Stealing Personals From The U.S. Postal Box

PUNKEY-


So where does the typical thief deposit the stolen check?

If a person steals a check I have written from the U.S. Postal Box, he needs to negotiate it somewhere (e.g., the bank where he has an account).

I believe that bank would require an ID from him.

When I report the theft, can they nab him using the bank's ID information?

Federal Laws
There are no federal laws that regulate a bank’s handling of stolen checks. The responsibility for legislating banking laws pertaining to check theft is left to each state. However, there are laws related to a bank’s liability when a stolen check is presented within the Uniform Rules for Collection (URC). These rules are administered and published by the International Chamber of Commerce, and issues related to bank liability regarding stolen checks are found in ICC Publication No. 522. Article 22 of this publication states that the presenting bank is responsible for ensuring that the check appears to be correct and complete, but is not responsible for the authenticity of the signature of the person presenting the check or her authority to do so.

Reimbursement Laws
The UCC, originally published in 1952, was a collaborative effort by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to come up with a set of standards to regulate interstate commerce. These standards were never intended to be laws. Rather, they were intended to be informative guidelines to assist the states in establishing their own codes and laws pertaining to banking practices. Article 4 of the UCC addresses all bank transactions involving collections and issuance of funds. A bank’s responsibilities in these situations are clearly defined in Subsection 4-406. The depositor bank (holder of the account) must exercise “ordinary care” to ensure that all identification is valid before cashing the check. It is up to the customer (account holder) to notify the bank that a check is invalid or that it has been stolen before the funds are released. Otherwise, the bank is under no obligation to reimburse the customer the lost funds unless it can be proven that “ordinary care” was not taken.