We have a customer that we believe stole money orders out of mail boxes and then forged and deposited the money orders into his account. He went to jail for an unrelated issue and is now out. None of the MO have come back to us, but he has $1,500 in his account and he wants the money. Can we legally hold his funds and if so, for how long???

If have reason to believe a crime has been committed you should advise law enforcement, .... NOW!

Thanks ...this occured 4 months ago, and it seems as if someone came into the bank to report it ...could be heresay for all we know. The point is that we looked at the documents and it is evident that the signatures were forged although we have no "proof". Can I put a hold on his account or do I have to give him the money?

I'm curious what others are doing also, we had more than one case where stolen credit card checks were used to open accounts, which we held. When we verified them as stolen, we had the suspect arrested and closed the accounts, but the CC company never claimed the money back. The CC company appears to have just taken the loss (and they deserve it for sending out the darn things in the first place). No loss to us, but what do you do with the remaining funds? If we wait to escheat, who do you name as the owner?