[00:00:00] I called the police, I called the bank and indeed it was confirmed that it was a fraudulent
[00:00:07] check that someone else other than the IRS had cashed in.
[00:00:11] That check was for $50,000.
[00:00:14] Forged my signature, left the amount and the entities that I've contacted include
[00:00:21] the fraud department of the bank, the police department, the post office.
[00:00:27] I feel abandoned.
[00:00:28] I would say I do not write checks at all anymore and I would use my credit card because there
[00:00:35] is much better protection.
[00:00:37] By the way, the bank leader said there was nothing it could do because it couldn't prove
[00:00:42] the check was washed.
[00:00:44] Dirty, filthy money.
[00:00:57] If there were only a way to wash it to make it fresh as new, well there is.
[00:01:03] Well it's not money so much as it is checks.
[00:01:07] We talked about the money washing scam and the money box episode of season one.
[00:01:12] It's check washing that's the up and coming scam.
[00:01:15] I'm Jim Grinstead and today we're going to talk about check washing and how your bank
[00:01:20] account can be emptied before you find out.
[00:01:34] Simply put, check washing is a way for scammers to steal a check you've mailed, erase
[00:01:40] what you've written on it, change the amount and make it out to anyone they choose.
[00:01:46] It's likely you won't find out until the next check you write bounces.
[00:01:51] Check washing is not difficult.
[00:01:53] The tools to do it can be easily purchased.
[00:01:56] The process takes some skill but with a little practice anyone can do it.
[00:02:01] That's what makes it such a dangerous scam.
[00:02:04] There are ways to protect yourself and like the scam itself, they're easy to do.
[00:02:09] There's a lot of ways I can help people.
[00:02:11] I'm going to be able to gain some money from this, I'm going to be able to make some money
[00:02:17] out of it.
[00:02:18] I like to get money and make money and make it work, I'm going to be able to keep
[00:02:22] my savings on their account.
[00:02:24] Well, I'm going to be able to make some money out of it.
[00:02:27] I'm going to be able to make some money out of it.
[00:02:30] I'm going to do it.
[00:02:31] It's better if you have the money that you're getting.
[00:02:35] Good job.
[00:02:36] restaurants I frequent. But that doesn't mean I don't crave summer food. Fortunately, Factor has
[00:02:43] my back. I can cook fresh foods in two minutes then go hide in my recording studio for peace and
[00:02:48] quiet. And it's great food. Now I'm a carnivore but if I wanted keto, calorie smarter protein plus
[00:02:56] I could do it. They have 35 different meals from which to choose. That's right you choose
[00:03:03] the meals. You're not stuck with whatever is delivered to your door. It's summer so one of my
[00:03:08] go-tos is the tomato pork chop. On rainy days the Parmesan chicken is satisfying. And there's
[00:03:15] something else. I'm not the only one in Nashville that loves Factor. I regularly see Factor trucks
[00:03:22] on the streets delivering fresh food to my neighbors. Clearly my neighbors are smarter than I thought.
[00:03:28] If you're in a circadian infested area, you may not be able to sit outside but you can still eat
[00:03:34] great food. And I've got a great deal that can go towards suntan lotion when these damn bugs go away.
[00:03:40] Head to FactorMeals.com slash Scams and Cons 50 and use code SCAMS AND CONS 50 to get 50%
[00:03:48] off your first box plus 20% off your next box. That's Scams and Cons 50 at FactorMeals.com
[00:03:56] slash Scams and Cons 50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next box while your
[00:04:03] subscription is active. Since COVID fewer people are writing checks and that's no surprise.
[00:04:19] A Federal Reserve payment study set all core retail payment options except checks
[00:04:25] saw a significant increase in annual growth rates between 2015 and 2018. However,
[00:04:32] checks declined at a compound annual rate of more than 7%. And over the past two decades,
[00:04:42] check volume has dropped from nearly 43 billion annually to 14.5 billion. That's a decrease of
[00:04:49] more than 66%. That same Federal Reserve study said that more than 90% of the checks paid to
[00:05:00] businesses were for bills. Those included recurring payments such as rent, loans and utility bill
[00:05:06] payments. Occasional payments are usually for things like medical, educational, financial
[00:05:12] donations and materials and supplies to run businesses. In other words, random stuff.
