A different twist on emptying your checking account

[Nords]

We're all familiar with identity theft, but this one could be tough to block:

"New banking fraud. The scammers apparently generate random routing and account numbers into which they try to deposit one cent. Once the one-cent deposit clears, the perpetrators know the account is active and begin to withdraw funds from the account. The withdrawals seem to take place near the beginning of the month, and some people have only seen a single withdrawal from their accounts. People should check their accounts frequently, contact their banks about suspicious deposit or withdrawal amounts, and shred financial documents to protect themselves from other forms of identity theft."

[LOL!]

Sounds like Google.com ... practically everytime you click on a link somewhere 1 cent, 2 cents, 10 cents goes to google.

[Alan]

The article doesn`t explain how withdrawals can be made. You can depsoit money with a deposit slip you find on the side of the road, but making withdrwals takes more than knowledge of account number and name. The article sounds a little bogus to me

[NinjaPigeon]

I'm voting there is more to this story than was reported. It doesn't add up (no pun intended).

[eridanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan The article doesn`t explain how withdrawals can be made. You can depsoit money with a deposit slip you find on the side of the road, but making withdrwals takes more than knowledge of account number and name. The article sounds a little bogus to me

I've had legitimate companies "accidentally" make ACH withdrawals on my account without my permission. They just had a check. Banks are pretty lax about this sort of thing, as I found out.

[teejayevans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eridanus I've had legitimate companies "accidentally" make ACH withdrawals on my account without my permission. They just had a check. Banks are pretty lax about this sort of thing, as I found out.

I assume that they don't allow just anybody to have ACH access, that you
have go through some serious federal registration process, otherwise, a
foreign company can simply start accessing major bank accounts and
start cycling through all the accounts pretty quickly.
TJ

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by teejayevans I assume that they don't allow just anybody to have ACH access, that you have go through some serious federal registration process, otherwise, a foreign company can simply start accessing major bank accounts and start cycling through all the accounts pretty quickly. TJ

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that if we didn't hear about it then it never coulda happened...

I'd worry a lot more about PayPal than some nameless foreign menace.

[chinaco]

I suspect that this can probably happen. Some of my paper checks are handled electronically by the company that I pay and there is no returned check. For example, I send my credit card company a paper check, but they do not actually send the paper check to the bank in the process of collecting the money from my bank... it is all happens with an electronic transfer.

[Spanky]

As Nords says, check your account frequently. I just did.

[teejayevans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spanky As Nords says, check your account frequently. I just did.

You have 60 days to notify the bank, they must refund you if the
payment was unauthorized and if they can't figure that out they
must temporarly credit your account within 10 days until the matter
is resolved.
Look up Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E if you want
details.
Personally if I were a smart crook, I'd be targeting MM accounts
because they usually have a lot of money in them versus regular
non interest paying checking accounts. Many MM accounts come
with check writing. So don't forget the MM accounts as well, and
if they have it, sign up for any email notices of withdrawals.
TJ