the account numbers of the forged checks.

* Don't expect things to be cleared up overnight. These things take time and a lot of patience.

Above: A mock forgery.