For the average man who may write his checks at a desk, and who may be willing to observe some system in the writing, perhaps the safest and cheapest protection for his paper is to repeat in red-ink figures the amount for which the check is drawn, placing those figures on the signature line at the bottom in such a manner that the black-ink signature will be woven through the red-ink group.  Virtually there is no way of getting around this form of duplicated amount.  The red figures show plainly through the signature and cannot be changed without affecting the form and character of the signature itself.  To affect a signature in this way is to call attention to the fraud instantly.  A man may make a shaky mismove of the pen somewhere in the body of the check, and if it is not too prominent a teller may take a chance and pass it; but he will shy at a signature which isn’t what it ought to be—­that subtle sixth sense of the old teller prompts him to it before he knows why, and a paying teller is always vigilant.

CHAPTER VI

METHODS OF FORGERS, CHECK AND DRAFT RAISERS

Professional Forgers and Their Methods—­Using Engravers and Lithographers—­Their Knowledge of Chemicals—­Patching Perforated Paper—­Difficult Matter to Detect Alterations and Forgeries—­Selecting Men for the Work—­The Middle Man, Presenter, and Shadow—­Methods for Detecting Forgery—­Detail Explanation of How Forgers Work—­Altering and Raising Checks and Drafts—­A Favorite Trick of Forgers—­Opening a Bank Account for a Blind—­Private Marks on Checks no Safeguard—­How a Genuine Signature Is Secured—­Bankers Can Protect Themselves—­A Forger the Most Dangerous Criminal—­Bankers Should Scrutinize Signatures—­Sending Photograph with Letter of Advice—­How to Secure Protection Against Forgers—­Manner in Which Many Banks Have Been Swindled—­Points About Raising Checks and Drafts That Should Be Carefully Noted.

A professional forgery band consists of first, a capitalist or backer; second, the actual forger, known among his associates as the “scratcher”; third, the man who acts as confidential agent for the forger, known as the “middle man”; fourth, the man who presents the forged paper at the bank for payment, known as the “layer down” or presenter.

When it is necessary to have a capitalist or backer connected with a band he furnishes the funds for the organization, frequently lays out the plans for work and obtains the genuine paper from which forgeries are made.  He will, when necessary, find the engraver, the lithographer and most important of all, the “professional forger,” who will do the actual forgery work.

The professional forger has, as a rule, considerable knowledge of chemicals, which enables him to alter checks, drafts, bills of exchange, letters of credit, or to change the names on registered bonds.  He is something of an artist, too, for with a fine camel’s hair brush he can restore the most delicate tints in bank safety paper, which tints have been destroyed by the use of acids.  In fact no bank safety paper is a protection against him.