Check Fraud United States

Thieves, often working in gangs using relatively inexpensive equipment, passed twice as many bogus checks last year as in 1991, costing banks $815 million. "The banking system is under attack by organized crime," warned Bruce Brett, chairman of the American Bankers Assn.'s check fraud task force. Brett told reporters Wednesday that the number of bogus checks jumped to 1.3 million in 1993 from 536,000 two years earlier, when counterfeiting cost banks $247 million.

A fast-growing corps of "point-and-click" criminals, from lone computer buffs to gangs, are stealing billions of dollars using counterfeit checks--many times what bank robbers steal with guns. The Secret Service and FBI warned Congress on Thursday that fraud based on counterfeit checks is a thriving new area of crime. Consumer advocates cautioned that some of the solutions, such as banks' requiring noncustomers to apply thumb prints to checks, penalize the innocent without deterring the guilty.

Despite a major crackdown this week that pointed to weaknesses in federal credit card laws, there are no immediate plans in Washington to try to curb a fraud scheme that has cost U.S. banks at least $100 million. Consequently, banks and law-enforcement authorities may continue to have their hands full trying to catch perpetrators of this potentially lucrative fraud, experts suggested Friday.

Despite a major crackdown this week that pointed to weaknesses in federal credit card laws, there are no immediate plans in Washington to try to curb a fraud scheme that has cost U.S. banks at least $100 million. Consequently, banks and law-enforcement authorities may continue to have their hands full trying to catch perpetrators of this potentially lucrative fraud, experts suggested Friday.

Despite a major crackdown this week that pointed to weaknesses in federal credit card laws, there are no immediate plans in Washington to try to curb a fraud scheme that has cost U.S. banks at least $100 million. Consequently, banks and law-enforcement authorities may continue to have their hands full trying to catch perpetrators of this potentially lucrative fraud, experts suggested Friday.

Former U.S. Rep. George Hansen has been sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of 45 counts of federal bank fraud in a multimillion-dollar check-kiting scheme. The 62-year-old Republican was also ordered Tuesday to serve three years of supervised probation after his release from federal prison.

The special Justice Department lawyer investigating the House bank scandal on Wednesday formally cleared the last of three Orange County congressmen who overdrew their House accounts. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who had eight overdrafts, released a letter from special counsel Malcolm R. Wilkey that said, "There is no basis for pursuing a further inquiry regarding possible criminal violations concerning your account." "I'm more than squeaky clean," Rohrabacher said.

A fast-growing corps of "point-and-click" criminals, from lone computer buffs to gangs, are stealing billions of dollars using counterfeit checks--many times what bank robbers steal with guns. The Secret Service and FBI warned Congress on Thursday that fraud based on counterfeit checks is a thriving new area of crime. Consumer advocates cautioned that some of the solutions, such as banks' requiring noncustomers to apply thumb prints to checks, penalize the innocent without deterring the guilty.

Despite a major crackdown this week that pointed to weaknesses in federal credit card laws, there are no immediate plans in Washington to try to curb a fraud scheme that has cost U.S. banks at least $100 million. Consequently, banks and law-enforcement authorities may continue to have their hands full trying to catch perpetrators of this potentially lucrative fraud, experts suggested Friday.

Thieves, often working in gangs using relatively inexpensive equipment, passed twice as many bogus checks last year as in 1991, costing banks $815 million. "The banking system is under attack by organized crime," warned Bruce Brett, chairman of the American Bankers Assn.'s check fraud task force. Brett told reporters Wednesday that the number of bogus checks jumped to 1.3 million in 1993 from 536,000 two years earlier, when counterfeiting cost banks $247 million.

Former U.S. Rep. George Hansen has been sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of 45 counts of federal bank fraud in a multimillion-dollar check-kiting scheme. The 62-year-old Republican was also ordered Tuesday to serve three years of supervised probation after his release from federal prison.

The special Justice Department lawyer investigating the House bank scandal on Wednesday formally cleared the last of three Orange County congressmen who overdrew their House accounts. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who had eight overdrafts, released a letter from special counsel Malcolm R. Wilkey that said, "There is no basis for pursuing a further inquiry regarding possible criminal violations concerning your account." "I'm more than squeaky clean," Rohrabacher said.