Time was when we mostly paid our bills by sending out physical checks. In those days, fraudsters would engage is something called check washing. This involved treating a stolen check with certain solvents that would remove everything you wrote on your check except your signature. That allowed the crooks to fill any amount and any payee to steal from your checking account. While devastating, a washed check could only be used once.
In our digital age, bunko artists are now doing something known as check cooking. This involves the thief taking a digital picture of a stolen check and manipulating the image with various phot editing software to alter. In this way, they can use that stolen check multiple times, simply printing out new copies or using smartphone technology to deposit the altered check multiple times into a bank account.
What can you do to protect yourself? The experts urge you to do as much bill paying as possible using your bank’s online payment services or using those verified money apps like Venmo. If you still have to send a paper check, don’t leave in your mailbox for your local carrier. Instead, take it directly to your nearest post office and drop it off there.