Portable Scanners and Counterfeit Bank Checks
For many years fraud perpetrators have scanned information from bank checks, particularly payroll, into computer memories, where the information has been used to create counterfeit checks. These counterfeits usually contain the same format and look of the original bank checks, but the payees, check numbers and dollar amounts are different from those printed on the original checks.
Now counterfeiters are using portable scanners to produce counterfeit checks with information from real checks that have just been issued. In some cases the counterfeiters will approach employees, who have just received their payroll checks, and offer them as much as $100 for a scan of their payroll check. These fraud perpetrators can then produce authentic looking counterfeit checks within minutes of scanning an original check.
Ethent has a solution to the check scanning problem - produce a one-way fingerprint for each check and then use each check's one-way fingerprint to authenticate the check's information before payment.
To learn how one-way fingerprints can be used to authenticate bank checks see Interactive Demonstrations: "One-Way Fingerprints" for a hands-on presentation.
For addtional information about Ethent's counterfeit bank check solutions contact Ethent.