Full Episode: Turnkey 365 Podcast

Chuck Coxhead:

So, Kurt, I heard through the grapevine this week that one of our customers had a check intercepted, and the check was modified to the tune of $42,000 and it was cashed. What is the deal with that? 

 

Kurt Quiggle:

Hey, all it takes is a couple of fancy chemicals and a check You grab out of a mailbox somewhere. Erase what's written on it and redo it. You know, a lot of the printing that's coming off our our printers today, that ink is is not indelible. Fraudsters can modify that check, take it to the bank and cash it for more than it was ever intended to be cashed for. 

 

Chuck:

Yeah. And I went out and I did a little research and still check fraud is on the rise. We think of checks as something that we don't use as much anymore, but it's still on the rise. People are stealing mailboxes, they're stealing keys, they're getting into mailboxes, and Lord knows what other things are going on to the tune of billions of dollars a year. It just so happens that one of our employees, his wife, works for a bank and they said they're doing like $200 million a year in fraudulent payment intercepts.

 

Kurt:

Incredible. It's absolutely incredible. You know, and the crazy part of it all is, is right. We try to do more and more electronically, but there still is times where we have someone we need to write a check to. It's the only payment method that they can currently accept. Yep. We're still stuck in that world today where it is a form of doing business.

 

Chuck:

So how did we help our customer? What's the solution? 

 

Kurt:

Well, the banks, you know, the banks came up with a plan years ago in the sense that. Tell me about the checks you wrote and I'll make sure that that check only clears for what you tell me. Different systems call it different things. Positive pay, safe pay. But ultimately, when we get done generating a batch of payables or payroll checks in our ERP system, we send a file to the bank that says, Hey, I paid Kurt $750. If that joker shows up and tries to cash it for $17,000, I want to know about it. Right. Don't cash the check and that's ultimately what safe pay, positive pay does. And Microsoft has it in the GP product. It has it in the BC product. And it's quite simple, actually, to deploy. Talk to the bank. Bank tells us what that format needs to look like. You know, the check number, the payee, the amount, the date that file is submitted, you know, typically through electronic means. Again, you log into the bank's website and put in your token and away you go. Now, anything that's presented outside of that range can't be cashed. Wrong payee, wrong amount, wrong date. They won't cash it. 

 

Chuck:

Well, it's nice to know that there's a solution out there, and it's nice to know that's the kind of thing that we can implement we're experienced with. So I truly feel for the customer. I mean, this on the heels of someone whose system was hacked and they didn't have backups, but these things but these kind of things happen and this is what we live every day, and that's why we're so grateful we have our talent. Thanks, my friend. 

 

Kurt:

You're welcome. You're welcome.