07/24/2025

The Paper Chase: Check Fraud and the Atlanta Fed's Role in Combating It

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

The Atlanta Fed is participating in the mounting effort to address check fraud, a crime that's booming despite the ever-shrinking number of checks businesses and consumers write.

To deepen its understanding of check fraud, the Atlanta Fed conducts ongoing research into the nation's payments system. The information helps keep stakeholders—which includes consumers, businesses, Reserve Banks and their branches, financial institutions, nonbank payment service providers, and policymakers—aware of trends in payments. The magnitude of the problem shows up in a survey by the Atlanta Fed and Federal Reserve Financial Services. The survey finds that the value of possible check fraud grew faster than the value of checks collected from 2018 to 2021.

The Federal Reserve Payments Study, a project led by the Atlanta Fed and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, gathers information about noncash payments fraud of all types, including check fraud. Beyond that, the Atlanta Fed's Survey and Diary of Consumer Payments Choice reports on consumers' experiences of fraud in payment methods including checks, which can be stolen, altered, or forged.