A couple of hinky issues here -- The statement from Mr. Handy indicates an amount of $114,000. That's very significant. However, the NYT mentions only $14,000.

A couple of hinky issues here -- The statement from Mr. Handy indicates an amount of $114,000. That's very significant. However, the NYT mentions only $14,000. That's still a large number but, you know, an order of magnitude smaller. Where's the other $100K? Also, what about enhanced scrutiny for such a large deposit/withdrawal? Aren't banks supposed to file extra paperwork if you're exceeding $10,000 or something? What happened, did the thieves go to an idiot branch or ATM or something? Can you drop into the CHECKS CASHED store on the corner in the ghetto and have your $14,000 [$114,000] worth of fraud? Once when I took a girlfriend to see a film, we returned to find the car door slightly ajar. She had left her purse on the floor and it was still there. All good? Weeks later, it turned out that someone fraudulently filled and cashed a check that belonged in her checkbook. They had entered my car, found her checkbook, extracted the last one in the book sequence, and replaced everything without a trace. It's true that you need to safeguard your checks! In Mr. Handy's case, what type of checks were they? Like an ordinary bank draft? There are cashier's checks and money orders too. You'd think that if this was such an important financial transaction that we'd be working with cashier's checks and certified mail. It also strikes me as so weird that they expected Mr. Handy to essentially be the middleman to receive checks he couldn't cash. They weren't made out to him! Why mail checks to him like he's a third party or mule! Yes, NYT, this would've been far better accomplished by electronic means. There are a lot of things in your article that don't add up. Are we entirely sure that Mr. Handy is telling the whole truth here? Surely there are more irregularities to be uncovered!