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A Man Walks into a Bank

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Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#121

Post by bestes »

mathmoi wrote: post #67
dalore wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about signatures? Surely the signature has the match the one on file or the cheque bounces?

They definitely don't check the signature. About a year ago, I altered the way I sign cheques. I used to sign my full name, now I just initials them. I got not problem, no cheque bounced.

I deposited a check at an ATM recently and it was rejected (by the ATM itself) because it was not endorsed. It wasn't and I seriously doubt this is anything more than a check for some ink on the back in the endorse-here area.

The ATM then tried to return the check to me, but there was some kind of paper feed error and I never saw it again.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#122

Post by smackfu »

mbateman wrote: post #93
shin_lao wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry I don't understand the scam. How did they make the cashier believe the newspaper was actually cash?

ATMs don't scan a deposited check or cash. They wait for someone in the bank to open it and determine whether it is legit, then the account is credited. But after a while your account becomes "trustworthy" and any deposits are credited to the account before it is checked.

New ATMs, that don't use envelopes, certainly scan the deposit.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#123

Post by staticshock »

alan_cx wrote: post #17

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…

Legend has it some students in the UK banked a cow

Not according to snopes: http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/cowcheck.asp

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#125

Post by jarek »

Splines wrote: post #113
dalore wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about signatures? Surely the signature has the match the one on file or the cheque bounces?

It's too bad there isn't some sort of reconfigurable QR code stamp thing that you can use to sign something. Say, for example, you enter in the payee, amount and date, it digitally signs it with your private key from your bank, creates a QR code with the data and moves tiny little stamp pins up/down and you press it onto the paper.

If you're going through that much technological effort, why still use paper cheques?

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#126

Post by jeltz »

veyron wrote: post #89
mrweasel wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit card fees aren't onerous, not here in Denmark at least, I think Finland has a similar deal. Credit cards are issued by your bank, you pay one yearly fee, 175DKK around 30USD. More often than not the bank will give you a VISA debit card for free, or a Master Card with 30.000DKK limit, no interest if you pay the debt of each month (The bank will do the transfer from your account for free, assuming that you have…

Oh I meant fees to the recipient, There's a law in the US that requires CC merchants to charge the same price as they would with cash payment (for most goods; some, like gas, have special exemptions), so when you pay X dollars by credit card the merchant receives less than X dollars.

That fee is usually somewhere between 1.5% and 3% so it is quite steep. Bank transfers though in Sweden are and most of Europe are either free or cheap.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#127

Post by njharman »

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?

> what's to stop you just printing a cheque from someone else

Going to jail for fraud is disincentive enough for most.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#128

Post by [deleted] »

bestes wrote: post #121
mathmoi wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They definitely don't check the signature. About a year ago, I altered the way I sign cheques. I used to sign my full name, now I just initials them. I got not problem, no cheque bounced.

I deposited a check at an ATM recently and it was rejected (by the ATM itself) because it was not endorsed. It wasn't and I seriously doubt this is anything more than a check for some ink on the back in the endorse-here area. The ATM then tried to return the check to me, but there was some kind of paper feed error and I never saw it again.

[deleted]

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#129

Post by bluesnowmonkey »

It sounds more like he was hoping to get $95k than that he was playing a practical joke. As if banks have senses of humor. And after the bank and media noticed the situation, he was probably enjoying the attention in addition to holding out hope that he'd still get to keep the money somehow. It's sleazy how he tries to spin it as if he had some moral high ground.

Re: A Man Walks into a Bank

#130

Post by joshuakarjala »

mrweasel wrote: post #91
veyron wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I meant fees to the recipient, There's a law in the US that requires CC merchants to charge the same price as they would with cash payment (for most goods; some, like gas, have special exemptions), so when you pay X dollars by credit card the merchant receives less than X dollars.

Oh yes, you're right on that part. Denmark have a "Dankort" a national debit card, you can't charge a fee on that, but you could on other cards, but most stores don't.

You can't charge a fee to the customer. But the retailer still has to pay a fee whenever you use any type of credit card.

Which is why I feel like a dick if I ever have to use my credit card for a sub 30kr ($5ish) purchase in a small business.

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