I don't write very many checks. Credit and debit cards and cash are much more convenient at the point of sale, and most bills can be paid over the interweb. But not all can be, and I still write a few checks a year. Earlier this month, I ran out of checks for the first time in maybe four years; and so I was forced to pony up $17 to get a new box. The problem with ordering checks, of course, is that they have to be mailed to you; and nothing comes through the mail in a box the size and shape of a check box except checks. It's an open invitation for thieves. Only it's not anymore. The checks didn't come in a package that looked like a box of checks. They came in a flat pack like the one in the picture above, the result of the books of checks being packed side by side instead of one on top of the other. The package could have contained a magazine or a book or any number of things other than checks. Apparently, Deluxe has recently revamped their packaging to get better postal rates and to increase security. Well, congratulations. It's an excellent idea.
Showing posts with label check fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label check fraud. Show all posts
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Genius!
I don't write very many checks. Credit and debit cards and cash are much more convenient at the point of sale, and most bills can be paid over the interweb. But not all can be, and I still write a few checks a year. Earlier this month, I ran out of checks for the first time in maybe four years; and so I was forced to pony up $17 to get a new box. The problem with ordering checks, of course, is that they have to be mailed to you; and nothing comes through the mail in a box the size and shape of a check box except checks. It's an open invitation for thieves. Only it's not anymore. The checks didn't come in a package that looked like a box of checks. They came in a flat pack like the one in the picture above, the result of the books of checks being packed side by side instead of one on top of the other. The package could have contained a magazine or a book or any number of things other than checks. Apparently, Deluxe has recently revamped their packaging to get better postal rates and to increase security. Well, congratulations. It's an excellent idea.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
I'm not alarmed, but...
It's now possible to buy MICR printers on eBay for under $200. (For those of you who don't know, MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, and it is typically used to refer to those funny characters at the bottom of your checks. Those funny characters are printed in magnetic ink that allows them to be machine-readable. Since they represent numbers that uniquely identify your bank account, this facilitates the automated processing of paper checks. The string of funny characters is typically referred to as the MICR line or the raw MICR by check professionals. For those of you who are trying to figure out what mischief a miscreant with a MICR printer could make, see the movie Catch Me If You Can.)
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