A bank account number and a routing number provide all the information necessary for a thief to create and print a fake check and use it to draw money out of your bank account.
This scenario is exactly what has happened to Hobbs business owner Wade Cavitt and to one of Lea County’s largest businesses, Nor-Lea Hospital District.
Cavitt recently told KRQE NEWS13 that a check “he didn’t write” in the amount of more than $1000 was cashed in one of his business bank accounts, that of Cavitt Land and Cattle. Cavitt said after receiving a copy of the cashed counterfeit check from his bank, “‘…it didn’t match the current check, the number sequence was not in our current sequence.'”
Several weeks later two other fake checks amounting to more than two thousand dollars were cashed in the bank account of one of Cavitt’s other businesses, Lobo Nut and Bolt. “The money has since been replaced by his bank, but he’s [Cavitt] had to pay hundreds to get new checks, cancel his account, reopen a new one….” He has also been forced to take additional security measures.
About those additional measures Cavitt says, “Each morning by 9:30, we have to go in and look at our checking account and approve any check that was issued in the last 24-hours.” According to Cavitt, he is not the only account owner who has to be proactive about assuring that fake checks are not being passed through his accounts. “When we contacted the bank,” states Cavitt, “they told us they had processed [a check] for $70,000.”
Nor-Lea Hospital District Also Hit
The Lea County Tribune has learned that fake checks written on the Nor-Lea Hospital District’s bank account have also been cashed or attempted to have been cashed.
According to Nor-Lea hospital’s CEO David Shaw, the bank informed the hospital about the fake checks, and the bank did not honor the checks, even though the checks were cashed for cash at a local grocery store. Shaw notes that the counterfeit checks look similar to real Nor-Lea checks but that differences between the real and the fake are obvious.
How Does the Scam Work
As in the cases of Cavitt and Nor-Lea Hospital District, thieves use local check cashing companies, grocery stores and big box chains to cash the checks. The process is a simple one. At check cashing companies, a thief simply writes a check and walks away with the cash minus service charges. At grocery and big box stores the thief writes a check to pay for his purchases and adds any cash back amount allowed. The plot can thicken at big box stores, as the thief can write a check to pay for an item or items and later return the product or products for cash.
According to an NBC News report, “Check fraud is ‘a huge problem’ with ‘millions of fake checks worth billions of dollars circulating every year.’ Complaints to government agencies and consumer advocacy groups have doubled over the last three years.”
Both the Hobbs Police Department and the Lovington Police Department are aware that fake checks have been and maybe still are being circulated in Lea County. Both departments are investigating the matter and ask all, both individuals and businesses, to report any and all incidents.
It is not impossible for a fake check to be cashed in your account. The NBC News report states that the Better Business Bureau estimates “…as many as 500,000 Americans were burned by fake check scams last year, with the average victim losing about $1,200.” The problem is a big one and one that impacts all victims, especially those living from paycheck to paycheck.
