The Art of the Steal (7 page)

WHAT TO DO

Obviously, any company getting wires every day has to give out the information over the phone, in order to allow people to electronically transfer money to its accounts. But there’s a way to prevent this kind of fraud. All you have to do is open up what’s known as a non-negotiable incoming wire account to receive your wire transfers. So when people call up and ask for that information, that’s the account you give them. Funds that come into that account by wire can’t be withdrawn, can’t be taken out verbally, and can’t be taken out electronically. The only thing you can do is put money into the account. Those funds are held there until the end of the bank day, at which point they’re moved to the account that you write checks on.

THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU—SO YOU’D
BETTER GET THE CHECK RIGHT

In the old days, the bank was entirely liable if it paid a forged check. At that point, companies would say, well, I don’t care about my checks. If somebody forges a check, I’ll catch it in my audit, take it down to the bank, and they’ll give me my money back. And if they don’t, I’ll find another bank to do business with.

Because of changes in the law, it doesn’t work that way anymore. If the bank can prove that you were negligent in any way, then they don’t owe you the money. Say you work in accounts payable and asked a clerk to cut you a check for $63,000 to pay an invoice. The clerk cut the check and then brought it to you. It was five o’clock, time to go home. You were going to mail it with some papers, but you say, oh, I’ll just do it tomorrow. So you put it all in your out box and go home. The janitor comes in, takes the check, cashes it, and it clears the bank. You ask the bank for your money back. Forget about it. You were negligent in leaving the check lying there, and your negligence led to that forgery.

Due to the shift in liability, businesses need to make their checks more secure. There are an array of security features to do just that. I do a lot of check designing, and I advocate the use of a technique called layering, in which a number of features are added to the same check. Why? Because different protection features respond differently to fraud methods. By combining several features, attempting to circumvent one security feature can enhance the protection provided by another.

WHAT TO DO

First of all, you need to use a check that’s difficult to forge or alter. Too many companies just use that familiar green or blue basketweave check paper, because it’s the cheapest. The companies run it off on the laser printer and they have no controls at all on the paper.

To guard against forgers who use chemicals to alter checks, you need to order chemically sensitive paper. You have to ask the printer, If someone touches it with bleach or ink eradicators, what’s going to happen? Good paper stock is sensitive to at least nineteen chemicals—chemicals like bleach, acetone, solvents, and hydrochlorides. Whenever these are used to alter a check, the word “void” appears in the background of the paper in three languages, English, Spanish, and French. The word should just appear right from behind the paper as soon as you touch it with any of those substances. At the very minimum, the check should change color. It should go from a blue check to a green spot or a brown spot on the check.

So if someone is issued a check and tries to chemically alter the amount, he’s out of luck. He can’t go back to you and say, “Look I tried to forge your check and this void showed up all over.”

I told you about how forgers use Scotch tape to remove information off laser-printed checks. To solve this problem, when you buy laser paper for your checks you need to ask the supplier if it has “toner anchorage.” Sometimes this is called “LaserLock” or “Toner Lock.” This is a chemical that is put in the paper during the paper-making process to ensure that documents printed on a laser printer are secure. When the toner is applied, the chemical that is already in the paper is activated by the heat process and when the chemical and the toner mix, the toner is locked to the paper. It’s impossible to scrape it off and tape won’t remove it.

When you print checks, you should remember to use a font that is 12-point or higher. If you use small type, there’s a lot less toner to take off. It’s easier to remove with a piece of tape. If there’s some residue, a forger just uses a bigger font to cover it up. A large font is less likely to be tampered with. It would take a forger all day with Scotch tape to remove the toner, and the process would leave a bigger area to cover up if anything does remain.

There are so-called “secure-number fonts” that make tampering with check dollar amounts impossible. Secure-number fonts are software that is loaded into your printer so that the dollar amounts print in a style that can’t be altered. For instance, in the dollar amount box, the program reverses the toner, sending it to the back of the paper, so that numbers print white against a black background, and the toner background is permanent. The program will also print each numeral of a number in a different style, so that numerals can’t be moved to change the amount. A secure-number payee font that does the same thing for the payee name is available as well.

A lot of times we number checks with a red ink or a black ink, and ink is removable. So I number checks with dye. It bleeds through the paper to the back of the check, and it stays on the check for the life of the check. This is known as dual-image numbering (in Canada, it’s called halo numbering), because you can see the number on both sides of the check, and it makes alteration nearly impossible.

Very often, I encounter companies that are more interested in company image than inventory control. All they have is blank-check stock with their company logo printed on the paper, handsomely done in four color up on the left-hand corner. Everything else is blank.

I always say to the company representatives, “What if I put one of these blank pieces of paper in my pocket? How would you know I
had it?”

“Uh, we wouldn’t.”

“Well, think about that,” I say. “I’ve just walked out of your company with your check. I’ve got a laser printer at home. All I’ve got to do is run it through the printer.”

If all your company is going to do is have its logo on blank-check stock, you should ensure that inventory check numbers are on the back of each page. That number will allow you to control your unprinted check inventory.

One of the most basic and effective security features you can build into your checks is called a “void pantograph,” which is printed in the background of a check. The way it works is the word “void” is put into the background in a dot pattern that isn’t visible to the human eye. However, when a check with a void pantograph is copied or scanned, the word “void” appears along with it.

Look closely at some checks and you’ll see what are called laid lines, which are evenly spaced lines on the back of the paper. I always put them on checks I design, because if someone takes a razor and slices the check and alters it, I want to know about it. Enhanced laid lines were introduced in 1997 that are similar in intent, but they use unevenly spaced lines and afford an even higher level of protection.

Another relatively new security feature is thermochromic inks, which disappear or, in some cases, change color when they react to heat and moisture. They will actually fade and then reappear again. Thermochromic ink can be found on the back of a check in a pink strip beneath the endorsement. Or it can be found on the front of the check in a corporate logo or seal. Run your finger over it and the heat from your finger will cause it to vanish. Let go, it comes right back. Day after day, year after year, just touch it and it disappears and then comes right back.