6 financial crimes you may accidentally commit

Everyone knows what serious financial crimes look like: robbing banks in the style of Bonnie and Clyde or catching millions of dollars from innocent victims, like Frank Abagnayl in the movie "Catch Me If You Can." It seems that financial atrocities have nothing to do with the everyday life of US residents. But it turns out that there are a number of actions with checks, cash and banknotes made by Americans almost every day that are illegal, the resource writes CheatSheet.

Фото: Depositphotos

“It’s surprisingly easy to form unhealthy financial habits under the guise of “everyone else is doing it,” “I just wanted to help,” or “it wasn’t a bad idea at the time.” And then you’ll be very surprised to learn that it’s illegal,” say experts from the financial company Bankrate. “The chances of getting caught may be small, but the consequences could be severe.”

Below is a list of the most frequent 6 violations of US financial law perpetrated by Americans every day during financial transactions, according to Bankrate. Some of these points may seem obvious, but they are on this list because they happen too often, although it is better to avoid such actions.

1. Signature instead of another person on the check

It would seem that there is such a thing - to write the name of a relative or partner on the check. They may be driving or in hospital at this time. Perhaps your intentions are the most sincere, but this does not change the fact that such a signature is a forgery of documents and is punishable by law (except in the case of a power of attorney). Even if a parent signs instead of a child who has left for college, or the child signs instead of a parent who is incapacitated, they may be accused of a financial atrocity.

Carol Kaplan, a former spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association of Washington, D.C., and director of public affairs for the American National Insurance Crime Bureau, said that signing someone else's name on his or her check is considered forgery and is punishable by law in many states. “In most cases, people are doing this instead of their loved ones, who probably don’t mind, but you still need to know that this is document fraud,” says Kaplan.

In all 50 states, forging documents is punishable by law in a variety of ways, from prison to fines and probation, as well as reparations for the injured party. Some types of falsification of documents are considered minor crimes with milder punishments.

2. Check uncovered checks

Most banks today offer overdraft protection for purchases using a debit card or a check statement for an amount in excess of the account balance. Anything can happen, but if you purposefully write a check for an amount that you do not have in stock, it is illegal. Kaplan says that the risk is higher than it can be assumed - for writing out uncovered checks is pursued according to the law.

“It's not just about fines - you can also end up on the list of people who write bad checks. As a result, you may not be able to accept checks at various institutions, and may also have difficulty re-opening your bank account because you are already flagged as a fraudster in the system,” says Kaplan.

Anything can happen, but if you purposefully write a check for an amount that you do not have in stock, it is illegal. Photos youngfreealabama.com

3. Counterfeiting United States Currency

This crime seems obvious - of course you wouldn't print money to buy goods or services. Although anyone can now counterfeit currency thanks to advanced printing technology, the crime is punishable by fines of up to $250 and up to 000 years in prison. Even if you are printing money for a game, as a joke, or for another legitimate purpose, you need to be careful. According to Claudia Dickens, spokeswoman for the US Treasury Bureau of Currency and Securities, there are special rules by which this can be done. “If you are copying a banknote, it must be at least one and a half times larger than regular money, or a quarter smaller. If you make a color copy, it should be single-sided,” Dickens says.

4. Disfiguration of the American currency

You probably saw this: the horns of a devil, painted to the portrait of George Washington on a dollar bill, Abraham Lincoln, turned into Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings on 5-dollar, and even Andrew Jackson in the image of Ronald MacDonald at the twenty. However, the deliberate disfigurement of the American currency is illegal. It's okay if you wash a banknote or your dog eats it. But if you intentionally “change, cut, disfigure, disfigure, perforate, glue, or otherwise damage a banknote, bank paper or other debt document issued by any national banking organization, the Federal Reserve Bank or the Federal Reserve System, in order to make such a banknote, paper or debt document unfit ”, you are required to fine or imprison for no more than 6 months, says federal law.

For such an art you are obliged to fine or imprison for no more than 6 months. Photo by cavemancircus.com

5. Using the name of another person to get a loan

Obtaining a line of credit under the name of another person should not raise doubts about its illegality. By committing this crime, the offender has virtually no chance of passing off his act as an accident or an innocent joke, but, nevertheless, similar incidents still happen. It's also common for parents with terrible credit to open new credit accounts in their child's name, Kaplan said. “It is illegal to impersonate another person,” says the expert. “But there is also a moral side to the question: do you want to punish your child by ruining his credit history?”

6. Specifying knowingly false data in a housing loan application

Mortgage is always a commitment. A recent study by Zillow showed that the number of homeowners in the United States, whose debt is higher than the value of their home, fixed at a level 10 times higher than it should be in a healthy market. This means that hidden mortgage interest forces many Americans to pay more than they should on their loans. In the first quarter of 2012, this indicator reached the level of 31,4% of the total number of homeowners. Since then, this percentage has dropped to 15,4% or 7,9 million homeowners. Of this number of people, approximately 11.8% or more 930 000 borrowers must be 2 times more than their home is worth.

When trying to refinance or get better terms on your mortgage, you may be tempted to show an inflated amount of income or hide the true size of your debt. Of course this is a scam. “We need to be honest,” says Kaplan. “We all go through difficult financial periods, and sometimes we want to cheat. But you’ll sleep better knowing you’re not living your own lie.”

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