Personal checks are still a valid financial transaction in the United States and other parts of the work.
As a result, however, this makes them still open to use in financial scams, be it a job claiming you can work at home processing checks or from an email or Facebook solicitation to help a person get back on his feet in a foreign country.
Sending out personal checks in these instances puts your bank details in someone else's hands, making you and your bank account vulnerable to identity theft.
While your bank details can also be obtained through a credit or debit card, here are some ways to spot a scam targeting your financial security.
All types of financial scams involve check fraud in some form.
The most common, as many have seen over the years, is email scams, often from foreign countries, that request money for help and promise to pay you back at a later date.
Be it a person in distress in Europe or an African prince fallen under hard times, no matter the issue, this type of scam targets getting you to send personal checks or a money order overseas, only to have a fraudulent check sent to you in return.
When you go to deposit the fraudulent check, the bank often doesn't accept.
Aside from email or social networking scams, hackers, either domestic or overseas, end up accessing your bank account and getting a hold of your financial information, including the routing and account numbers on your personal checks.
Another sect of personal checks-related scams is often work-at-home jobs.
An advertisement will often state that, if you send a small amount of money, they'll send you materials in return.
This simple exchange often results in someone obtaining your bank details.
A more elaborate work-at-home scam is "processing checks.
" Various money orders or checks - usually fraudulent - will be sent to you, and you'll need to send a check to a third party.
In this scheme, you're stuck with fraudulent checks, while the third party takes your money - and bank details - and disappears.
In all instances, never give out your bank details from your personal checks without researching the company or organization first.
Additionally, if asked for similar information over the telephone, never give out such details to the person on the other end.
As a result, however, this makes them still open to use in financial scams, be it a job claiming you can work at home processing checks or from an email or Facebook solicitation to help a person get back on his feet in a foreign country.
Sending out personal checks in these instances puts your bank details in someone else's hands, making you and your bank account vulnerable to identity theft.
While your bank details can also be obtained through a credit or debit card, here are some ways to spot a scam targeting your financial security.
All types of financial scams involve check fraud in some form.
The most common, as many have seen over the years, is email scams, often from foreign countries, that request money for help and promise to pay you back at a later date.
Be it a person in distress in Europe or an African prince fallen under hard times, no matter the issue, this type of scam targets getting you to send personal checks or a money order overseas, only to have a fraudulent check sent to you in return.
When you go to deposit the fraudulent check, the bank often doesn't accept.
Aside from email or social networking scams, hackers, either domestic or overseas, end up accessing your bank account and getting a hold of your financial information, including the routing and account numbers on your personal checks.
Another sect of personal checks-related scams is often work-at-home jobs.
An advertisement will often state that, if you send a small amount of money, they'll send you materials in return.
This simple exchange often results in someone obtaining your bank details.
A more elaborate work-at-home scam is "processing checks.
" Various money orders or checks - usually fraudulent - will be sent to you, and you'll need to send a check to a third party.
In this scheme, you're stuck with fraudulent checks, while the third party takes your money - and bank details - and disappears.
In all instances, never give out your bank details from your personal checks without researching the company or organization first.
Additionally, if asked for similar information over the telephone, never give out such details to the person on the other end.