40 The Business of Prairie Agriculture Better Farming | January 2025 Tractors, Trucks & Growing Grain FRAUDS, CROOKS, & BUYER BEWARE How to safeguard your cheques & prevent fraud. By Ron Settler I didn’t write that cheque! I usually check out my business bank account online a couple of times a week, or sometimes once a week if I’m busy on the farm. I checked it one Monday and to my surprise found a cheque taken out of our account for $7,500. I often get temporarily excited about something like this until I remember what treasure we bought or creditor we paid. Luckily, our credit union gives us the ability through their online banking app to see cheques that are taken out of our account. However, when I looked at the cheque photograph, it was made out to someone we did not know, and it had my signature on it! It was also a cheque number that was still in our chequebook! So now the fun begins. I called the credit union right away and they stopped payment on the cheque, and the funds were back in our account the next day. Talking with them later, I found out that we have 30 days from the date of the bank statement to question any cheque problems we have. We had to close that account because it had been compromised. It took a while to change all the automatic payments and things like that. Then, of course, we need new cheques. We got lucky and didn’t lose any money. So how did this happen? I’m guessing that one of the cheques that we wrote was photo deposited and then either stolen or discarded. The enterprising crook then doctored the cheque by changing the cheque number, amount, and payee. Then it was photo deposited into their account in hopes that we wouldn’t notice it until they got the money. We sent the information to the RCMP, but I suspect that since we weren’t out any money, it will be a low priority on their investigation list. How to stop this from happening? Unfortunately, once you give your cheque to someone, it is out of your control – but you can safeguard the cheques you receive and photo deposit them with a couple of simple steps. I always stamp “VOID” along with the date deposited in red ink in three places on the cheque. They are then Get in touch with your bank ASAP if you suspect you have a problem with your cheque. Mary Loggan photo
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