A Cautionary Tale (Lesson Learned)

[RandallFlagg]

Some might be surprised to read this (some may not) but as a rule, forewarned is forearmed!

In late November I contacted my bank to send a bank check to a personal friend. The bank (not me) sent the check out as requested. It was deducted from my checking account and sent. A couple of weeks later I spoke with my friend who tells me that he never received it.

I look at my bank statement online and yes, the check had been cashed and was in my statement. I IMMEDIATELY could tell that the check had been altered (Very poorly) and cashed. It looked as though a young child had actually altered the "printed" check that originated at the bank.

I contact the bank and they begin a fraud investigation. I went to the local Police and they, for the most part, told me that it wasn't worth their effort to investigate. Let me add that the check was for $1,395 or, a Class A Felony (Grand Larceny).

The bank investigation has revealed the check was cashed at a Wells Fargo Bank, but Wells Fargo won't release any other details without a subpoena. They have a picture of the felon, as well.

According to MY banks investigators, they will credit my account the money lost, but there "most likely" will be no charges brought against the perpetrator because it isn't "worth their time". The Police department tells me that there is a "million to one chance" that they would ever get the case to court, let alone ever prosecuted.

Moral of the story?

Apparently this is a very profitable business to get into. Crime with little risk and nearly NO chance that you'll ever do time because the Police are too busy writing tickets to go after felons and bank investigators would rather pay out with insurance and just raise OUR rates to cover the expense.

Unbelievable......

 

[JakeStarkey]

Cautionary tale for sure.

 

[FA_Q2]

There is no money in prosecuting criminals. There is lots of cash to be had in writing speeding tickets. That is why traffic violations are generally prosecuted to the fullest while anything that is not a red-handed crime is mostly ignored.

We want to know why identity theft is such a large crime here in America? Most likely because the police really don't give a shit.

 

[Mr. H.]

My email was hacked a few weeks ago. Long story short, $128,000 bilked from our corporate accounts.
All is squre now, hard lessons learned by myself and my bank.

 

[RandallFlagg]

There is no money in prosecuting criminals. There is lots of cash to be had in writing speeding tickets. That is why traffic violations are generally prosecuted to the fullest while anything that is not a red-handed crime is mostly ignored.

We want to know why identity theft is such a large crime here in America? Most likely because the police really don't give a shit.

I couldn't agree more. I live in a "college town" and on Friday and Saturday nights the Police are as thick as thieves (pun intended) in the center of town. It is not at all unusual to see the Monday morning police blotter 2 pages long. Yet they can't be bothered to even investigate "white collar" crime.

Frankly I don't get it. Were I to walk into a bank and hand a note to a teller demanding money, The Police and the FBI would spare no expense hunting me down, yet someone steals MY money, through the same bank, and it's "Well, it really isn't worth our time to investigate it". The bank reimburses me and raises all our rates.....

What a deal.....

 

[Swagger]

Police forces across the Western world are often reluctant to investigate cheque, wire and/or ATM fraud becasue the know they'll be scratching the surface of what the gang they're chasing has committed. Not forgetting that due to the global nature of money transfer, they'd have to co-operate with a lot of potentially corrupt juristictions in the Third World. Especially Africa. They and their superoir are well aware of what a time consuming and expensive investigation it would be if they brought all the charges they should against whoever they're pursuing, so they appear to be nipping the whole thing in the bud by claiming it's not worth it. On paper it makes perfect economic sense, however galling it is for the victim in reality.

Put it this way. If the public demanded that fraud of this nature were to be thoroughly investigated, the authorities wouldn't have the resources to chase everyone they suspected. Not forgeting that many of the ringleaders of these gangs are based in the Third World, where corruption prevails; and there's little sympathy for the widely believed rich people in the West who've been ripped off.

 

[boedicca]

Lesson: send a bank wire instead of a check.

 

[Katzndogz]

There is no money in prosecuting criminals. There is lots of cash to be had in writing speeding tickets. That is why traffic violations are generally prosecuted to the fullest while anything that is not a red-handed crime is mostly ignored.

We want to know why identity theft is such a large crime here in America? Most likely because the police really don't give a shit.

I couldn't agree more. I live in a "college town" and on Friday and Saturday nights the Police are as thick as thieves (pun intended) in the center of town. It is not at all unusual to see the Monday morning police blotter 2 pages long. Yet they can't be bothered to even investigate "white collar" crime.