[00:05:21] That's what we as consumers write but businesses write checks too.
[00:05:26] The Federal Reserve report notes that not all businesses are alike and how they deal with
[00:05:31] checks. Certain businesses receive a large share of their check payments from customers.
[00:05:37] For example, contractors, landlords, charitable organizations and governments. And even when
[00:05:43] consumers use a bill pay surface to initiate their payments electronically, a small or
[00:05:48] mid-sized business often ends up receiving a check from the bill pay service. And that
[00:05:53] could be for a lot of money. If the receiving business is not in the bill pay services
[00:05:58] directory and it doesn't accept electronic payment from services like Venmo, the only option
[00:06:04] is to send a check to the business. In my mind, those are sloppy procedures by both the check
[00:06:10] payment service and the business. Despite all that, a Pew research study shows that 54% of
[00:06:17] people use checks to pay for communication expenses like cable, satellite TV and cell
[00:06:22] phone bills. Only 28% pay for those services online. 15% by cash. The Pew study asked participants
[00:06:32] what they considered to be recurring expenses. This differs from the Federal Reserve study
[00:06:38] in that it includes housing and credit card expenses. The Pew report said 37% of Americans
[00:06:45] mainly use cash for everyday purchases, while 31% say they use debit cards, 16% say they use
[00:06:52] credit cards, and 15% say they use checks. Now this is background but remember the idea
[00:06:59] of check washing is to change the amount on the check and the person to be paid. If it
[00:07:04] is done well, scammers empty your bank account. It doesn't matter how much money that's listed
[00:07:10] on the check or to whom it was to be paid. That's all going to be changed. And once
[00:07:16] they have your bank routing number and account number, they can manufacture more checks
[00:07:21] with your name on them. Here's WPTV. According to the United States Treasury Department in 2022,
[00:07:28] reports of check fraud filed by banks nearly doubled to 680,000 from 350,000 back in 2021.
[00:07:37] Normally I make my IRS payments as I write a check, I put it in the mail and I make my
[00:07:43] payments. Warner Swartz in Boynton Beach is the latest victim. I called the police,
[00:07:48] I called the bank and indeed it was confirmed that it was a fraudulent check that someone else
[00:07:55] other than the IRS had cashed it. That check was for $50,000. Forged my signature, left the amount
[00:08:03] and the entities that I'd contacted include the fraud department of the bank, the police
[00:08:10] department, the post office. She says the postal service is investigating and that her bank
[00:08:17] says they can't do anything to help. You'll realize as you listen to this episode that I have very little
[00:08:23] sympathy for banks. If the check bounces, they make money on the overdraft fees. The customer now has
[00:08:30] no money to pay the fee and cover the amount lost so they must often take out a loan. Again,
[00:08:36] the banks went. Many of them forgive the check or at least waive the fee but in my research,
[00:08:43] that happens most often when they get a call from a newspaper or television station to inquire.
[00:08:48] Now if you're an old guy like me, you'll remember the day when a bank could call you about a check
[00:08:52] when the signature on the check seemed different than the customer's regular signature.
[00:08:57] That doesn't happen anymore. Even in this day when software can recognize different faces,
[00:09:03] it doesn't appear that the financial industry can figure out how to compare signatures.
[00:09:08] But I digress. Figuring out how to wash your check is pretty easy.
[00:09:22] I'm about to show you how to, not even how to, we're about to do this together because I haven't
[00:09:27] even done it. Normally I use car titles. I don't use them but I use this process
[00:09:34] for car titles. A subscriber of mine asked about checks. I don't know. This is my first time.
[00:09:45] Normally I don't deal in checks. I'm dealing cash only, cash money.
[00:09:56] We're about to go through this together. I don't know why you asked. I don't care.
