Fidelity Investments put stricter guardrails on the deposits customers make through its mobile app, hitting back against a check-fraud scheme that targeted the investing giant earlier this month…The Boston firm is subjecting some account-holders to a 16 business-day hold on deposits before the money is made available for withdrawal or investment…
The organizers rely on social-media platforms such as Telegram and TikTok to recruit customers of those firms [Fidelity, JP Morgan and banks]. In exchange for access to their accounts, customers are promised a cut of the proceeds. The swindlers deposit fake or doctored checks and then quickly withdraw those funds. …
In these kinds of cases, swindlers often trick customers into sharing their account information or steal their identities. That information is then used to open accounts and deposit fake checks. As more banks opt for speed and high deposit limits to attract customers, physical checks continue to be a weak spot for banks… [end quote]
Since our recent METAR discussion of brokerage account fraud (begun by @intercst) I have frozen withdrawals from my Fidelity money market account. Direct withdrawals (to my local bank checking account, insurance company, credit cards, the IRS) are allowed but other withdrawals are blocked.
Speaking of physical checks…regular ballpoint ink can be washed off a check with solvent and the check fraudulently re-written. Sharpie brand gel pens are resistant so I’m writing any checks using gel pen.
A piece on the local news a few days ago: wife paid the family’s cable TV bill via an app on her phone. Bill was $71.38. She misplaced the decimal and paid $7,138.00. The cable company will refund the money, after 30 days, to make sure the people don’t try to cancel the payment, at the same time that the company issues the refund.
It wouldn’t help anymore … because nobody ever looks at the physical check anymore. Heck, they don’t even GET the physical check anymore, they just get a photo of it. Every check I’ve deposited in the last 5+ years remained in my possession. I just take a photo of the front and back and submit the photos. I assume it gets converted into an ACH at the back end.