A significant number of check fraud losses that occur involve customer accounts. In order to avoid becoming an unwitting victim of fraud schemes, you need to know about the existence and consequences of fraud, proper check issuing, and timely statement reconcilement.
Following is a brief list of checking account protection tips.
- Guard your checkbook and extra (new) checks.
- Never give your account and routing numbers to people you do not know, especially to anyone over the telephone.
- Never use your deposit slip for "scrap" paper or notes and then give it to someone. Guard your deposit slips.
- Properly store or dispose of canceled checks.
- If your checkbook is lost or stolen, immediately inform us.
- When traveling for a period of time, it is wise to leave your checkbook at home, locked away, and purchase traveler's checks.
- Always write checks using ink pens or typewriters - never pencil.
- Write the payee name, and the dollar amount in both numbers and letters, as far to the left in the allotted space as possible and draw a line through the unused space to the right of the letters and numbers to prevent additions.
- Balance or reconcile your checkbook register with your monthly bank statements.
- When writing the payee name on the "Pay to the Order of" line, make sure the name is spelled out so it cannot be altered (e.g. L.S.U. could be changed to L.S.Underwood.
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