Fraudulent Checking Made Easier

Commerce Bank is the latest bank to add remote deposit services, allowing customers to scan checks from their place of business and deposit them electronically — without having to make a daily deposit run to the local branch. It's a service that other area banks offer, such as Intrust Bank, UMB Bank and Equity Bank.

And it's a service that more banks are expected to offer.

The problem with the service as I see it is that the banks do not have in place a system for verifying the validity of the checks being scanned. As a result, there is an increase of fraudulent checks being presented to the bank electronically. The fraud doesn't get caught until the customer complains to the bank about unauthorized transactions on their accounts.

These electronic technologies are giving thieves easier access to your banking funds while at the same time erecting barriers to tracking them down. Few, if any, of these banking frauds are prosecuted and crooks wanting to launder funds to support terrorist organizations or simply line their pockets with your cash are finding it easier to do with little fear of prosecution.

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