Spotting bad checks: About 90% of cleared bad checks are numbered 101 to 150,
indicating a new account.
Spotting forged checks. Legitimate checks have at least one perforated edge.
Most forgeries are cutouts. Another difference: Hold a suspicious check up to
the light. If the print is shiny, the check is a forgery.
When a check is too old to cash: Checks dated more than six months ago are usually not cashable, no matter how much money the issuer has in the bank. (Exception: U.S. Treasury checks are valid indefinitely) If the amounts differ: lf the amount written on a check in words is different from the amount written in numbers, the bank will pay the sum shown in words.
Undated checks: When you receive a check with the date missing, it's legal
to fill in a date reasonably close to when it was mailed.
lnvalid: To predate or postdate it by several weeks. Such action might be constituted
as a criminal act.
Stopping a certified check: Normally, this check cannot be the subjected a stop payment order. Exception: lf the bank is informed by the person who wrote the check that fraud was involved in the transaction, the bank may stop payment. But it does not have to.