question about check fraud?

Question

if someone in a joking way wrote a check of someone else's to the owner of the check but wrote void on it. also wrote goofy things on it. then left the check in the checkbook for that person. is that still fraud?

Answer 1

It would take a lunatic to prosecute. The check was made payable to the order of the owner of the account? Whatever it might be, it can't be fraud: no misrepresentation. Nor forgery, except by someone else who stole the check, forged a name as endorsement, and managed -- somehow -- to cash it.

(Of course in the olden days, before computers and even before account numbers, Mabel down at the Bank might have honored the check and charged it against the guy who signed it. I can remember the 1960s when there were books of blank checks in all the shops and gas stations in town, and nobody carried a checkbook and there weren't a lot of credit cards. People wrote counter checks to the shop. And "Mabel" just charged them to the right account.)

I suppose there's "theft" for the value of the printed check form, an immeasurably small amount.

There has to be more to this story than you've told us.

Answer 2

I don't see any fraud committed here. There was no intention to defraud and all was done in jest. Any time you have the intent to deceive someone contitutes a fraud. For example, Franz Boncodin defrauded numerous individuals by willfully misrepresenting himself, gaining thevictim's trust and embezzling their accounts. That is fraud. Regardless of the modus operandi, when you cheat someone out of their credit cards, rent payment or retirement savings, you're committing fraud. In your case, you're safe.

Answer 3

I am not sure.

One item in your favor is the fact that it says "void."

However, lots of people fail to read what is written.
They become programmed to look at the amount column
period.

So your best bet is not to mess with someone elses
checks.

Answer 4

only if it clears and you press charges. checks are pretty insecure. you can actually take anyones check, write it to whoever you wish, and sign your own name to it. they don't really tend to check or do anything about it unless you bring it up and press charges. my girlfriend did this by accident, signed her name to one of my checks she had made out to pay her insurance, thinking it was her check book. we went to to try to clear it all up with bank of america, and got an informal lesson in how checks are treated. they said they would arrest her if i wanted them to, otherwise it would clear, come out of my account and be fine. of course i didn't care, just didn't want it to come back later as a problem for her, but man were we surprised how checks get treated.

Answer 5

No. If it says VOID, its not even a cheque.

Answer 6

Yes it is

Answer 7

It may not be proper, but it is not a crime