How many checks do you sign each day?
Ten, twenty, fifty?
You issue a check to your subjects after every visit but, how well do you know the person who will cash the check? Can you trust them with your information? Every issued check represents a higher risk of fraud for your company.
It will never happen to my company, you think, but more than 500 million checks are forged annually in the US with an estimated calculated loss of $18.7 billion! If your company becomes a victim of fraud, it can take up to 18 months before the scheme is detected.
Every check you give out has your company’s routing and account number, and an authorized signer’s name/signature. With that information, anyone with a printer and an internet connection could commit fraud against you.
How?
- Using information located right on each check that you hand out, fraud is not too difficult:
- If the person committing fraud simply knows who the authorized signor(s) are, then fake ID(s) can easily be created.
- Since each check that you send out has the authorized signor’s signature, forgery is as easy as a little bit of practice!
- Fake withdrawals can be initiated or fake checks created with the above information.
- Using chemical washes used to remove the ink to change the check dollar amounts or payee.
- Give your patients a reloadable Visa/Mastercard that can be used as a debit or credit card.
- Once the visit is complete, mark it as ‘complete’ in the RealTime system.
- You can authorize the visit payment immediately, or wait and pay all stipends at a later date.
- Funds are loaded instantly on to the patient’s card and can be used right away!