A California businesswoman, Phi Dang, is out $14,000 after a con artist allegedly used chemicals to alter a check she sent. Dang mailed a check for $14,000 and her bank statement showed it had been cashed. But when she looked at an image of the check online, she noticed the payee’s name had been changed.
Dang believes a thief stole the check from the mail, altered it, and then cashed it at the bank. While banks typically reimburse victims of check fraud, Wells Fargo told Dang she waited too long to report the fraud, missing their 30-day deadline.
“He kept telling me, ‘Do you understand what I’m saying? Your money is gone, your money is gone,'” Dang said.
Wells Fargo said they “empathize” with Dang, but won’t reimburse her.
Check Fraud On The Rise
This isn’t an isolated incident. Check fraud is on the rise across the country. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, check fraud has increased by a whopping 385% since 2021.
This means banks are seeing a huge increase in reports of potential check fraud. In 2021, banks filed over 350,000 reports, a 23% increase from the year before. And in 2022, that number nearly doubled to over 680,000 reports.
