Forgery - Who To Contact

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Question:

I was wondering what law enforcement agency would handle a case of forgery.<strong>Scenario:</strong> The Government refund check ($600) sent out earlier this year was sent to the ex-wife (the couple is divorced) she forged his signature and deposited the money into her account. He has asked her numerous times for his $300 (half of the check) we need to know the recourse to follow to press charges against her. In addition she somehow managed to sign off his name of a trailer that was only in his name (the title).

Answer:

Answer by Dana Turner:
Your question doesn't indicate if the check was deposited into a sole or joint tenant account -- or the time frame involved. If it is a sole tenant account and if it's within three (3) years from the date of the offense, you have two (2) basic options:

Contact your local office of the Treasury Department and ask an agent if he/she will accept the investigation ("threshhold policy" for that office may prohibit it); or
Contact your local law enforcement agency that services the area where the check was deposited and file a crime report, including your statement about the trailer. The agency will accept the report -- but there's no guarantee that it will investigate it.

Whether the husband gets his "share" of the $600.00 isn't the issue for you -- you should still file a forgery report. If your bank also took a loss, you can take the wife to Small Claims Court to recover the loss, regardless of what action the law enforcement agency takes.

Answer:

Answer by Barbara Hurst:
The easiest way for your customer to handle this is to make the claim to the US Treasury himself. They'll take his affidavit of forgery, and will then make the claim on you (charging your account, by the way) and reimbursing him. You'll be out the $600. If you have no way of recovering from her, you may want to make a deal with him!

First published on BankersOnline.com 1/7/02