Fraud during the time of Pandemic

Cashiers and Tellers Report Unable to “Feel” whether Money is Real or Not

During our twenty years of selling counterfeit currency detection equipment, one of the most common “objections” to our presentations that we have heard from companies both large and small is that they didn’t need our counterfeit detection products because they can train their frontline people to recognize fake money by hand – be testing how the paper feels.

Well, this story has been flipped on its side. Several of those large clients have called and told us that – with new protocols that have cashiers wearing surgical gloves to avoid direct contact with currency, they can no longer “feel” the notes and detect whether they are genuine.

One company in particular, a global leader in big box retail operations, has started buying the Model CT550 to enable a quick, easy and accurate test result for banknotes right at the cash-wrap locations.

Banks and Credit Unions seeing Forged US Treasury “Stimulus” Checks – How can you Verify them?

We’ve all heard that the US Congress has passed a number of bills in an effort to stimulate the US economy and offer succor to US citizens during the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the COVID 19 pandemic.

Part of the actions they have taken include the issuance of stimulus checks to the majority of US taxpayers.

And – now, we are hearing from financial service institutions like credit unions, banks and check cashing centers that they are already seeing forgeries turning up.

With fake ID’s so easy to buy, and high-end printing equipment available to enable even amateur counterfeiters to print forged treasury checks, this new fraud scheme should not be surprising to anyone.

Fortunately, Treasury checks are rather easily verified using a FraudFighter UV Detection machine. As you can see in this image, in addition to a very clear and bold gold pattern with the letters “FMS” repeating next to the US Treasury Seal, the authentic Treasury check paper also has randomly distributed UV threads that might vary in color from green to yellow or red.

Identity Thieves Get Bold, Hit Same Store Multiple Times in One Day

The sorry truth is – when times of crisis come, fraudsters and other criminals will increase their activity. Once they discover some form of vulnerability, the word will get out among their community and many people willing to break the law will try to exploit it.

We got a call from one franchisee of a national cellular phone company looking for some way to authenticate ID documents. Turns out that one of their stores had been hit three times in one day by identity thieves who opened new cellular accounts, and financed smartphones and tablets. Almost ten-thousand dollars in product stolen in one day.

For them, it was a no-brainer to equip their stores with PALIDIN, our forensic ID Document authentication software solution. Now, when they open a new account – or even grant someone access to an existing account – they can affirmatively authenticate the identity.