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He no longer writes checks to people for bug-hunting and hasn't done so for years due to concerns about the proliferation of his banking information. He mails o
by fapjacks 7y ago
He no longer writes checks to people for bug-hunting and hasn't done so for years due to concerns about the proliferation of his banking information. He mails out certificates.
- chrisseaton 7y agoWhy do checks have your banking secrets on them?
- Izkata 7y ago...so that they can be used? Those numbers across the bottom are your bank's routing number and your account number. I'm honestly surprised I don't hear more about e-check theft done using those numbers.
- chrisseaton 7y ago> Those numbers across the bottom are your bank's routing number and your account number. Those aren't secrets, are they? Isn't your bank account protected by separate secrets and or physical authentication tokens? You can't just take money out at a bank by giving a bank account number, surely?
- jrockway 7y ago> You can't just take money out at a bank by giving a bank account number, surely? That's exactly what a check is. It's a legal document that says "I give you X dollars from account Y." You can use a napkin instead of a the pre-filled sheets of paper your bank sends you, and it's still the same legal document. Typically your signature is checked against one on file, but only for large transactions, and of course handwriting signatures can be forged. And, if you are writing checks against other people's bank account, you'll probably go to prison. That is the check on the system. (It's no different than signing a contract. I'll do this work and you'll pay me when it's done. What happens if they don't pay you? You sue them. The root of trust is the judicial system.)
- chrisseaton 7y agoRight, but the bank is still entitled to check with me before handing over the cash. They have no way of knowing that I signed the contract. Account numbers and squinting at a signature isn't any kind of proof!
- SAI_Peregrinus 7y ago> the bank is still entitled to check with me before handing over the cash. They're allowed to, but have no (legal or socially expected) requirement to do so. I've never heard of a bank doing so for small (<$10k or so) amounts, and then only if fraud alerts are already present.
- nailer 7y agoIs it possible to have an account in the US which forbids anyone paying from it using cheques?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- no_protocol 7y agoIf someone knows your account number, they can take money from it, there is no separate secret or anything. It would be illegal, but they can do it.
- invisiblerobot 7y agowhat?? You can deposit without a pin bit to withdraw you need photo id and a verbal password or pin in every bank I've ever been in
- SAI_Peregrinus 7y agoAre you in the USA? Our banks don't exactly do "security" at all.
- chrisseaton 7y ago> If someone knows your account number, they can take money from it You can seriously just say a bank account number at a bank in the US and walk away with a bag of cash from it, with no other security checks at all? In the UK they’d make you enter a password or PIN or use 2FA.
- ixwt 7y agoNo, you would have to do some authentication at a physical bank itself. You can use the numbers to request a wire transfer from the account. In fact, when you're setting up an ACH transaction for bills and such, they tell you to get the numbers from a check.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- somehnguy 7y agoThose numbers are not secrets. They're literally just the bank's routing number and your account number. Using those numbers anyone can withdraw/deposit into that account. Madness isn't it?
- chrisseaton 7y agoMy bank authenticates with me before honouring a check - is this not common?
- cmiles74 7y agoI'm from the US and I've never heard of a bank verifying permission before releasing funds, they simply release the funds. As far as I know, US banks no longer check the signature (if they ever did) and no longer validate the date on the check (at least at my bank you can no longer post-date a check). We recently lost a book of checks and the bank totally wigged out. They demanded that we close the account immediately and it took a decent amount of back and forth to talk them into waiting a week (we wanted existing checks to clear). To my mind, this implied that they did no validation on checks.
- somehnguy 7y agoI haven't actually used a check in a looong time so I don't know exactly what you mean. I do know that I keep the numbers off a check from my checkbook I received when originally opening my bank account like 10 years ago in Lastpass. When sites that don't accept credit need payment information (my student loans mainly) I just copy/paste the numbers into their payment form and the money gets taken out of my account. No verification whatsoever, Nelnet is able to just withdraw the money from my account using those numbers. I assume anybody with a debit processing backend or service can do the same if they have the routing/account #. It's kind of a wonder peoples money doesn't just disappear all the time really.
- rafaelvasco 7y agoCheck forging. Was a big problem years ago when checks were widely used; These days they're almost dead so; (See 'Catch me if you can' film if you didn't already!);
- chrisseaton 7y agoIn the UK if I write a check my bank checks with me before honouring it. They don’t just let you wave a piece of paper with numbers on it and empty the account lol.
- robk 7y agoIn the UK fraud barely gets noticed by police. In USA there's serious jail time for check fraud
- chrisseaton 7y ago> In USA there's serious jail time for check fraud There's no serious jail time for it in the UK because the system doesn't let you do it in the first place!
- rafaelvasco 7y agoThe superior system then;
- tonyedgecombe 7y agoDirect debits are surprisingly easy to set up in the uk.