How to Spot Novelty Bank Statements
A novelty copyright is a document that claims to be authentic but actually isn’t. Fraudsters use them for identity theft, money laundering, loan application fraud, credit card application fraud, and more. While they may be useful for people who wish to create a fictional account history, it is important for businesses and lenders to recognize fake documents. These documents can be spotted by looking for several key indicators of fraud, including formatting inconsistencies, suspicious transactions, and mathematical errors.
Typically, genuine bank statements maintain a consistent template in terms of fonts, formatting, colors, and styles. A tampered statement will demonstrate inconsistencies in these aspects, as fraudsters often try to mimic the design of legitimate documents. Look for fonts that are inconsistent in size or have been changed from one type to another, inconsistencies in decimal placement, and inconsistencies in bank logo designs. Inconsistent spelling and grammar mistakes also indicate a false document.
Banking transactions are recorded on statements as deposits, withdrawals, fees, transfers, and so forth. These can be easily verified by comparing them to internal or external records, such as transaction receipts or digital bank statements. Discrepancies between the total amounts of each transaction and the running balance in the statement should be evaluated as well. Forged documents sometimes include rounding of numbers, which can cause problems in calculations. Forged documents are also likely to be missing key components like a cover page or digital signatures. Authentic bank statements usually have full stacks of pages that are numbered sequentially.
The logical and predictable patterns of real spending and income are reflected on true bank activity. For example, salaried employees should demonstrate predictable direct deposit amounts aligned with their pay schedules, while freelancers will often show correlated surges and dips from season to season (like higher summer revenues). Fraudulent transactions can be difficult to spot in such cases, but if there are unusual or illogical transactions, a thorough document analysis can help identify them. More Details novelty bank statements
A fraudster might attempt to hide these inconsistencies by using multiple accounts or making a large number of small transactions to disguise the overall pattern. This is why a thorough technical document analysis should be undertaken to check for signs of tampering and fraud. Specifically, compare the statement to other valid sources of information to see if there are any glaring inconsistencies in terms of the account details, merchant details, number formats, and fee calculations. Additionally, examine the running balance for any erroneous calculations that could indicate tampering. Lastly, look for any security features that are commonly found on copyright like watermarks and holograms to determine the authenticity of the document.