If your paycheck gets stolen forged and cashed, can a person get their paycheck back? Ever happened

[lonestarnot]

to you?

[elleng]

1. Should happen.

Likely depends on employer, relationship, and how soon theft is reported.

[lonestarnot]

2. cops didn't seem to think that a couple more days would be relevant for the report, but apparently

a copy of the check is needed for a report.

[elleng]

7. Could be relevant to show theft had occurred.

Company should provide copy of cancelled check as soon as available from their bank. Ask them for it.

[lonestarnot]

8. Yes, will be asking for that copy.

[Horse with no Name]

3. I had a car get totaled by someone who had no insurance

She was written a shitload of tickets at the scene...tickets that amounted to thousands of dollars.

The tickets were paid...she was a single mother working at a convenience store.

I never saw a penny for my car.

I imagine that once "the authorities" are involved....you will see nothing of your check. However, I also imagine that all of the charges that are filed and fines associated with those charges will end up paid.

[lonestarnot]

5. Sorry about your car. I was also smacked by an uninsured person. But apparently not as bad an

accident as the one you experienced. We are certainly in a bad state of affairs. Just yesterday I drove into a pothole inside of another pothole. I imagine her tickets amounted to more than the basic car insurance premium required by the same law that took her money for the tickets. What a racket.

[defacto7]

26. I guess this day and age

you are expected to sue. A lot of good that will do.

[Warpy]

4. Yes, my first check from the VA hospital was mailed out

even after I'd told them not to, that I'd pick it up at work. Of course it was stolen (the place was a rathole rented room in a real armpit of the city). It was replaced within a week and the second one didn't get mailed out. It was direct deposit after that (took time to set it up, apparently).

[lonestarnot]

6. Someone stole this check from a workplace apparently. No case of mailing it or anything like that.

Glad you got your money!

[uncle ray]

27. if stolen at work before reaching the employee, and it's the employer's fault, i'd raise hell.

it's the employer's responsibility to get it safely to the employee. you, or whoever the check is written to, did the work and are entitled to the pay. now, if the payee left it laying around...

[dsc]

9. checks can be traced

and that is what will need to happen here. Once you get a copy of the check (both sides) you can show you didn't sign it and whose account it went into. the money can be clawed back if you show fraud.

[lonestarnot]

10. A copy of the check will have to be produced. When one cashes a check for cash, what place would do

that transaction without id and an endorsement? And aren't most of those places covered by camera? Yeah if it was deposited, a trace will have to be done. Could be a while before the funds are returned if at all. The payer of the check should have the liability no?

[dsc]

11. the check has to be deposited eventually

and that is where you would get your money from. I would have a stop payment put on it now if possible. you might get lucky and beat it being deposited. IF you don't, then the trace has to come in. IF the check has cleared your bosses bank should be able to get a copy of the check. they should know what number your check has now so they should be able to issue a stop payment (for a fee).

[lonestarnot]

12. It is understood that the check is already cashed, so a stop at this point is not going to happen.

[dsc]

14. If it is cashed then it has been deposited

To be clear, what I mean is that if you are beyond a stop payment, then deposit has happened. Tracing is what you need to have happen now. I am guessing that your boss' bank will need proof you didn't sign the check and it didn't go to an account you own. If it was cashed at one of those check cashing places that is where the cameras would come in. the check would still have to have been endorsed to be cashed there so they would need to compare signatures. IF they don't match then the check cashing place is out of luck but you should eventually get your money back.

[lonestarnot]

15. Yeah that makes me happy. Thank you.

[dsc]

17. you didn't lose your drivers license did you?

they should have asked for an ID at the check cashing place.

[lonestarnot]

18. No id stolen just the check. A reason I am curious to see the check copy. How it was endorsed and

how the hell it was cashed w/o and identification. But it could have just been deposited to the teefs account. How stupid would that be? Gawd, I don't wanna know.

[dsc]

19. The check cashing place, if he used one, would have required ID

his own bank would like have only required his endorsement under yours. But then you would now have the account number of the thief.

[lonestarnot]

20. Would someone be that fucking stupid?

[dsc]

21. one would hope not

what they likely did was scam a friend. you will still get your money though.

[lonestarnot]

22. wha? "scam a friend" That's no friend.

[dsc]

23. watch judge judy or any other judge show

and you will see that kind of crap happens alot.

[MADem]

28. If the person went to the bank that's listed ON the check, where the account is, that person can

walk out with an envelope of cash--the check doesn't have to be deposited anywhere.

They will have a picture of the fellow on at least three cameras at most banks, they will have a record of what sort of fake ID the guy used to cash the check, but it's possible the guy has already pranced off with the cash.

