What is check washing and fraud-protection ink?
Check washing is an all-too-common crime where thieves steal a check that has already been made out and erase everything except the signature. It’s actually fairly easy to do using common household chemicals such as acetone-based nail polish remover and bleach to wash off most pen inks. The check can then be re-written to the thief or to a fraudulent business. Estimates put the cost of this crime at more than $900 million per year. Fraud-protection pens use an ink that attaches to and becomes part of the paper so it cannot be washed off.
