Bum checks

[Tachyon]

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08080/866661-100.stm

I know cheque kiting doesn't work anymore since they scan them now and send them digitally, but how viable is cheque fraud today? What does it take these days?

[m0rdekai]

i would assume you could do something like what he did, but I CLEARLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, EVER. anything else that you could pull off that wouldnt be extremely technical/expensive.

[Zazen]

People still do it all the time. All it takes is enough fake ID to open a bank account or enough stupidity to use your real ID, and some checks (from your other fake accounts, or your real account that has no money in it).

You just open an account, deposit some bad checks, and withdraw whatever the bank floats you from an ATM. Most banks float you a hundred bucks or more. Some places float you a lot more in some circumstances. There are variations that take advantage of time between getting money and posting to an account, for instance you might deposit some money and then withdraw it at two different locations at the same time (with an accomplice) because there's a posting delay. etc. etc.

These kinds of scams are all old hat and people get busted a lot

[gimmegimmegimme]

Probably the best thing to do would be to go on some local trader, or flea market , yard sale whatever. Use the checks , then peace.
A few problems are they can see your face.
They also might not take checks.

[Zazen]

Or you could stuff bogus checks into a gumball machine and get free gum! Only problem is they might not take checks.

[ravenmaddox]

I feel I should offer something to this since I have been federally charged with making fraudulent checks...

what you need

(1)blank check stock --- office depot sells this now along with many other companies. This is perfectly legal to have and easy to get. Basically its perforated paper with one section watermarked like a company payroll check tends to be. Companies that print their own checks nowdays prefer this blank stock vs preprinted stock from their bank because it reduces the chance of someone stealing a 'blank check' that could be forged and cashed

(2)a laser printer and Micr ink --- again office depot, et. al. You do not need any special identification to buy this stuff. perfectly legal to own. For example if you run a business out of your home or even if you simply prefer to print your own checks instead of handwriting them.

(3)the Micr font --- you need this font for the special characters noted on the bottom of your checks that separate transit routing numbers from account and check numbers ESPECIALLY since 99% of checks a=today are read thru an automated system. I've seen the font on Google and it usually comes with any check printing software solution. (Attached TTF: rename)

From here you can attempt to use notepad/wordpad and develop your own skew line (which I think would be a hellacious pain) or you can invest (usenet anyone?) in some check printing software. To buy this legally usually involves a few thousand dollars, but it makes it much easier to adjust the micr line (which will already be properly skewed) and to change account and transit numbers on a whim.

The illegal part comes in when... say you get a refund check from bellsouth... wow... here is their transit and account number... even the signature that should be on the check... I wonder how easily that could be scanned and reprinted with an inkjet?? even their logo?? hmmmm... the size of your checkstock vs the size of theirs does not matter. Most companies use legal size paper (which is a bit larger than your personal checkbook's) but the most important thing is the micr strength and the skew line being withing tolerance ranges. The minimum wage employees at places like wal-mart don't know how or care to check anything else (like the a-b-c routing numbers which can also be gleaned from the original check) they will simply stick it in their machine and if the micr is correct will give you money. 

[AmishGangsta]

To buy this legally usually involves a few thousand dollars, but it makes it much easier to adjust the micr line (which will already be properly skewed) and to change account and transit numbers on a whim.

You can do this with Quickbooks for much less than a few thousand dollars.

[ravenmaddox]

Our software at work had to be registered and has an 'ID' tag printed in the band on the upper right-hand corner of the check. The ID number is the serial number of our software - Does quickbooks do this as part of their security?

Our system (since it integrates with an existing accounting system - Sage Timberline) prints checks from plain text files - way too easily modified to change say the "Pay to the Order of" line. So the accounting system itself will think you wrote a check to Radio Shack when it actuality it was printed to "Steve Dave"

Do you have any information on which version of quickbooks has the ability to print checks and/or what is required to make it function? My guess would be that setup would entail a proprietary format and a registered file that had bank information relating only to one verified account. Whereas my program gives the user full control to set up multiple bank accounts and adjust the routing and account numbers on a whim (and even more options become available when you play in their MySql database.)

[greenhippo33]

I feel I should offer something to this since I have been federally charged with making fraudulent checks...

what you need

(1)blank check stock --- office depot sells this now along with many other companies. This is perfectly legal to have and easy to get. Basically its perforated paper with one section watermarked like a company payroll check tends to be. Companies that print their own checks nowdays prefer this blank stock vs preprinted stock from their bank because it reduces the chance of someone stealing a 'blank check' that could be forged and cashed

(2)a laser printer and Micr ink --- again office depot, et. al. You do not need any special identification to buy this stuff. perfectly legal to own. For example if you run a business out of your home or even if you simply prefer to print your own checks instead of handwriting them.

