POSITIVE PAY: A SUCCESS STORY

Wachovia’s Positive Pay Service Uncovers Alleged Check Fraud Ring, Saving Selective Insurance an $8,000 Loss

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. of Branchville, NJ, is singing the praises of Wachovia’s Payee Match Positive Pay Service after a bank teller uncovered an alleged scheme to defraud the company of at least $8,000. Founded in 1926, Selective Insurance Group is the 49th largest property and casualty company in the U.S., providing a broad range of insurance and alternative risk management services.

The attempted fraud was discovered when an individual presented a check for cashing at a Wachovia branch in South Carolina. Neither payee name nor amount on the check matched the Positive Pay file provided to the bank by Selective Insurance. As it turned out, the check had been stolen and altered by $8,000. Thanks to quick action by Wachovia, the individual was arrested on the spot.

Jennifer W. DiBerardino, Vice President and Assistant Treasurer of Selective Insurance, tells the story in her own words in an email received recently by Wachovia.

From: Jennifer.Diberardino@selective.com
To: Wachovia
Subject: Kudos to Wachovia

“Dear Wachovia:

I shared the following story with our senior management team today. Thanks to Wachovia for being a leader in cash management and check fraud prevention. The branch teller was alert and quick to act, Wachovia's fraud investigator was quick to respond and very congenial. Kudos!

I want to share a fraud prevention story. I received a call late on Thursday last week from a Wachovia teller in South Carolina. He had a check that someone was trying to cash that didn't match the dollar amount or the payee name on the positive pay file that Selective sent over to the bank. I checked the claim file on eSelect and confirmed that the check was for a different amount and made out to a different payee.

The person who presented the check was arrested on the spot and the investigation is being handled by Wachovia's fraud unit, Selective's SIU and federal authorities. Apparently, the original check was intercepted in the mail and both the payee and the dollar amount had been altered. The dollar amount of the original check was $950 and it was altered to $8,950.  The authorities believe that this may be the work of a check fraud ring and the office of the general postal inspector is also involved since the checks are possibly being stolen from the mail.

Selective participated in the payee positive pay match pilot program that Wachovia launched in late 2003. When the pilot ended, we hesitated slightly about paying what amounted to be about $2,000 per year in additional banking fees for this service. We decided to go ahead and use it as additional insurance against check fraud and this episode proves it is money well spent.

What's even more noteworthy is that through the combination of the efforts of our IT group to send timely positive pay files to our banks, the ability to easily pull up the claim data on eSelect, and the quick response by Selective’s Corporate Claims and Treasury personnel to the bank's inquiries, we can significantly limit the risk of check fraud."

Jennifer W. DiBerardino, CTP
Vice President and Assistant Treasurer
Selective Insurance Group, Inc.
40 Wantage Avenue
Branchville, NJ  07890

Wachovia's Pledge
Today, Wachovia remains committed to providing the best in proven service capabilities to our more than 100,000 corporate, commercial, and local business customers worldwide. We invite you to talk with one of the treasury services professionals at Wachovia to learn how your company can benefit from our uncommon perspective.

Please call us at (800) 377-9208. By combining all you know about your business with all we’ve learned, together we can apply uncommon wisdom to achieve your business success.

Email This Page     Printer Friendly Version