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A Man Walks into a Bank

ft.com

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Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#11

Post by joelrunyon »

wrath wrote: post #7

Am I missing something here? The transit, bank and account number on the check must all be fake (or I would hope that this get-rick-quick company didn't actually send their real bank information!). So whether or not the check has non-negotiable printed on it is a mute point. The check cannot be routed anywhere and would have been flagged immediately. This is not the good ol' days of bank fraud, ala Catch Me If You Ca…

If it was fake, wouldn't the bank have figured it out when they tried to transfer the money?

Maybe it was a case of "america's stupidest criminals." I don't know the details, but weirder things have happened.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#12

Post by dabeeeenster »

I once paid a fairly big cheque (> 10k sterling) into the wrong business account. It cleared but I only realised the mistake a couple of weeks later.

I rang the bank (Santander in the UK - terrible bank don't use them) and they said "Oh yeah, we generally don't check the payer".

Really.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#14

Post by jj_aa »

DeepDuh wrote: post #4
corin_ wrote: post #3

Good story, shame (though understandable) that it cares more about promoting his show than actually finishing the tale for readers.

"So... WHAT HAPPENED?" If you want to know what happens next, order our DVD now!

IIRC from this guy's site, before it was a show, he had a stand-off with the bank for a while before learning that this check was holding up a merger between his bank and another company, so the whole executive suite was freaking out. Eventually he gave the check back with no repercussions and some token like a letter of apology.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#15

Post by sudonim »

petenixey wrote: post #10

This story was from a little while back but what's to stop you just printing a cheque from someone else and paying it into a bank today? There's no alerting to the originator that a cheque's been paid out and there are no obvious authentication tokens on the cheques. Frank Abignale only had to get past an initial look-test so what techniques protect against (and are consistently used) to prevent cheque forgery today?

As far as I know, there are just 2 things preventing fraudulent checks:

1. Obscurity : Someone has to know your account number and routing code.

2. ...

Ah, make that just one thing preventing fraudulent checks. It's scary. Any legitimate check, for any amount contains enough information to create a fraudulent check to drain a bank account.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#16

Post by daigoba66 »

petenixey wrote: post #10

This story was from a little while back but what's to stop you just printing a cheque from someone else and paying it into a bank today? There's no alerting to the originator that a cheque's been paid out and there are no obvious authentication tokens on the cheques. Frank Abignale only had to get past an initial look-test so what techniques protect against (and are consistently used) to prevent cheque forgery today?

That's the thing, I'm pretty sure check clearinghouses are near real-time these days. At least in the US. Deposit the check and within a few minutes it'll either clear from the other bank or bounce.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#17

Post by alan_cx »

To amuse: Dunno if things have changed here(UK) but a cheque can be (or could be) anything. It's just a bit of paper with some details on it. In fact, I'm not sure there is a requirement for it to actually be on paper. Legend has it some students in the UK banked a cow (yes a large moo moo thing) because it had the right details on it.

Anyway, if this fake cheque had all the right details on it, or enough to make the transaction, how is it fake? Or how could it clear if the details were wrong? Surely US banks clear the cheque before crediting the account with the money?

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#19

Post by knowtheory »

sudonim wrote: post #15
petenixey wrote: post #10

This story was from a little while back but what's to stop you just printing a cheque from someone else and paying it into a bank today? There's no alerting to the originator that a cheque's been paid out and there are no obvious authentication tokens on the cheques. Frank Abignale only had to get past an initial look-test so what techniques protect against (and are consistently used) to prevent cheque forgery today?

As far as I know, there are just 2 things preventing fraudulent checks: 1. Obscurity : Someone has to know your account number and routing code. 2. ... Ah, make that just one thing preventing fraudulent checks. It's scary. Any legitimate check, for any amount contains enough information to create a fraudulent check to drain a bank account.

Actually... the other article that three14 linked to enumerates the reasons here: http://www.goodthink.com/writing/view_stories.cfm?id=11&...

Quote:

Manuel went on to inform me of things that further amazed and intrigued me:

* According to Commercial Paper Law the money was now legally mine, because all checks are first assumed to be valid -- and the way a bank invalidates a check is by serving the depositor with a timely notice of dishonor. Considering that it took my bank 33 days to tell me my check had been returned, he did not think they had dishonored the check in time.

* Fraudulent checks ARE a different manner. But he said, "Since you deposited the check 'thinking there was no chance it would cash, and without even endorsing it' -- you didn't commit fraud."

* Getting the cashier's check was also not an act of fraud, since the bank had previously assured me the check could no longer be returned.

* There are two practices of law as seen through the eyes of a court: (1) Black Letter of Law, where the court rules strictly by the law (and I would be awarded the money) and (2) Chancery Courts, also known as Courts of Compassion, where the court disregards the law when it is deemed non-sensical. He said that, "Easily a court could disregard the law and give the money back to the bank because really you have no claim to this money from an equitable sense of the law." And then he added, "And when it's an individual vs. a Bank, I'm sorry to say that courts usually side with the bank."

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