A bank has to take reasonable steps to verify the identity of the person presenting the check in order to avoid forgery. You can sue them in Small Claims Court for letting someone else cash your check.

Cashed checks are traceable. If you are paid with a check for a job and you cash that check, the bank will have a record of it. The person who wrote you the check will not be able to tell if you deposited or cashed your check.

Cashing someone else’s check is called uttering a forged instrument and also grand theft, bank fraud. It is a felony in all states and carries a prison term.

Use these six ways to collect on a bad check without going to court.

1. Contact the Bank First.
2. Call Your Customer.
3. Send a Certified Letter.
4. Call Your Local District Attorney’s Office.
5. Use a Check Recovery Service.
6. Contact a Collection Agency.
7. Secure Your Cash Flow While You Collect on Bad Checks.

It is not illegal to cash a check w/o an identity proof. The person cashing the check assumes that the person cashing said check has the legal right to do so. If said check is stolen, there is a crime, but the person cashing the check committed no crime. Also, that person might be liable for the lost funds.

It is often the case that a stolen check will be taken to a bank to be cashed. There are no federal laws specific to a bank’s responsibility to guarantee that the person presenting the check for payment is the legitimate recipient of the funds.

If a vendor can’t get an electronic funds transfer, the bank mails the check. And the checks don’t have the company’s account number on them so if they are stolen, a counterfeit won’t work.

What can I do? Contact your bank or credit union right away. State law generally provides that you are not responsible for a check if someone forged the signature of the person to whom you made out the check. Tell your bank or credit union what happened and ask for the money to be restored to your account.

Permission Is Critical If you’re going to endorse a check for the rightful payee, you must have his permission to do so. A charge of forgery usually requires that you signed someone else’s name with the intention of defrauding him, such as if you kept the cash or deposited the check into your own account.

In order to legally sign for someone else, the signer must have the express permission of the person she is signing for. For example, if your brother had not given you explicit permission to sign the lease, but you believed he would have so you signed to help him out, you might be in trouble.

Perfectly legal to sign someone else’s signature, with permission. Forgery is only a crime if the signing is with the intent to defraud.

The official term for signing on someone else’s behalf is procuration. The traditional way to do this is that the document should still have your manager’s name in print. Next to their name you put the letters ‘pp’ and then put your signature in the place where the signature would go.

An authorized agent is someone who has the power to act on behalf of another person. Generally, authorized agents will act on behalf of a person claiming a copyright, an author, or someone that owns an exclusive right to something.

Someone who you choose to act on your behalf with the Marketplace, like a family member or other trusted person. Some authorized representatives may have legal authority to act on your behalf.

The primary difference between the Personal Representative (“PR”) and the person appointed under a power of attorney the attorney in fact (the “POA”) is that the PR is administering the estate after the person has passed away and the POA is caring for the person while they are incapacitated, but still living.