Trump’s latest illegal narcissistic project

No need to tell us about how you use PayPal.  

Anyway, blockchain/crypto rails will be used as the underlying technology for settlement and you'll never know it using your bank, PayPal, Zelle, Western Union, etc.  Some already do.  It's a financial 'internet' protocol likened to tcp/ip smtp and other protocols you use daily without actually knowing it's happening.

The rules are there (yet always changing), but it takes human performance to make them 100%.

Last week my friend got a 'call' that someone was attempting to extract some $15K from her account.  She went to her bank, me with her, another story, unrelated. 

The bank agent who assisted her found a lot in regard to this problem, including a copy of the check that had already been processed and the $15K deducted from her account.  BUT, the check had been "washed", different check number not in sequence with her own.  The To line had a name, male, she of course didn't know, never heard of this name.  What 'survived' was her signature, of course.  The bank agent told us how stolen checks can be "washed" blank of everything except the signature, re-made out to the thief, etc.  The fake check number, bank logos, account and routing numbers, everything except her signature fraudently replacing the washed check.  I'd seen this on TV a year or more ago.

Her bank now...after she went in and reported the call she'd received...has initated an investigation, she has signed for prosecution in the event the perp is located, etc.  Closed that account, opened new one, etc.  Bank lady said "sometimes" those investigations are successful.  Better perhaps that she had called her bank right away, since there was at least maybe two hours between her receiving the call and reporting it in person.  (But why would anyone call her to alert her to the problem?) 

Clearly nobody that cashed that check did any checking re the legitimacy of it.  The bank lady didn't say where the check was cashed, if she knew, but I bet she could tell.  Banks don't tell you everything they know, of course.

Even more weird is a story from my SIL.  She noticed in her bank balance something like $10K added to her balance.  She didn't ask her husband, my brother, about it, knew it was odd but didn't want to upset him, thought somehow things would straighten out on their own. !!! It happed again, different amounts.  Money INTO her account!!  She is one of the world's most honest people, but it took days/weeks before she went to the bank and reported this.  Has no idea of the outcome, no changing of her account.

Same bank, she went inside to withdraw something like $120.  Was handed the cash in one of the bank envelopes, walked out to her car, on to the rest of the day, until she opened the envelop and found over $800 in cash.  (Maybe she had asked for her $120 in five dollar bills?)  She hurries back to the bank, they are beyond grateful that she returned, said they were in a major dither trying to figure out the problem; the teller would be dunned for the $800.  Again, she has no idea of the outcome.  Did she change banks?  I didn't think to ask her.  Obviously (to me) some sort of major performance errors by bank personnel in these situation.  I mean, what scammer deposits money into an account they wouldn't be able to profit from?  On the other end, somebody would be missing deposits into their account they would be expecting.

One thing regarding my friend and the washed check:  I've noticed when I go to her house, a good neighborhood, she has an outside mail box attached to the bricks at her front door.  It has some sort of clip whereby she clips her outgoing mail, which flapping in the wind, is obvious to a mail carrier who would pick it up, but also obvious to anyone looking to steal mail with the idea of stealing checks or money.  The bank agent said this is not a good idea (ya think?), and neither is putting outgoing mail into the blue boxes.  She said best to go inside to mail anything like that.  My friend admitted she has had some checks she mailed that never arrived at the destination.  Hmmm. 

Sorry for long stories.  Maybe helpful to somebody.

Candy

Among the many hats I've worn in my life, I worked for Bank of America and Wells Fargo. It was kind of before the "digital age," but there were definitely at least as many fraud attempts, and if anything, fewer safeguards.

One reason why a scammer might deposit money into someone's account is to elevate the balance in order for it to "qualify" for some future debit, which will of course be larger than the fraudulently deposited amount. Another angle would be that if a scammer wants to drain someone's account, in the brief period while a scam debit/check is processed, the unwitting victim might make an ATM withdrawal, which would lower the balance to the point where the fraudulent check wouldn't clear. Obviously, this two-step fraud (the account will be completely drained once the scammer discovers that the first debit was processed successfully) signifies complete confidence on the scammer part that it will work.

I had an interesting experience last month not unlike that if your friend. I was at my local branch, doing some bank business, and when that was done, I asked the teller to process a $40 cash withdrawal. Easy peasy, I got it and went home. I received automatic balance updates, so I wasn't surprised to get one a few hours later. The balance looked a little higher than I thought it should be, but I thought, well, maybe that $40 withdrawal hasn't been processed yet. But I had a nagging feeling. I checked more thoroughly, and it turned out, my balance was $80 more than it should have been. I called the bank and told the manager that I suspected that my cash withdrawal had been processed as a deposit. Yep! The teller had had to put in some OT to reconcile her drawer and had wound up going home without resolving it. They didn't take her out and shoot her or anything.

The reason why I mention that is that sometimes, scammers will try to process a fraudulent debit that exactly matches a legitimate deposit. That way, it looks like someone pressed the wrong button, or a deposited check bounced. Either way, it slows down the tracking and verification by at least one business day.

Maybe it's best to just keep your cash stuffed in your mattress

Thanks, Kevin.  Interesting angles there.

Edited to say:  I believe the bank lady said the bank would make my friend whole once the investigation is concluded and the perp is found and money recovered that way.  Or did she say the bank would make friend whole sooner than that?  Now I can't exactly remember.  Clearly someone at her bank failed to process a $15K check properly. 

Candy

At that monetary level of fraud, the bank manager may not have the authority to recompense the customer, and it would have to be approved by the Emperor who sits atop the Big Bank Tower. But either way, they wouldn't make recovering the money from the perp a condition re whether they would or wouldn't repay the customer. Short reason why: they can't. Federal law, the bank charter, etc. dictate that they can't say, "Oopsy, we blew it, but don't worry, we'll give you back your money if and when we recover it." Uh uh.

The laws regarding situations like this used to be pretty comforting, as robust and unevadable as they were. But of course...snuck in with all the bank deregulation crapola during the Dubya administration--I think it was 2003--was a gutting of those safeguards and a limitation on the amount of a bank's liability. The Obama administration tried to repair all that, but most of those efforts died in a hostile Congress.

The reality is that if you get a goodly sum stolen from your bank account in this or some similar way, you'll probably get it back eventually. And if you don't? At least you can file it as a loss on your tax return...poke, poke, er, no, you can't. Not since Trump changed all the rules in 2018. You could also try suing the bank for screwing up, but good luck going up against a small army of lawyers.