“The SICPASTAR Hot Stamp incorporates multiple levels of security, and enables offset check printers, who did not previously have the technical capability, to use color-shifting ink,” he said of its selling points. LaBrant described it as a secure alternative to holograms. For example, SICPA recently launched a new hot stamp form factor of one of its flagship products, SICPASTAR color-shifting ink. To keep up with old and new fraud attacks alike, suppliers are designing more ways to outsmart crooks.
The washed document, once dried, is then run back through a laser printer adding the scanned original signature, a new amount and, finally, a new payor.” “This presents a basic check with no signature or payor listed,” Gillis explained. In layman’s terms, check washing is the process of erasing the ink or toner on a fully negotiable check with chemicals found in common household cleaning products, like acetone. “Digitally reproduced checks-creating fraudulent checks with stolen or diverted MICR account numbers-make it easy for bad actors to cash in while these checks go through processing protocols, as many banks allow a portion of mobile deposit money (up to $200 per deposit) to be accessed immediately.”Ĭounterfeiters are constantly shifting their tactics, but Gillis said check washing remains the No. “With 42% of companies’ business-to-business payments being made by check, it’s not that check fraud makes up the most prevalent form of payment fraud,” he commented. Keep Up With the FraudstersĪccording to the 2020 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 74% of finance professionals reported that their organizations’ check payments were subject to fraud attempts or attacks-up 4% from the previous year.
What these businesses are not doing, however, is increasing the security that’s on their actual printed checks, which is where distributors come in. Not to mention it takes exhaustive resources for systems to process payments electronically, and it’s hard to convince other partners in business to make the transition. “The class action lawsuit settlement vertical dropped out of the sky on us,” Gillis remarked.īusinesses prefer the feel of physical checks and the savings they bring when faced with rising electronic payment bank fees. These include construction, oil and gas, education (fund accounting) and, most recently, class action lawsuit settlements. Tommy Gillis, managing partner of CFC Print & Mail, Grand Prairie, Texas, collaborates with many customers nationally to support vertical markets that he says use “A LOT” of checks. Those numbers are hard to ignore, so shouldn’t check fraud be a thing of the past? No, because despite their near extinction in consumer payments, checks are the payment of choice among corporations. In 2018, for the first time ever, we saw ACH debit transfers (16.6 billion) exceed the number of written paper checks (14.5 billion), further confirming the shift away from traditional check writing.” “At the height of check writing, 68 billion checks were issued annually, but since the early 2000s, check usage has been declining at an annual rate of about 10%,” LaBrant, owner and founder of the Greater Chicago area-based Secure Print Technologies LLC and authorized sales consultant for SICPA Value Document Inks, said. It’s not a misconception that total check usage is dropping, and John LaBrant credits two motivators: convenience and cost. Today, it’s common to receive tax refunds or economic stimulus via direct deposit or EBT cards. Think back to the early 1990s when electronic benefit cards, similar to debit cards tied to benefit accounts, replaced paper food stamps. We can use it to order “Fueled by Caffeine and Chaos” T-shirts that we really don’t need from our friend’s Etsy shop.ĭigital payments are convenient, easy and nothing new. We can transfer the $5 that we hope our coworker turns into $500 million when he purchases the team’s Powerball ticket. With the tap of a button, we can now send our child’s room coordinator money for class party supplies. Video killed the radio star and Venmo killed the personal check.