Today’s consumers have more and more options for paying bills, depositing checks, sending money to friends and family and performing other banking transactions. But each new method comes with new ways for fraudsters to deplete your bank account.
Having your bank account raided by scammers can devastate your ability to pay your bills and everyday expenses. Luckily, for each common type of bank fraud, there are ways to keep your accounts safe and secure.
1. Check fraud
This type of fraud involves illegal attempts to obtain money through checks. Although Americans use fewer paper checks than they did in previous decades, they still write an average of three checks each month, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. That’s plenty of opportunity for fraud involving paper checks.
Examples include:
- Creating fake checks.
- Check washing: Replacing the original information on a check with new information.
- Check kiting: Writing a check for an amount greater than what’s in the account and depositing it at another bank.
- Forgery: Signing and using a check without permission.
Ways you can do to help protect yourself from check fraud include:
Investigate suspicious checks: If you receive a check that you suspect could be fraudulent, reach out to the bank that issued the check to confirm it’s legitimate before you attempt to deposit it into your bank account.
Avoid overpayment scams: Some check scams involve the writer of the check issuing it for too much money —…
