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Show THE FLEECING OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER The Washington Washing-ton Post recently carried the following headline: "Duplicate Checks Cost U.S. Millions." Such a headline might get one to imagining all sorts of intricate and complicated schemes devised by some underworld mastermind to bilk the government out of all this money; it makes good material for an Ellery Queen mystery. But such is not the case in the "Efficiency Capital of the World." Although it is true that the money is being stolen, it isn't true that only a Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes' eternal antagonist) could be behind the heist. In fact, just about anyone who receives a check from the government govern-ment could be a thief. Here's how the scheme works. According to the article, on a certain day of each month the government sends out its checks. However, some people do not receive theirs on the proper date so they write Uncle Sam and tell him that they didn't get their check. The government then looks to see whether or not the check in question has been cashed. If it has, it discards the letter. But if it hasn't, then it promptly mails out another check without stopping payment on the unreceived first check. This routine is an obvious money-haven for the dishonest. Most of the duplicate checks are legitimate. But the Post reports that almost 20 per cent of the substitute checks result in a double payment. Either the intended recipient lied when he said he didn't receive the fust check, waited for the second one to come and then cashed them both; or the original check fell into the hands of a forger who cashed it. Since 1 970 there is a backlog of $86 million in substitute check payments; and $73 million of that has come in the last three years. Of that $86 million, about $13 million is stolen as the result of irresponsible mailing of the substitute government checks. " i iwv 1 |