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Yeah, but I dare you give out your account number to a random person. The bank security system here is ridiculous. I always stick to cashier's check for this v
by yandie 6y ago
Yeah, but I dare you give out your account number to a random person. The bank security system here is ridiculous.
I always stick to cashier's check for this very reason (and for accounting purpose).
- cortesoft 6y agoI have written quite a few checks to people I don't know. I don't think too many people think twice about it.
- fishywang 6y agoMy understand is that in the US system anyone can initiate transfer out of your account with your routing and account numbers (both are on the check itself so they're not really "secret"), but if they are doing it without your consent they'll get into legal trouble and you can get your money back (but it _might_ take some time to get your money back). As a result most people just shrug it off.
- pmiller2 6y agoThat’s correct. I had someone take $40 out of my account this way a while back. My credit union was great about it, refunding my money and generally straightening out the situation for me. But, in order to fix it, they had to close my account. This alone was more than $40 in inconvenience for me, but there was literally nothing else that could be done. I had no idea how my account information got compromised (or, even if it was compromised), and I’m not sure what I would have done had my account information been leaked again via the same channel.
- njarboe 6y ago"they'll get into legal trouble" They may get into legal trouble. My mom had her checkbook stolen that was in her luggage and the person used the checking account to pay for an electricity bill. She reported it to the police, but they had more important things to spend time on. When you can use someones else's checking account number to pay for a utility at a fixed location, you probably aren't worried about legal trouble when you are doing it.
- jks 6y agoDonald Knuth used to write checks in hexadecimal amounts to people who reported errors in his books (I have $7.68) but had to stop because people post photos of the checks online and the numbers printed on them can be used for fraud.
- inimino 6y agoHe still writes them, they're just not from a real bank anymore.
- gruez 6y agoBut that's what people did, back in the day when they wrote checks to pay for things in store.
- vilhelm_s 6y agoBack then you probably couldn't electronically withdraw money from someone's account with just the account number---it has become more sensitive later.