Keeping forgeries in check

MLPD hopes to team up with local businesses control recurring problem

An old problem has a new solution at the Moses Lake Police Department.

The passing of bad checks on businesses and stores is as widespread as commerce itself, and the MLPD detectives have long had to deal with its consequences throughout the city.

Now, with the help of the Internet, they have decided to team up with businesses to put a stop to the problem, starting a city-wide mailing list of information regarding possible cases and suspects.

Before the Internet, the MLPD tried to connect with businesses via fax. "We had to dial dozens of numbers," said detective Juan Loera, "and wait for busy lines to open up."

Thanks to e-mail, the connection is much faster, and so is the response, with the department adding two new businesses a month to their network. There are more than 50 businesses in the list.

The network provides names and faces of the people in question as well as information regarding the bad checks, Loera said. That way, if a business that is on the network is visited by one of the suspects, they can call on the MLPD to confiscate their checkbook.

The quick response by businesses has had an effect on check forgers and counterfeiters, Loera said, as they have begun to avoid businesses in the city and target stores in the surrounding areas.

"We have got to get those businesses on board," Loera said, encouraging people to get their stores on the list by reaching him at his e-mail address, jloera@ci.moses-lake.wa.us.

Loera's concern is not simply the new places that might be hit, but the welfare of existing businesses. Their customer base may decrease if they become reluctant or start rejecting taking checks. "It's because they get hit so hard," Loera said.

Businesses that get hit give the MLPD their bad checks and then the detectives try to determine whether it is a case of forgery, counterfeiting or non-sufficient funds. When it's the first two, sometimes the checks come in a series. "A person will paper the town within a few days," Loera said.

Sally Lopez, teller coordinator at the Moses Lake branch of the Bank of America said that her bank has to deal constantly with bad checks.

"Checks are always being forged because of the access to generic checks sold by vendors," she said.

Tactics from changing the amount on checks with acid dyeing to adding extra zeroes to the number amount "happen quite a bit," she said.

"You have to make sure that when you write a check, you don't give people room to change," she said.

Lopez advised that people should not give criminals the chance to commit these crimes. "If you go to things like yard sales, do not pay with checks," she said. "You are giving people you don't know information you don't want to give."

If checks are used frequently, Lopez recommends tearing up anything that might have your information on it. If you have canceled checks, they should be stacked away on a safe place, as those checks often are signed.

Historically, Loera said, the problem has not worsened, but it is still a headache for businesses. With superior technology, it may have become easier to network among businesses, but it has become harder to catch those passing the bad checks.

Loera said the modus operandi of the forger, the person who uses a valid check with someone else's money, and the counterfeiter, who uses an entirely manufactured check, includes targeting mailboxes, garbage cans, or sometimes even friends for their checkbooks.

"They wait until the friend goes to the bathroom at a restaurant and leaves the purse," Loera said. "Next thing the other person knows, their checkbook is gone."

Further moves include styling the person's signature, or cutting and pasting the bank's logo and the account number.

For Loera, the same way there is a difference between a counterfeiter and a check forger, there is a difference between someone who is wallpapering the city with bad checks and somebody whose account emptied before their list of bills did.

Loera said that not all the people involved in a case are meant to be blacklisted. "We are trying to blacklist those who forge checks," he said. "If it's been over a month and somebody who is on the list can verify funds, we tell the businesses to let them purchase."

Prevention is paramount, nonetheless. Otherwise, the consequences could be serious. "By the time you have first notice that something is wrong, your account has been cleaned out," Lopez said.,