Treasury Prevents Check Forgeries Using Positive Pay Feature

Treasurer Kennedy Says State Did Not Lose Money from Fraudulent Checks

BATON ROUGE, LA – The Louisiana Department of the Treasury has stopped multiple attempted check forgeries over the past two months using an electronic fraud prevention measure called Positive Pay, according to State Treasurer John Kennedy.

“We typically cut around 500 checks a year for $278.5 million to handle the cash flow needs of public agencies,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “We also issue roughly 16,500 unclaimed property checks each year for $15.5 million or more. Positive Pay is just one of the features we use to protect the checks we write and shield taxpayer dollars from fraudulent activity.”

Positive Pay works by requiring an exact match of the check number, dollar amount and payee name for each check the Treasury issues before the bank will honor the payment. Positive Pay prevents unauthorized persons from taking money out of the Treasury’s bank accounts, and it catches 99 percent of check forgeries.

In March, Positive Pay caught three attempted check forgeries using the state’s unclaimed property bank account number. Forged checks for $30,000, $4,500 and $3,600 attempted to clear the Treasury’s unclaimed property account, but Positive Pay prevented the payment of the checks.

In February, Positive Pay also caught a $6,500 fraudulent check that used the Treasury’s central depository bank account number, the Louisiana Public Service Commission’s contact information, and an unknown signature. As a result, eight checks containing false information were uncovered in a multi-state check forgery scheme.

“The state did not lose a dime from these fraudulent checks, and that’s good news for Louisiana taxpayers,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “It gets easier every day for criminals to duplicate checks and attempt to steal state money. We can always stay a step ahead of them, however, by implementing the latest technologies like Positive Pay to protect state funds.”

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