[00:10:01] I'm just experimenting. This is experiment. I am no way. This is a disclaimer. I'm not
[00:10:07] responsible for whatever you got going on with. If you get, you know what I'm saying,
[00:10:12] I am not responsible. This is for educational purposes. You know what? Not even educational.
[00:10:17] This is for entertainment purposes only. Keep that in mind, man. I'm telling you.
[00:10:23] But anyway, I'm going to dive right in through it.
[00:10:29] Oh, this is an actual check. So real deal check.
[00:10:33] Chase, well, I don't even know what he meant by can he use it on checks?
[00:10:40] So I'm going to just talk about the signature. I don't know why he would want to remove
[00:10:45] the signature, but I know what you guys got on your minds.
[00:10:50] But this is simply what I do. I use a pen, use whatever you want. I don't care.
[00:10:56] I'll just pour directly on for it. I just simply switch back and forth.
[00:11:01] Switch back and forth. That's the ink. So far it's working. You don't want to hit
[00:11:09] the painted area. It's coming, but it's slowly. And if you take it slow, you take your time,
[00:11:17] it will do it. At least it's good to know that he only uses the technique on car titles
[00:11:26] and isn't an expert in check washing. By the end of the video by this YouTuber,
[00:11:32] he learned how to do it. Now he can wash both your checks
[00:11:35] and the car he stole from you.
[00:12:08] Explore the inexplicable. OhioMysteries.com
[00:12:18] The first step in check washing is to steal your check. If you put your outgoing mail on
[00:12:23] your mailbox and raise the flag, you're making it easy. All they need to do is open the box,
[00:12:29] see if there are any checks inside and take what they want. Is it safer going to a mailbox?
[00:12:35] Not really. That's why you're seeing fewer outdoor mailboxes,
[00:12:39] even at brick and mortar post offices. Listen to Antonio Gomez of the Postal Service in Miami.
[00:12:46] He was speaking after four people were arrested for stealing from mailboxes.
[00:12:51] These mailboxes weren't like the one at the front of your house.
[00:12:54] These were large containers that contained individual boxes for dozens of residents.
[00:13:00] NBC Bay Area has video of people doing the stealing in broad daylight.
[00:13:05] Here's Rafael Nunez of the post office in the San Francisco area.
[00:13:09] To any copycats or wannabes out there who might consider robbing a postal worker,
[00:13:16] I ask you to consider the years you will face in federal prison.
[00:13:22] Thieves will also attack postal workers and steal their mail.
[00:13:25] They also steal keys that will open collection boxes.
[00:13:29] One of the most common ways is to build a homemade device that either uses
[00:13:33] a grappling type hook or glue on a stick to fish out the mail.
[00:13:38] ABC 7 in New York reports on one arrest and how it was done.
[00:13:43] Cops found 346 stolen checks in the suspect's car.
[00:13:48] Close to $400,000.
[00:13:49] $400,000 just from fishing.
[00:13:52] Just from fishing, not from that particular day but from a cumulative from everywhere.
[00:13:58] But as boxes disappear, thieves may get more physical,
[00:14:02] like stealing mail from carriers or their trucks.
[00:14:05] Avoiding that risk is simple but not easy.
[00:14:08] You must physically take your mail to a post office and put it through the slot inside the building.
[00:14:14] The buildings are secure when they close for the day,
[00:14:17] but I have no doubt scammers are working out ways to beat that system.
[00:14:22] Once scammers have the checks, they must wash them.
[00:14:26] I've touched on how it's done and I'm not going to go into specifics,
[00:14:30] but I can tell you that using security checks and a secure pin can help you.
[00:14:35] For that we turn to John Cilio, who lost his multi-million dollar startup,
[00:14:40] his wealth in two years of his life to cybercrime.
[00:14:44] It began when a hacker electronically embezzled money from the company's clients
[00:14:48] using John's identity.
[00:14:50] John was initially held legally and financially responsible for the felonies committed.
[00:14:55] He cleared his name but the loss has destroyed his company and his finances.