Frankly I don't get it. Were I to walk into a bank and hand a note to a teller demanding money, The Police and the FBI would spare no expense hunting me down, yet someone steals MY money, through the same bank, and it's "Well, it really isn't worth our time to investigate it". The bank reimburses me and raises all our rates.....

What a deal.....

If you are in a college town, likely the police aren't writing traffic infraction tickets but looking for drunk drivers on Friday and Saturday nights.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Police forces across the Western world are often reluctant to investigate cheque, wire and/or ATM fraud becasue the know they'll be scratching the surface of what the gang they're chasing has committed. Not forgetting that due to the global nature of money transfer, they'd have to co-operate with a lot of potentially corrupt juristictions in the Third World. Especially Africa. They and their superoir are well aware of what a time consuming and expensive investigation it would be if they brought all the charges they should against whoever they're pursuing, so they appear to be nipping the whole thing in the bud by claiming it's not worth it. On paper it makes perfect economic sense, however galling it is for the victim in reality.

Put it this way. If the public demanded that fraud of this nature were to be thoroughly investigated, the authorities wouldn't have the resources to chase everyone they suspected. Not forgeting that many of the ringleaders of these gangs are based in the Third World, where corruption prevails; and there's little sympathy for the widely believed rich people in the West who've been ripped off.

I completely understand what you are saying. However, there is no "third world" gang here. Quite the opposite. The check (made out by the bank) was stolen from the payees mail box and cashed locally at a different bank. The bank has a photo of the individual that cashed the check, as well as the teller who cashed the obviously "bogus" check without question.

Again, the check was so badly manipulated that a child would have been suspicious immediately. There is no question whatsoever that fraud is being committed here.

However, the bank - Wells Fargo- REFUSES to turn anything over to the Police for prosecution. MY bank can not get any information either, except that they will reimburse my bank, and ultimately ME. This is the part that I, frankly, do not understand. Picture of the criminal and they will not prefer charges against the individual.

I understand that I will get my money back. No big deal. What IS a big deal, at least to me is that, supposedly, we are a "nation of laws"....except when it comes to bank fraud. Again, if I walked into the same bank and demanded money, the Police and the FBI would hunt me from here to eternity. Why? because I have stolen from a multi-national concern. But it was stolen from a nobody, like me or you, or the guy walking down the street, We get nothing.

 

[FA_Q2]

There is no money in prosecuting criminals. There is lots of cash to be had in writing speeding tickets. That is why traffic violations are generally prosecuted to the fullest while anything that is not a red-handed crime is mostly ignored.

We want to know why identity theft is such a large crime here in America? Most likely because the police really don't give a shit.

I couldn't agree more. I live in a "college town" and on Friday and Saturday nights the Police are as thick as thieves (pun intended) in the center of town. It is not at all unusual to see the Monday morning police blotter 2 pages long. Yet they can't be bothered to even investigate "white collar" crime.

Frankly I don't get it. Were I to walk into a bank and hand a note to a teller demanding money, The Police and the FBI would spare no expense hunting me down, yet someone steals MY money, through the same bank, and it's "Well, it really isn't worth our time to investigate it". The bank reimburses me and raises all our rates.....

What a deal.....

If you are in a college town, likely the police aren't writing traffic infraction tickets but looking for drunk drivers on Friday and Saturday nights.

Which, incidentally, has even MORE money involved. DUI's typically have large fines and no jail time attached to them.

 

[FA_Q2]

Police forces across the Western world are often reluctant to investigate cheque, wire and/or ATM fraud becasue the know they'll be scratching the surface of what the gang they're chasing has committed. Not forgetting that due to the global nature of money transfer, they'd have to co-operate with a lot of potentially corrupt juristictions in the Third World. Especially Africa. They and their superoir are well aware of what a time consuming and expensive investigation it would be if they brought all the charges they should against whoever they're pursuing, so they appear to be nipping the whole thing in the bud by claiming it's not worth it. On paper it makes perfect economic sense, however galling it is for the victim in reality.

Put it this way. If the public demanded that fraud of this nature were to be thoroughly investigated, the authorities wouldn't have the resources to chase everyone they suspected. Not forgeting that many of the ringleaders of these gangs are based in the Third World, where corruption prevails; and there's little sympathy for the widely believed rich people in the West who've been ripped off.

