The Florida Land Title Association online forum contains a discussion of a new type of check fraud. Here’s how it works: the sellers deposit the check using a smart phone check deposit application. (For the uninitiated, this method uses a picture of the check taken with the phone’s camera). They then take the original check to the branch of the bank on which it is drawn and ask that the check be voided and the funds be sent to their account by EFT. The FLTA forum doesn’t go into specifics and we couldn’t find any other source for the story that doesn’t mention the FLTA site, but it seems plausible enough to merit concern.
Apparently, most banks that offer this service, like Chase or PNC Bank, limit the amounts that can be deposited via smart phone to $1000 per day and $3000 per month. So it may be less of a threat in the real estate closing context, but who needs the aggravation?
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