【We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, April 12, 2022】 The rent check of a Chinese in Los Angeles County was stolen and received the notice from the apartment managing company three months later. After verification, the name and amount of the payee on the check have been maliciously tampered with. At the urging of the apartment management company, he had to make up the rent. The victim has now reported the case to the bank, but there is no hope that the stolen money will be recovered, as the bank indicated that it was impossible to prevent checks from being stolen.(Altered Check Image from CPA Talk Hall)

Mr. Zhang, a resident of Arcadia, routinely sends the apartment management company a check for the month's rent at the beginning of each month, and it has never been delayed. But one day in March this year, he received a letter from the management company, "I was shocked when I opened the letter. This is a letter urging the payment of rent. The other party said that I did not pay the rent on time in December last year and asked to pay it up."

But Mr. Zhang clearly remembered that he did not owe any rent. "I quickly checked my bank card records, only to find out that the rent check for December was stolen by a stranger." From the check stub retrieved from online banking, it showed that On December 6, 2021, Mr. Zhang filled out the rent check, and at 11:21 on December 7 the next day, a person named Jose cashed the check, and the specific amount was also revised.

"My monthly rent is $1,250, but the amount has been changed to $1,259 yuan when the check was cashed." Mr. Zhang also pointed out, "The name of the payee on the cheque was altered. I originally wrote the apartment management company, but it has been changed. It became a Hispanic name, and the tampered handwriting was very similar to mine, and I felt that the other party was a very experienced criminal veteran.” How did the rent check sent out was stolen, and why the apartment management company just notified me to pay the December rent when the rent was overdue for three months? “These questions left Mr. Zhang puzzled.

Mr. Zhang is a staff member of the United States Postal Service (USPS), and every time he mails a rent check, he puts it directly in the distribution box of his post office, "so the possibility of stealing the check from the mailbox does not exist. There are only two It's possible that the check was sent to the wrong address by the postman, or there is an internal problem with the management company that received the check." said Mr. Zhang.

Mr. Zhang immediately called the management company of the apartment and got a reply that they would investigate the matter. There is a cheque collector in the company. It is true that Mr. Zhang's rent for December was not recorded. As for why he just received the payment overdue notice for the nonpayment of December rent, the company said that it usually takes some time for them to check the rent delivery, and Mr. Zhang had to make up the rent of $1,250. "To be honest, I don't want to get into trouble with the apartment management company. After all, it is expensive and troublesome to rent a new house again. The person in charge of the management company also told me that it is very common that the check would be stolen and encourage me to call the bank to see if it is possible to recover the loss."

A few days after the incident, Mr. Zhang called the Fraud Prevention Department of Bank of America, and the staff pulled out the check stub, and clearly pointed out that the check had been maliciously tampered with, "The bank said that after technical identification, it was determined that there are traces of modification in the name and the amount of money, and they will investigate the case.”

The whole process of negotiating with the bank gave Mr. Zhang a headache, "I deliberately took a day off to deal with this matter, closed the original account, and opened a new one. What's more troublesome is that my salary is directly transferred to this account and water, electricity, gas, and other monthly fixed expenses are also paid directly from this account, but now all have to be changed again, which wastes a lot of my time.”

Normally when a check is stolen, many banks will pay the victim in advance for the loss. However, except receiving an investigative report, requesting details of the cheques being stolen, Mr. Zhang has not received any information on the progress of the case.

As for whether the amount can be recovered in the end, Mr. Zhang said that he has no hope, "I can only admit that I am unlucky and reflect on my carelessness. I should check the monthly billing information in time. If the amount of the check has been tampered with, it may be discovered early, and the possibility of recovering the money is high. It is not necessary to wait three months to find out that the check has been stolen. But after this incident, I feel that it is not safe to use checks for payments.”

(Source: World News Network)

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