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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said it received more than 15,000 reports from financial institutions on mail theft-related check fraud in the six months after it issued an alert on the issue last year.
Bank Reporting: FinCEN said:
It received 15,417 Bank Secrecy Act reports from 841 financial institutions on more than $688 million in reported suspicious activity in the six months after it issued its February 2023 alert.
Banks filed 13,618—or 88%—of the reports, while securities firms filed 885 and credit unions filed 882.
Small and midsized banks accounted for the majority of the reports from banks.
Key Outcomes: In its analysis of the BSA reports, FinCEN identified three primary outcomes after checks were stolen from the U.S. Mail:
44% were altered and then deposited.
26% were used as templates to create counterfeit checks.
20% were fraudulently signed and deposited.
Contact ICBA: ICBA continues to raise awareness of check fraud in the news media and encourages community bankers to share their experiences and input on the challenge of check fraud at [email protected].
Resources: For more information on check fraud, community bankers can:
Listen to an Independent Banker podcast on the issue.
Download ICBA’s check fraud guide.
Join the fraud subgroup on ICBA Community.
Read Independent Banker’s latest article on check fraud mitigation tips.
Watch the recording of ICBA’s ThinkTECH Solutions Forum on fraud.