A house you can't tour, priced below everything around it, from a landlord who can only take a wire. The Federal Trade Commission spelled out the pattern this week, and it's built for exactly the person in a hurry to move.
Check fraud, mail theft and the scams that target people who still pay by paper. Facts and prevention, not panic.
The Federal Reserve's new payments study says checks are down to 4% of transactions. It also says they carried $24.45 trillion — more than double what every credit and debit card in the country moved all year.
The FBI says scammers now target seniors specifically while they're closing on a home sale, because a wire that size doesn't look out of place. A community bank's fraud chief says the fix starts with three questions asked at the counter.
A law firm you've never heard of says a stranger who happens to share your last name died and left behind an unclaimed life insurance policy — worth, almost always, exactly $10.8 million. The FTC re-issued its warning about this letter on July 9. It's not the first time. It won't be the last.
A bill to change that just cleared a House committee. It wouldn't stop check fraud. It would just give banks more time to catch it before the money is gone.
Positive pay is the standard defense. It also, in its basic form, ignores the one line on the check that thieves change most.
