All of us tend to take the convenience of stuff we can do on the Internet for granted. QAnon conspiracy theorists and porn addicts aside, there are many ways the Internet has made conducting our lives more convenient. We use the ‘Net to shop, to consume media, and to play games. I made the counter on my old house on my iPad at a Catholic High baseball game out at Lamar Porter for one more example.
And if you are also like me you probably pay a lot if not most of your bills online. I might write 3-4 checks a month. A box of checks will last me a year if not longer. Really convenient. But every now and again something crazy pops up that takes some time to unwind. This is what happened to me a week or so.
I was looking at my checking account when I noticed that the balance seemed low. Lower then usual even. Like most banks, the one I use lets me look at the actual copies of paper items (as us commercial lawyers say) drawn against my account. When I started poking around to try to stop the bleeding, I discovered two checks written on a Trust account opened at my bank’s branch up in northwest Arkansas that were paid by me in the total amount of @$3000.00. Paid by me. Not written by me. Not a forgery. Checks written on a Trust account, signed by the Trustee (completely unknown to me) and charged to my checking account.
The first thing I did was to call my banker. Actually the first thing I did was to text my wife to tell her not to deposit the check I wrote her for my half of the monthly nut as it was now, well, hot. I then called my banker who said she would look into it.
Eventually she called.
“Evidently the account he wrote those checks on has your account number on them,” she said.
“What?”I exclaimed. “How could this happen? I’ve never heard of this guy and I just paid his state and county taxes.”
“Maybe the check company made a mistake. I don’t know. The branch manager up there is trying to get ahold of his customer. The good news is that the gentleman doesn’t write many checks on that account. In the meantime, I’ve restored the money to your account. Hopefully this will solve the problem.” This was on a Friday.
So, imagine my amusement the following Monday when I saw a -$17,000 overdraft and overdraft charge on the account. Evidently my twin up in the Ozarks bought or paid off a vehicle with an Electronic Transfer of Funds through that Trust account.
I sent my banker an email.
“It’s bad enough that I am now, at least on paper, destitute,” I wrote. “But I resent highly being assessed an overdraft fee when I’m not the one kiting checks and ETFs all over northwest Arkansas.”
She assured me that she would get to the bottom of this.
“OK, this looks like fraud,” she said. “But I’m reluctant to push that button just yet. If I push that button I lose all control, and security will shut down all these accounts for the time being. You pay a lot of bills automatically. This would be a real pain for you. I’ve got a call into the manager up there. I’m gonna tell him he really needs to get his arms around this situation.”
The money got restored the next day and the overdraft fee was removed. Even better, the check I wrote my wife cleared. My banker called with the explanation.
“Here’s what happened. Apparently the man on the Trust account is an older man. He tried to save some money by ordering checks online rather than through the bank and wound up inputting your account number by accident. After you discovered the error, he was told by the branch up there not to write any more checks on that account until they could get it fixed.”
“So he did an ETF instead?,” I said. “That’s missing the point ain’t it?”
“Yes it is. But that account has been closed and his old account with the correct number has been restored. Surely this little problem is solved. Just keep an eye on your account just to make sure.”
So far so good. The only suspicious transactions I’ve noticed since then are the usual ones I perform on a weekly basis. As usual, I have no one to blame but myself. Which is the way it should be.
This story is proof that we should all keep an eye on our financial accounts. People get hacked. Or an old man might be paying off his truck through your account number. The Internet has made our lives much more convenient. But when something gets screwed up in the present age the ripple effect can be pretty large. You never know.
And whenever you get a new box of checks, you will note that the first thing you will see inside is a warning that you should examine them to make sure the information engraved thereon is correct.
Take my word for it. You should do it.
