Google Adsense checks stolen, encashed by thieves

It’s not the first time this happened and it definitely won’t be the last. The current big news circulating among bloggers is that 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.

Below are some examples of cases of Adsense checks being stolen and encashed by a different person.

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

Jepoy reported that his Adsense cheque was issued on January 25, 2007 and 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.

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, 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 DHL Secured Express Delivery. Better pay some fees just to get your check, rather than to not get it at all.

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21 thoughts on “Google Adsense checks stolen, encashed by thieves”

  1. when i got a check online, the post office here in QC asked for valid IDs before releasing the checks.

    damn those robbers.

    Reply
  2. Maybe Google can be lobbied to cancel those stolen checks if you gather a group of victims together to complain at once.

    The money changers would very fast learn not to take adsense checks once hit with the reversals and bank fees.

    Reply
  3. @byteburn, verification is indeed a must before one can encash a check. That’s why banks should be liable too for their negligence that resulted to robbers encashing someone else’s check.

    @Miguel, I too hope the Philippines will soon get the Receive PayPal function soon!

    Reply
  4. @HYIP Hound, your comment was marked as spam by Akismet and I had to manually allow it, that’s why it was posted only now. Anyway, the problem in some cases is that these robbers are using the cheque owner’s fake identity in order to encash the cheque. It’s easy to get fake IDs, and because they already have the cheque, banks would accept it without a hitch. In that regard, Google can’t reverse the transaction because the cheque was actually encashed by the “owner”.

    Reply
  5. our company is hoping to have paypal transaction in the philippines for more secure payment.

    thanks,
    finestworkers ltd

    Reply
  6. I have this theory that the thief is very smart…perhaps he knows when a “Google” envelope (the google adsense logo might be his identifying mark for envelopes with checks) comes in, he then just sort it out from the snail mail batches, opens it and encash via money changers. There’s high probability that the thieves are the post office personnels themselves.

    Reply
  7. Don’t use standard mail delivery. Use secure express delivery instead. It has a small cost. But it’s better than loosing your entire Ad Sense earnings.

    It happened to me once. So I switched to secure express delivery method.

    Reply
  8. Thanks for this page post. Fascinating stuff. My site is fairly new so I am always on the watch for important and fascinating page and blog that may help me.

    Reply
  9. best thing to do is accumulate your adsense earning and send it via a secure trusted express delivery.
    wala tayo magagawa kapag na silip ng nag dedeliver kapag alam nila na checks mainit na sa mata yaan.

    Reply
  10. Sorry, i pressed enter and my message was not yet complete.. 🙁

    As i was saying, i am from Pque and the check was encashed in Dagupan, same as ThoughtsBinary.  I will still coordinate with East West Dagupan how this happened!

    …only in the Philippines! 🙁

    Reply

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