The check is more than ever the means of payment, excluding cash, the most exposed to fraud in France, ahead of the bank card. Here’s what this scam looks like, and how to protect yourself against it.
Once more, check fraud explodes. This is the observation made this Friday by the Banque de France on the occasion of the presentation of the annual report of the Observatory for the security of means of payment, for the year 2021.
The total amount of fraudulent transactions by check is increasing 625million euros, a jump of 16.3% compared to 2020! For the fourth year in a row, checks are the most fraudulent means of payment, even though its use is declining. It only represents 3.9% of the transactions carried out, far behind payment by bank card (56.9%). Since 2016, the number of payments by check has increased from more than 2 billion to 589 million.
Out of a total amount of fraud of 1.24 billion euros, checks represent more than a third (37%). The fraud rate in check value is thus 0.079%. That is to say 79euros fraud for 100000euros country by this means. And the damage suffered by the victims is heavy: 1948euros on average in the case of check fraud.
Payment by check: risks and incidents
Why is check fraud soaring?
Although in decline, the check still remains very widely used in Francemore than in any other country in Europe and probably in the world. Easy to use, free, universal, it is still used in particular to pay high amounts, which exceed your credit card limit. For modest households, it acts as a short-term credit facilitymaking it possible to pay certain high amounts in several instalments or to obtain a collection deadline.
However, the check pays its security shortcomings. It is indeed, by far, the easiest payment method to divert. More, in particular, than the bank card, whose progress in the field is growing thanks to the use of strong authentication devices. It therefore constitutes a boon for fraudsterswho increasingly refer to him.
What form does check fraud take?
By far the most frequent form (64% of fraud cases in 2021) isuse of lost or stolen checks. The fraudster then uses the checkbook to pay for purchases, or cash checks, on an account opened under a false identity or on that of a third party. Fraudsters sometimes use mules, people recruited on social networks and charged, against the promise of remuneration, to cash fraudulent checks on their own bank accounts, then pay them the funds. A form of complicity which constitutes an offense punishable by legal proceedings.
In 31% of cases in 2021, fraud is linked to falsification or misappropriation of a check regularly issued: the fraudster modifies, for example, the amount or the beneficiary of a validated check.
Finally, the counterfeit checksie the cashing of checks fabricated from scratch by the fraudster, represents 5% of cases.
How to secure your checks?
Faced with the explosion of fraud, the Banque de France is working on ways to strengthen check security. In the meantime, we must be vigilant! Here are some tips for protecting your cheques.
Be careful when sending checkbooks by post! – It happens that checkbooks are stolen before they even reach your hands. La Poste, for example, or in your mailbox. If you have chosen to receive them by post – this is necessarily the case if you are an online bank customer – be careful. From the moment your bank notifies you of the shipment, watch your mailbox. And if the checkbook does not arrive within a reasonable time (2 or 3 days), do not hesitate to notify customer service.
In its Observatory, the Banque de France thus calls on banking establishments to improve the fight against lost checks and theft, by strengthening the security of the delivery of check books (for example, by alerting the customer by SMS that the check book has been sent asking him to react as soon as possible if he has not received it within a certain time). However, the Banque de France encourages customers to give preference to withdrawing checkbooks directly from branches.
Finally, if you don’t trust your postman, don’t hesitate to opt for registered mail, which is generally chargeable, but reassuring.
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Take your checkbooks with you when you go on vacation – Less and less used (and accepted) for everyday payments, the check is of little interest when you go on vacation. Be careful, however, not to leave your checkbooks in evidence at your home: it could cost you dearly in case of burglary. Better to take them with you anyway, or find them an excellent hiding place.
When you put in a cheque: be careful how you fill it out! The best way to avoid seeing one of your checks forged is to be rigorous when filling it out:
- complete your checks in black ink;
- avoid erasures;
- write the name of the beneficiary and the amounts in figures and in words without leaving a blank space and draw a line on the remaining unused space.
- don’t leave anything blank, not even the date and place;
- do not extend the signature over the line of numbers at the bottom of the check;
- and of course, never sign a blank cheque!
It still happens that certain businesses automatically fill in the checks: in this case, check the amount and the other information indicated before signing it.
When you receive a check, be careful! Check that all the mandatory information is there:
- the signature of the check issuer;
- the name of the bank that must pay;
- indication of the date and place where the check is drawn up;
Ideally, the check should also be free from erasures or overwritingwhich may indicate a fraudulent origin.
Finally, if you receive a bank check, a practice still common for purchases between individuals, do not hesitate contact the issuing bank by looking for their contact details yourself (without relying on the information on the check) to confirm its validity before finalizing the transaction.