I completely understand what you are saying. However, there is no "third world" gang here. Quite the opposite. The check (made out by the bank) was stolen from the payees mail box and cashed locally at a different bank. The bank has a photo of the individual that cashed the check, as well as the teller who cashed the obviously "bogus" check without question.

Again, the check was so badly manipulated that a child would have been suspicious immediately. There is no question whatsoever that fraud is being committed here.

However, the bank - Wells Fargo- REFUSES to turn anything over to the Police for prosecution. MY bank can not get any information either, except that they will reimburse my bank, and ultimately ME. This is the part that I, frankly, do not understand. Picture of the criminal and they will not prefer charges against the individual.

I understand that I will get my money back. No big deal. What IS a big deal, at least to me is that, supposedly, we are a "nation of laws"....except when it comes to bank fraud. Again, if I walked into the same bank and demanded money, the Police and the FBI would hunt me from here to eternity. Why? because I have stolen from a multi-national concern. But it was stolen from a nobody, like me or you, or the guy walking down the street, We get nothing.

True.
I had something like this happen to me also when I bought 200 dollars in artwork from some college art student. He placed a 1 in front of the 2, left the wording alone (how they did not catch this is beyond me) and gave the man 1200 instead of 200. Got my money back but the cops treated it the same way.

In all honesty, checks are a bad idea in general. Banks are so large now they don't care to even look at them anymore and those machines that I thought were there to stop things like this do nothing at all. I will say though, they now put images of your cashed checks online for you to view so that there is rarely an error that you are unable to get overturned because you can look right at it and identify the fraud.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Police forces across the Western world are often reluctant to investigate cheque, wire and/or ATM fraud becasue the know they'll be scratching the surface of what the gang they're chasing has committed. Not forgetting that due to the global nature of money transfer, they'd have to co-operate with a lot of potentially corrupt juristictions in the Third World. Especially Africa. They and their superoir are well aware of what a time consuming and expensive investigation it would be if they brought all the charges they should against whoever they're pursuing, so they appear to be nipping the whole thing in the bud by claiming it's not worth it. On paper it makes perfect economic sense, however galling it is for the victim in reality.

Put it this way. If the public demanded that fraud of this nature were to be thoroughly investigated, the authorities wouldn't have the resources to chase everyone they suspected. Not forgeting that many of the ringleaders of these gangs are based in the Third World, where corruption prevails; and there's little sympathy for the widely believed rich people in the West who've been ripped off.

I completely understand what you are saying. However, there is no "third world" gang here. Quite the opposite. The check (made out by the bank) was stolen from the payees mail box and cashed locally at a different bank. The bank has a photo of the individual that cashed the check, as well as the teller who cashed the obviously "bogus" check without question.

Again, the check was so badly manipulated that a child would have been suspicious immediately. There is no question whatsoever that fraud is being committed here.

However, the bank - Wells Fargo- REFUSES to turn anything over to the Police for prosecution. MY bank can not get any information either, except that they will reimburse my bank, and ultimately ME. This is the part that I, frankly, do not understand. Picture of the criminal and they will not prefer charges against the individual.

I understand that I will get my money back. No big deal. What IS a big deal, at least to me is that, supposedly, we are a "nation of laws"....except when it comes to bank fraud. Again, if I walked into the same bank and demanded money, the Police and the FBI would hunt me from here to eternity. Why? because I have stolen from a multi-national concern. But it was stolen from a nobody, like me or you, or the guy walking down the street, We get nothing.

True.
I had something like this happen to me also when I bought 200 dollars in artwork from some college art student. He placed a 1 in front of the 2, left the wording alone (how they did not catch this is beyond me) and gave the man 1200 instead of 200. Got my money back but the cops treated it the same way.

In all honesty, checks are a bad idea in general. Banks are so large now they don't care to even look at them anymore and those machines that I thought were there to stop things like this do nothing at all. I will say though, they now put images of your cashed checks online for you to view so that there is rarely an error that you are unable to get overturned because you can look right at it and identify the fraud.

You are 100 percent correct. When my friend told me that he had not received the check, I went to my online account and there, as big as day, was the cancelled check and it was painfully obvious that the check had been altered.

It was a printed check (originating at the bank) at was forged with a ball point pen. How the cashier didn't catch this is beyond me, unless, as my bank guesses, she/he was a part of this the whole time...