[00:15:01] He's now a cybersecurity expert.
[00:15:03] He demonstrates check washing by using a security check and security pin.
[00:15:08] On the security check, he uses the non-secure pin.
[00:15:13] On the standard check, he uses a security pin.
[00:15:17] By doing that he shows what stays and what comes off.
[00:15:26] Our next step is we take some undisclosed chemicals,
[00:15:30] but chemicals you can buy at any hardware store.
[00:15:33] We just don't want to reveal what they are and we're going to put our two solutions.
[00:15:37] They're two different solutions but they're basically the same in our pans.
[00:15:41] You have to be really careful doing this.
[00:15:43] If you're going to do it, don't do it at your own home because it ruins the carpet.
[00:15:50] We're then going to wash the checks,
[00:15:52] which is nothing more than placing the checks in the solution.
[00:15:57] Now you don't want to touch the solution unless you've got gloves like I've got
[00:16:01] and we're simply going to start washing those checks.
[00:16:05] So now the bank knows that it's an altered check because there's no hologram.
[00:16:09] You can see the chemical taking off even our permanent ink here,
[00:16:14] which doesn't matter much. We could clean it out.
[00:16:19] But look at that.
[00:16:20] On both checks, the non-security pin essentially we have blanked out the pay to field.
[00:16:26] That means that I can put my name in there, your name in there, any name that I want.
[00:16:31] The other thing that you'll start to notice is the fibers of the check start to come out.
[00:16:35] You can see fibers. That's another indication to the bank
[00:16:38] that it is a check that has been chemically altered.
[00:16:41] Here we are in the non-security check and once again there's nothing to show us
[00:16:47] that it's been chemically altered here.
[00:16:49] There's no hologram. There's no indication in fibers.
[00:16:53] I can change this pay to field.
[00:16:55] Look at that. It's almost completely gone.
[00:16:57] It's been no longer than two minutes.
[00:17:00] The security pin totally, clearly defined still the non-security.
[00:17:05] I could finish washing that off and we'd have a brand new check that we can make out.
[00:17:12] So what they'll do is they'll simply take your signature
[00:17:15] and they'll trace over it with a security pin so that that doesn't wash off.
[00:17:19] Now it's a legitimate check because it's got your actual signature on it.
[00:17:22] It's very hard to argue that you didn't write that check.
[00:17:25] And yet they can make out the amount and they can make out the pay to field to anybody that they like.
[00:17:35] To sum up, protect your mail by dropping your checks at a physical post office inside the building.
[00:17:42] Use security checks. You can get those from your bank or wherever you order checks.
[00:17:47] If those are altered it will be obvious for the bank to recognize that it's been tampered with.
[00:17:53] That could protect you from banks blaming you for the problem.
[00:17:56] Victim shaming is never a good idea.
[00:17:59] Lastly, use a security pin.
[00:18:02] That's a black gel pin that you can get at most office supply stores.
[00:18:06] I recommend that you do all three because scammers are always looking for a way to beat the system.
[00:18:13] Now that's the end of this story but hang around after the show and I'll do a short
[00:18:17] segment on just how dirty your cash is. It has nothing to do with the scam but I just want to share it with you.
[00:18:29] If you enjoy the show please give us a five star rating wherever you listen.
[00:18:34] You hear this all the time on other podcasts because it helps people find us and become subscribers.
[00:18:40] Your ratings really do make a difference.
[00:18:43] And don't forget to head over to our website scamsandcons.com
[00:18:47] where you can chat with other fans and get more stories about scams,
[00:18:51] many of which are going on right now. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
[00:18:57] Thanks for listening.
[00:18:58] Scams and Cons is a member of the Evergreen podcast network.
[00:19:04] It shouldn't surprise you that cash and coins are dirty. I mean really dirty, worse than your toilet.
[00:19:11] Currency gets passed around all the time.
[00:19:13] Less so than before COVID when many of us switched to credit cards.
[00:19:18] But that doesn't change the fact that cash really carries some trash.