(3)the Micr font --- you need this font for the special characters noted on the bottom of your checks that separate transit routing numbers from account and check numbers ESPECIALLY since 99% of checks a=today are read thru an automated system. I've seen the font on Google and it usually comes with any check printing software solution. (Attached TTF: rename)

From here you can attempt to use notepad/wordpad and develop your own skew line (which I think would be a hellacious pain) or you can invest (usenet anyone?) in some check printing software. To buy this legally usually involves a few thousand dollars, but it makes it much easier to adjust the micr line (which will already be properly skewed) and to change account and transit numbers on a whim.

The illegal part comes in when... say you get a refund check from bellsouth... wow... here is their transit and account number... even the signature that should be on the check... I wonder how easily that could be scanned and reprinted with an inkjet?? even their logo?? hmmmm... the size of your checkstock vs the size of theirs does not matter. Most companies use legal size paper (which is a bit larger than your personal checkbook's) but the most important thing is the micr strength and the skew line being withing tolerance ranges. The minimum wage employees at places like wal-mart don't know how or care to check anything else (like the a-b-c routing numbers which can also be gleaned from the original check) they will simply stick it in their machine and if the micr is correct will give you money. 

You have been federally charged?

Did you have to do any time?

[ravenmaddox]

http://raven.rkwallace.com/saveme.htm   <--- the reason I first made a one page website

Sentencing keeps getting postponed, now till November 14th, but I believe it will be postponed again. Their reasoning is that they want me to meet with some Washington peeps so my imaginative side has hopes of this going the way of Frank Abagnale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale or at the least like the first National Treasure:

Nick:I really don;t want to go to jail
Harvey:Someone always has to go to jail

That person being my so-called friend whom I made the novelties for, who assured me multiple times that "Yeah, I know what I'm risking trying to pass this off as real and I'll hold up for it." Yet no sooner than his ass hit the detectives seat did he try and say I did everything. The difference between us (and not meaning to sound a total shit) is that he is a three-time loser, tattooed, gang member, owns no property, has never kept a job more than 2 months at a time, and has been constantly stirring up trouble and finding himself in the middle of all kinds of police investigations. As for myself, I have two sons, a home, a nice car, a job that I've held for over 4 years (the same job that the feds wanted to give me a charge at and say I couldn't work for anymore but my boss told them to go get fucked that he needed me and my computer expertise and that I had never wronged him in any kind of way)

My hope is that all of the above will work in my favor and perhaps I will get off with a bit of probation and fines and maybe community service (a la Frank?) My other piece of 'saving grace' I believe is that altho I made fake/novelty ID's (that the highway patrol accused me of stealing or having in my possession some of their equipment because it was such a high quality - but how did he know, he was looking at a photocopy) and I made the fake/novelty checks... I never once passed any of them off as real. That was for my friend only because I knew the risk and didn't want to take it and assumed I was safe since I never made any claim to any documents validity.

Sorry to have gotten so far off topic... maybe I should have made a new thread...

[Magus]

http://raven.rkwallace.com/saveme.htm   <--- the reason I first made a one page website

I am now laughing and it's out loud because what was said previously is so funny. Real smart there linking to the address and phone numbers of multiple government officials on a forum like this.

But I really do hope this case gets dismissed. You didn't try to harm/scam anybody, and hopefully the judge will realize that.

[AmishGangsta]

Do you have any information on which version of quickbooks has the ability to print checks and/or what is required to make it function?

http://quickbooksusers.com/qbproducts.htm

http://quickbooksusers.com/printboss.htm

I question the wisdom of even inquiring how to make a bad check scheme work, seeing as how you've not only been pinched and prosecuted for it but also admitted to being involved in credit card fraud.

[ravenmaddox]

Oh I'm not inquiring how to make it work, my interest was only as to the existence and ease of use of other software that allows you to print your own MICR checks.

Upon further reading... I wish printboss had been around a few years back. It says it works with timberline and a far sight cheaper than Piracle's Create-a-Check that we currently use. (Circa $3k if I remember correctly) This has truly become a poor mans hack now - which I guess explains all the Nigerian interest. According to the installation instructions the company name and contact and serial number are permanently assigned so I doubt it would be as easy to change to print 'dummy' checks. For any and all legitimate reasons tho it seems like a well-priced piece of software.