MACON, Ga. — Century Bank and Trust in Milledgeville says they see quite a few scams.
One scam they say is hard to detect is check scams.
With online and remote deposits, operations director for Century Bank and Trust Cindy Hill says check fraud can be harder to detect.
“When the checks are deposited — remote deposit — it's very difficult to tell how the check was altered, because it's just an image,” she says.
She says another type of check scam is check washing, which is when the scammer removes the ink showing the amount or who the check is written.
But typically, Hill says she mostly sees fake checks.
“There are some that you can't even tell," Hill said. "Now they're smart so they type official checks on it because the hold regulations are different on official checks than they are on personal checks."
Hill says she had a recent case involving a girl who was dog-sitting who was paid with a fake check and couldn't deposit it.
She says she's also seen a man writing checks claiming to own a business, but in reality, he didn't own the business.
Jason Blankenship at Better Business Bureau has seen check washing decrease and fake checks increase. He says they're easy to make.
“I can get a laser printer and that's when I can start developing things like this, and this is fairly typical of all our offices," he said. "We have a ton of checks that look legitimate however they are not."
He suggests asking yourself if you are expecting a check and if it is too good to be true.