[dsc]

30. true

but it would still have to be endorsed and they likely have a thumb print too.

[MADem]

32. Perhaps--they would have pictures from every angle from at least three cameras of the person, as

well. Most banks have pretty good a/v coverage, these days--it's better than convenience stores, which are getting better too.

They'll know who it is in short order, if it is someone from the place of employment and not a random stranger who engaged in a crime of opportunity.

[dsc]

33. I still bet that the person gave the check to someone else to cash

in their account. we will probably be seeing them on judge judy soon.

[MADem]

34. Ahh, the old two or three degrees of separation angle!

Entirely possible--they'd better have had some good fake ID...!

[Lex]

13. The bank may be on the hook for cashing a forged check

and apparently not asking for identification when they cashed it. The bank may have to make it good with the employer, who would then have to make it good to the employee.

[lonestarnot]

16. That is the way I understand that will go down also. But it is more complicated in that whoever

did such a thing may still be working at the joint. It's a bad thing to have happened. If someone needed money that badly, maybe the should have spoken about their need.

[MADem]

29. See my remarks above--if the person cashed the check at the bank where the account originates, that

person could have gotten an envelope of cash, but the bank has pictures of that person.

If it's a co-worker, he or she will be nailed soon.

[Princess Turandot]

24. Several years ago...

when I was working at a large hospital, we had a jaw-dropping theft involving a check cashing place. It involved a payment for Medicare services related to a specific service at the hospital, which we intermittently received payment by paper checks. (The main reimbursement came in a biweekly wire deposit, but this service had to be paid separately under the regs.) But they came with an institutional payment number on it. So when responsible clerk got our check #11, she logged it in and checked that the prior check was #10: it was #9.

We reported the lost check to Medicare which informed us it had been cashed then (surprisingly promptly) got us a copy of the canceled check. It had been cashed by a check cashing joint literally around the corner from the hospital.

The check was made out to 'Big Urban Medical Center - Department of Pathology'. (Occasionally, these checks wound up going to the department itself in a mailroom error.) It was for an irregular amount in excess of $80,000. You would think that alone would have stopped the transaction but the check place piously claimed that the person had photo id. Off to the NYPD. The detectives got the tape of the transaction and the copy of the id on file. The id was for a physician in the department, who had reported it lost a few days before the check-cashing. The id pic very clearly showed an Indian man, while the place's blurry tape showed a white guy. Human error, they said.

And yes, they were liable to Medicare for the amount. What the fraud detective told us was that the check place carried insurance for something like this and that what in all likelihood happened was that they paid out something far less than the face of the check in a side deal and then just waited to see if it would be caught! AFAIK, the theft was never solved.

[dsc]

31. Here is where you need a prosecutor with some guts

that is so obviously fraud that the person who cashed that check should be charged.

[Lil Missy]

25. That's an issue for the bank. It's up to the bank whether to press charges.

[Lex]

36. And, the bank is on the hook for making it right because

the bank cashed a forged check and apparently asked for no ID. They carry insurance for things like this.

[madokie]

35. It happened to my wife

She was on vacation on her payday so she didn't go to pick up her paycheck, figured it would still be there when she went back to work in a couple weeks. A week later we get a call about someone having cashed it at the local safeway grocery store. The person who was working with the person who cashed it for the girl who stole it knew my wife and her signature and alerted them that this was not her signature. By then the thief was gone. The company cut my wife a new check and the thief was apprehended largely due to the pictures in the security camera. All was well, my wife got her check the thief went to court. We didn't follow the court procedure so I'm not sure what happened to the thief. This happened 20 years ago. The girl who stole it was a new hire where my wife works. We didn't take it personal, we simply let the system deal with it. Thats what we pay the cops and judges for. Personally I never laid eyes on the thief. In the end there was no harassment no threats, nothing to us except that my wife didn't leave her check at work anymore and the court system dealt with the thief.

[lonestarnot]

37. Should get copies today.

[Yo_Mama]

38. The bank that cashed the check is responsible

You have to file a report with the bank that finally paid the check and a claim. The bank that paid will send the check back to the collecting bank. If they are the same then this will obviously be quicker. The sequence of events is governed by the Uniform Commercial Code, Article 4.

First get the cashed check or a copy from your company. They may help you with the overall process. You should file a police report also. Since it is the company's account which has been robbed, the company really should file the claim and get the money back, but they will need your full cooperation to do so.

Do this very quickly - failure to act immediately will provide ammo for the bank to try to disclaim liability, and if there are two banks involved they will be fighting it out for who takes the loss.