2024-01-12 05:07:04
Stolen checkbooks a source of concern for the Banque de France
« Today, the main vector of fraud is the loss and theft of checks », Explains Véronique Burgaj, who monitors the security of means of payment at the Banque de France. “ We ask that the customer can pick up their checkbook at the agency and free of charge, instead of receiving their checkbook by mail. », she adds, in an article in Echos published on January 11, 2024.
Objective of this reform? Prevent fraudsters and scammers from intercepting or stealing checkbooks and misusing them. By forcing customers to go to their agency, the Banque de France wants to limit fraud by ensuring that the checkbook is received by the right person.
The impossible immediate blocking of bank checks
If checkbooks are popular with fraudsters, it is because they are easily used for fraud. HASWhile a bank account and a payment card can be blocked immediately, checks can be canceled… but confirmation of whether they are valid or not takes several days.
Result : in 2022, the fraud rate was 0.073%. A very low rate, which falls regularly as the French abandon checks, but which is the highest of all the means of payment available to the French. The latter made 3.3% of their payments by check. The European comparison is eloquent. In 2020, 1.17 billion checks were issued in France… compared to 96.73 million in Italy, the second European country which issued the most.
No checkbook ban by La Poste… but an option
François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France, wanted to moderate the newspaper’s comments The echoes. « What we want is an alternative, not a ban. That customers can collect their checkbook free of charge from the branch and not simply have to send it by mail, which presents more risks », he declared Thursday January 11, 2023 on France 2. The interpretation of Les Echos is judged “ a little excessive » by the governor.
There should therefore be no outright ban on the sending of checkbooks by La Poste, especially since not all French people can necessarily go to their agency. But the idea would be to encourage customers to opt for hand delivery rather than sending, as soon as possible, with a clear objective: to reduce fraud. « What is true is that we work with banks to reduce the risk of check fraud, because it is the most defrauded payment instrument », explains François Villeroy de Galhau.
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