Signature Forgery On Checks

Diving deep into signature forgery

Manual Signature Verification

Financial institutions benefit from new technology

Manual signature verification has been one of the most common fraud prevention methods during the check item review process and has remained unchanged for many decades. During this time, signature forgery has become a serious security problem challenging financial institutions. According to industry studies, banks prevented $13.8 billion of check fraud, which totaled $15.1 billion in 2018.¹

Clearly, with 14.5 billion checks written each year in the U.S.,³it is neither practical nor cost-effective to visually compare signatures on the number of checks processed daily. This is compounded by the fact that visual comparison was never proven to be reliable. Many banks have found that due to the increased volume of lower dollar checks and higher quality forgeries, many pass through a visual review undetected. Consequently, as the need to guarantee the authenticity of each document remains urgent, this task requires more efficient, controlled, and reliable methods of signature verification.

Today's State-of-the-Art Technology

Automated Signature Verification (ASV) Software

Until recently, the proposed technology for automated offline signature verification did not offer an industrially mature solution, which was at least on par with visual verification. Today, state-of-the-art automated signature verification is a technology that can be easily adapted and efficiently applied to a financial institution’s needs to detect and prevent fraud, regardless of the organization’s type and size.

Were you previously aware of ASV technology?

Yes, absolutely. We use ASV technology.
I have heard of some financial institutions using it.
No, not really.

Did You Know?

The most advanced systems reveal all types of signature fraud, including random and skilled forgery with accuracy rates that far surpasses visual verification. Such systems can contribute significantly to solving many check fraud-related business challenges faced by banks and other financial institutions.

Automation Benefits

Pros of Automated Signature Verification Software

▸ The ability to process the images of checks, along with image replacement documents (IRDs), quickly and efficiently to identify suspicious signatures on a broader stream of images. These solutions allow financial institutions to lower the amount threshold for verified checks or inspect all checks instead of looking just at high-dollar items.

▸ The ability to reduce the number of false positive answers, i.e. the system accepting fraudulent signatures as genuine.

▸ Adaptability to existing environments and the ability to integrate with other fraud detection systems to create a centralized application that serves unique business needs.

▸ The opportunity to further improve customer service and satisfaction, enabling financial institutions to proactively inform customers, not only about potential fraud, but also about missing signatures, dates, or other important information.