PinoyMoneyTalk.com

It's not the first time it happened and it definitely won't be the last.

Several scumbags in the Philippines are stealing someone else's Google Adsense check and encashing it using a fake identity.

How exactly can a person do that? Beats me. But it only shows why PayPal took some time before offering the full lineup of functions to PayPal Philippines accounts.

Fraud is still abundant in the Philippines and these cases of cheque theft are just a few examples. 

• Jepoy of http://jepoyeng.blogspot.com

Jepoy reported that his Adsense cheque was issued on January 25, 2007 and he was expecting to receive it from the Quezon City Central Post Office a month later. After weeks of delay, he contacted Google to follow up. Last week, however, Google sent him a copy of the encashed check, showing that it has already been deposited on February 15, 2007 in an Allied Bank branch in La Trinidad, Benguet. From Quezon City to Benguet? Oh, just an 8-hour drive.

When Jepoy called up the bank, the manager explained that a VIP client, a money changer, deposited it. The manager also related that the money changer supposedly bought the check from someone they know. Did the bank conduct strict verifications upon accepting the check, given the fact that it was endorsed to someone else? Not really. According to Jepoy, the bank manager said that since the amount of the check is "small," additional verification is not required. Also, the money changer is a "valued client" of the bank and "denying the check could loose [sic] them as one of their depositors."

• Mark Verzo of www.thoughtsinbinary.com

Mark's Adsense cheque was issued on August 25, 2006 to be delivered via the Alabang post office. Two months later, when he still failed to receive the cheque, he contacted Google to follow up but the latter told him that the cheque has already been encashed.

Where? In East West Bank in Dagupan. By whom? By a money changer in Dagupan who supposedly bought the cheque from another person. Sounds familiar?

• PinkSEO of www.pinkseo.info

Mark Macalua of SEO Philippines reported that a friend of his (PinkSEO, confirmed by her in her blog) had a similar incident when an Adsense cheque issued on July 26, 2006 was encashed and deposited to an account under her name without her knowledge. The cheque was sent via the Caloocan post office and deposited to an account in RCBC Savings Bank. SELaplana has a theory on how the thief managed to open a bank account using another person's details.

Other incidents of Adsense cheque theft:

• Markku of www.rebelpixel.com commented in Mark Verzo's blog that in 2005, his Adsense cheque to be delivered via the Pasig post office was encashed in LandBank in Dagupan
• John of www.squidball.com commented in Marc Macalua's blog that his Adsense cheque to be delivered via the Paranaque post office was also stolen
• cool_78 posted in the PMT Forum that his cheque issued on November 27, 2006 to be delivered via the Quezon City Post Office had also been encashed 

Hmm, let's see. Google issues the Adsense cheque, supposed to be delivered to the payee via a post office closest to the payee's residence. Instead the cheques end up being encashed in a bank located in a city different from where the cheque was to be sent. Because these incidents involve various post office locations, there are reasons to believe the cheques were stolen even before they were distributed to the post office branches. But where exactly could this happen? No idea.

Finding a money changer that encashes cheques — including stolen ones — is easy so it's not a problem for the thieves. But if we can prove that the money changers are in cohorts with the scumbags, we might be able to track down where the trail really starts.

Several victims of these theft cases are currently planning to approach the media so that this modus operandi will be made known. If you were a victim yourself, post in the forum's All about Adsense Check Payments thread or contact the other victims above.

Here's to hoping that these thieves are sent to where they really belong: prison.

For the meantime, I think you'd be better off requesting your Adsense checks to be delivered via Secured Express Delivery (i.e., DHL). Better pay some fees just to get your check, rather than to not get it at all.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 9:51 am and is filed under Google Adsense. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.