IBA Compliance Connection

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We have a customer who recently was the victim of check forgery. A fraudster forged the customers’ signature to write two different $6,000 checks drawn on that customer’s account. We plan to file a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), and we also want the customer to fill out an affidavit of forgery to verify the fraud. The sample affidavit of forgery form that we found online includes a space to identify a state and county. In that space, should we list the county where the forged checks were presented, or the county where our main office is located? Also, should we contact local law enforcement? We believe we may have surveillance footage of the fraudster.

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Yes, we recommend contacting your local law enforcement regarding the forgeries, particularly if you may have information that could assist police in identifying the fraudster.

In addition, we are not aware of any form requirements regarding affidavits of forgery for checks, although you should check for any clearinghouse rules that might require an affidavit or other form when returning a forged check. In the absence of a form requirement, we believe you may use either the county of your main bank or the county of the two branches where the forged checks were presented, whichever creates the most useful record for your bank. However, we note that the various sample affidavits of forgery we found online typically include the state and county where the customer resides or where the affidavit is notarized (or both) — not where the bank is located.