[00:19:22] Here's AI voice Jeff to read you the details from Wikipedia.
[00:19:27] 10 randomly collected $1 bills from five cities were tested by the county coroner's
[00:19:31] office in Cleveland, Ohio. They were tested for cocaine, heroin, six acetyl morphine, morphine,
[00:19:38] codeine, methamphetamine, amphetamine and fencycline.
[00:19:43] Bills were then immersed in acetone trial for two hours prior to extraction
[00:19:47] and subjected to gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis.
[00:19:51] Results demonstrated that 92% of the bills were positive for cocaine
[00:19:55] with a mean amount of 28.75, a median of 1.37 micrograms per bill,
[00:20:01] and a range of 0.01 to 922.72 micrograms per bill.
[00:20:06] Heroin was detected in seven bills in amounts ranging from 0.03 to 168.5 micrograms per bill,
[00:20:13] methamphetamine and amphetamine in three and one bills, respectively,
[00:20:17] and PCP was detected in two bills in amounts of 0.78 and 1.87 micrograms per bill.
[00:20:25] Coding was not detected in any of the $1 bills analyzed.
[00:20:29] The study confirmed that although paper currency was most often contaminated with cocaine,
[00:20:34] other drugs of abuse may also be detected in bills.
[00:20:38] Another study conducted at Argonne National Laboratory found that four out of $5 bills in
[00:20:43] Chicago suburbs contain traces of cocaine. Previous studies have found similar contamination
[00:20:49] rates in other cities, but the Argonne study is the first to demonstrate
[00:20:53] that if you handle contaminated bills, you won't wind up with drugs on your hands.
[00:20:57] It's virtually impossible for cocaine to rub off.
[00:21:01] I used an AI voice here because damned if I could pronounce most of that stuff.
[00:21:05] The script's news service put it more simply.
[00:21:08] Money is filthy. Depending on which study you read, the level of grossness may vary,
[00:21:13] but all researchers seem to agree paper money is just straight up nasty.
[00:21:17] Take this 2012 study from the Queen Mary University of London, for example.
[00:21:22] Researchers found 8% of credit cards and 6% of paper money had as much bacteria as the
[00:21:29] inside of a dirty toilet bowl. More recently, researchers at New York University's
[00:21:34] Dirty Money Project analyzed genetic material on $1 bills.
[00:21:38] They identified some 3,000 types of bacteria, but the number of bacteria on the bills was
[00:21:44] actually higher because a handful of the microorganisms hadn't been catalogued yet.
[00:21:49] To be fair, $1 bills get passed around a lot more than say a $50 bill or a $100 bill.
[00:21:55] But there's still a good chance, no matter what bill you're carrying, there's some poop on it.
[00:22:01] So researchers are kind of all over the place when it comes to figuring out just how gross paper
[00:22:06] money is, but I think we can all agree money is really gross.
[00:22:12] Just a little news you can use from Scams and Cons.
[00:22:15] Now go wash your hands.
[00:22:17] If you enjoy Scams and Cons, please give us a 5 star rating wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:22:29] It helps people find us, and your ratings really do make a difference.
[00:22:33] Thanks for listening.
[00:23:01] The infamous beginning of the modern era of mass shootings in America.
[00:23:05] You're listening to Stop the Killing podcast. Join us as we take you behind the crime scene
[00:23:10] tape to explain global mass shootings and mass attacks. I'm Sarah Ferris, but more importantly,
[00:23:16] this is Catherine Shrides, the former head of the FBI's active shooter program.
[00:23:21] I spent five years as the FBI's top executive looking for answers to the mass shooting
[00:23:26] crisis. I've been at the shooting scenes, I've traced heroic acts of bravery,
[00:23:30] and I've sat silently and listened to the heart-wrenching stories from survivors.
[00:23:35] Amongst this horror, there is hope. We all hold the key to Stop the Killing.
[00:23:40] You just need to know how to unlock the door. Download Stop the Killing and be
[00:23:44] part of the solution. Search Stop the Killing on Apple, Spotify and all the usual suspects.