Check Fraud On Rise

As banking becomes more convenient for customers, criminals are also coming up with new ways to cheat the system.

The National Check Fraud Center said large bank losses are up nearly 20 percent every year. Individual consumers are the most at risk.

Check fraud at large banks doubled over the past two years.

Jim Henry, of the Secret Service office in Raleigh, said some businesses will take a payment with a checking account number and a routing number right over the phone.

All a criminal needs, he said, is to see the information at the bottom of a personal check. Henry said anybody who has a personal checking account was vulnerable to check fraud.

He suggested that you don't even leave bill payments in your mailbox.

He said you should protect your bank account number and credit card information as if it were cash.