I had an interesting - and unsettling - experience about the 8th of August.

   I was going through a July  checking account report with a local bank, 

   I noticed the ending balance wasn’t nearly what it should be - in fact it was about $6,500 short.

   I looked at the reprinted page of cancelled checks, then got to the bottom five, which had a Gary W. Meyer signature, but it was not mine.

    I presume during the past month, hackers had secured the routing number and my account number. And they were manufacturing checks (not using my checks) to use for purchases at five area retailers.

   They were quite sloppy. The business account name wasn’t accurately portrayed on them. They were smart enough to use advanced check numbers for their endeavors.

   Those check withdrawals amounted to $2,400-plus.

   Still, there was money missing.

   I contacted the bank and notified them of the suspected fraud.

   By day’s end, we had filled out fraud notification forms and then I was off to the local police department to file theft-by-check complaints.

   The paperwork was returned to the bank and they went into action, attempting to stop real payment to the retailers.

   It worked, and within a week the stolen funds were deposited back into my account.

   But what about the remaining $4,000, taken by bank drafts, the forms of which were not copied onto my statement?

   I contacted the bank again, and the customer service officer asked if I knew a “Virginia.”

   Nope, I don’t know that Virginia.

   She said it would take longer to recover funds taken by draft fraud.

   The funds were returned to my account within 10 days.

   So, I was made whole financially due to the efforts.

   There is a “very immediate” aspect to making such claims, you should note.

   The bank lady said if I had waited for a couple of days to alert them to the stolen monies, I would have passed the 30-day window for recovery.

   Which I don’t get.

   But I was referred to the fraud department within their institution to better learn how to protect against such fraud.

   That, however, comes with a charge, which I also don’t get.

   A final note. Following the bank’s denying of the fraudulent checks, I began to get collection letters from a Tampa Bay firm, representing the retailers who had lost out on the passed checks.

   I responded to them with a letter of explanation and copies of the bank’s fraudulent checks forms and police reports, and asked them to “cease and desist” from contacting me again.

   They haven’t.

  There’s a moral to the story. Anybody can get into contact with your bank account and routing numbers, if they’re devious enough.

   It’s up to you to ensure your statements are reconciled immediately.

   I’d like to meet these people, especially the guy who disgraced the signature to my name. He must have missed cursive writing lessons in elementary.