Posted on 09/26/2020 8:54:04 PM PDT by 11th_VA
So, as a member of a congregation, I’ve been informed, some members are mailing tithes to the church, since service is via video. Those checks without the full church name, but just church initials (ie; SBC) are being forged and cashed. Sounds like a few thousand is missing at this point - just discovered. Don’t have more details but, you might want to see who’s been cashing your church tithes.
Sounds like an inside job...
Don’t think so - the mail box is 50 yards from the church building. They think that’s what happening - congregational meeting next week
Unless the mail is being intercepted en route to the church, someone from the church is stealing. It shouldn’t be too hard to find out who.
Could be someone from the PO.
Does your church have online donation/tithe payment capability?
Trust no one. Suspect everyone.
The priest or minister should remind everyone what the official name of the church is and that this name (and this name only) is what should be on the check’s payee line.
I don’t think they have online tithes; we have counters
Yeah - we just got that email
Every Church I have belonged to has a policy where only the accountant has access to the tithes. It should not be too hard to request the cancelled checks from the bank and see who endorsed them.
At our church, 3 counters do the counting each week. But now that you mention it, there is a period in the counting process, where one counter makes copies of the checks, and is alone for a period of time. That’s a terrible thought though ...
I gave 5 bucks last week and whoever got that is going to need to stretch it out.
For someone to steal ONLY the checks that had the initials on them they would have to open all the envelopes, sort them and reseal the ones with the church name back in their respective envelopes and sneak them back into the mail.
Not impossible but unlikely.
Something is happening between the time the mail is collected and the checks are entered.
I would be meeting with the POLICE before I met with the congregation.
Meeting with the congregation is necessary for transparency and the police may need access to bank accounts that have experienced this forgery, but this is not going to be as difficult crime to solve. Checks leave a paper trail that will point directly to the culprit, but only the police will have bank co-operation in unraveling the paper trail.
There isn’t much lower than that.
Churches are struggling. As far as I know.
Wow - good analysis, sobering thought. My first thought was an outsider
I heard about a guy years ago who would write checks to his church in exchange for cash from the collection plate, then used the cancelled checks to claim a deduction! IRS caught him, though.
That’s hilarious !!!
Request copies of your tithing checks and check with your ministers what banks they use, as long as the endorsements are correct all is good.
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