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Home >> Scams/Fraud
Bookkeeper Fraudulently Notarizes Signature
The bank holding our corporate account needed a notarized signature from the company president(who also happened to be the guarantor of the account) to activate a company credit card because of non-use. The bank employee notarized a forged signature, clearly a signature that did not match the corporate resolution or signature card. Most of the charges were then used for non-authorized purchases. Should the company or the guarantor be responsible for this situation? The bookkeeper was the unauthorized signer and was therefore able to hide it from others at this small company.
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 Liability for the transactions in the credit card account will have to be sorted out based on who benefited from each transaction. For example, if some of the transactions were actually done on behalf of the company, it's likely the company will remain liable for them, regardless of the problems with the allegedly forged signature. On the other hand, transactions that clearly did not benefit the company, but instead benefited the bookkeeper, will probably not be the company's responsibility.
The company's management and the bank need to sit down and work through the activity on the account to determine the amounts that the company will claim as unauthorized transactions. How much of the claim will ultimately be the bank's responsibility will depend on negotiations between the bank and the company, the terms of the credit card contract relating to customer account verification responsibilities, and state law. If the company and the bank cannot agree on who owes what, the matter may have to be referred to arbitration or the courts.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 8/18/10
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