PC-MADE CHECKS A PROBLEM : COUNTERFEITERS DOING BETTER THAN ROBBERS.Byline: Dave Skidmore Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A fast-growing corps of ``point-and-click'' criminals, from lone computer buffs to ethnic gangs, are stealing billions of dollars with phony checks - many times what bank robbers steal with guns. The Secret Service and FBI warned Congress on Thursday of the thriving new kind of fraud from counterfeit checks. Consumer advocates cautioned that some of the solutions, such as requiring noncustomers to apply thumbprints to checks, penalize pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. the innocent without deterring the guilty. ``The Secret Service has seen a dramatic increase in the number of investigations specifically relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc the counterfeiting of checks,'' Kevin T. Foley, the service's deputy assistant director, told the House Banking monetary policy subcommittee. ``The motivation behind these schemes is greed. The goal is always money,'' he said. ``It's a point-and-click crime.'' Estimates of the size of the problem vary widely. The Federal Reserve put the cost of check fraud to banks at $615 million in 1995, more than 10 times the $59 million attributed to bank robbery The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. Bank robbery is the crime of robbing a bank. . The FBI said data compiled from banks, businesses and individuals showed losses amounting to $5 billion in 1993. ``More alarming than the total amount is the fact that it is growing at a very rapid rate and could threaten the current payment system with unsustainable losses if it is allowed to grow unchecked,'' said Rep. Michael N. Castle Michael Newbold "Mike" Castle (born July 2 1939) is an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He is a member of the Republican Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly, as Lieutenant Governor of Delaware, two terms as Governor of , R-Del., the subcommittee's chairman. It's not a crime committed only by nonviolent white-collar criminals. Chuck Owens, the FBI's financial crimes section chief, said counterfeit checks finance gangs that traffic in narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. , commit extortion, and run auto and jewelry theft rings. Its cause lies in the rapid spread of personal computers and desk-top publishing. A decade ago, producing convincing counterfeit checks required offset printing equipment and a fair degree of skill. Now, all that's needed is a laser scanner to capture an original check, a personal computer to alter the data and a quality laser printer. Total cost: less than $5,000. To combat the crime, some of the nation's biggest banks are demanding that noncustomers affix affix v. 1) to attach something to real estate in a permanent way, including planting trees and shrubs, constructing a building, or adding to existing improvements. thumbprints to checks presented for cashing, said Boris Melnikoff, senior vice president of the Atlanta-based Wachovia Corp. |
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