Erasable Ink Scam
Someone goes door-to-door, soliciting contributions to a charity. He prefers a check—it’s safer for you, after all. But he offers his pen for you to sign your check, and the pen is filled with erasable ink. Later, he changes both the payee and the amount, and cashes the check.
This surely isn’t a new scam, but it’s happening in the UK right now. I’ve already written about attackers using different solvents to wash ink off checks, but this one is even more basic—the attacker gives the victim a bad pen to start with.
I thought checks were printed with ink that also erased, voiding the check. Why does this sort of attack still work?
gigs94 • November 28, 2006 1:02 PM
Since [s]he gives you the pin: could it be the ink isn’t washable… it’s the dry up to nothing kind so [s]he never washes the check. Of course, the signature would dry up to so he would probably have to trace it with real ink before it vanished then wait for the other part to disappear before changing everything else.