Cheques not cashed for years.?

Greebo said:
There was that story (no idea if true) from years ago that a bright man came up with the idea of one of those adverts you used to see in the paper for stuff where he advertised something like a zippo lighter for a stupidly cheap price. He got sent hundreds of thousands in cheques and did actually have some zippo lighters he supplied but the rest he sent back with a cheque and a letter saying sorry due to massive demand he had run out of lighters.

But the refund cheque he sent back was a printed cheque from his other company he owned which was something like "Anal intruder ***** ltd" and only 20% of the refund cheques were ever cashed. He relied on the fact that because people had to go into their local bank to pay the cheques in and everybody knew everybody back then so people would be too embarrassed to ever cash the cheques in.
Click to expand...

I always like hearing of fairly genius ideas some people have used to basically skim off money from people who wouldn't bat an eyelid.

It reminds me of when i started at uni and hearing about a hacker who's managed to manipulate a banking system to skim off a single penny from every bank account that the bank managed. Majority of people didn't bat an eyelid about losing a penny, but added up meant the hacker had made millions.
 
Semple said:
I always like hearing of fairly genius ideas some people have used to basically skim off money from people who wouldn't bat an eyelid.

It reminds me of when i started at uni and hearing about a hacker who's managed to manipulate a banking system to skim off a single penny from every bank account that the bank managed. Majority of people didn't bat an eyelid about losing a penny, but added up meant the hacker had made millions.
Click to expand...

I think there have been several successful variations of that over the years, sometimes not even a penny, just the decimal points on interest calculations which if rounded down rather than up can add up to millions in a short time.

I always loved the book about the maths/IT guys who made a fortune from the casinos in Las Vegas before being busted. They worked out there is no perfectly random rouletter wheel no matter how level the casino thinks its set it up and every cashier has a certain way of throwing the ball. They built a computer in their shoe and a guy would click everytime the ball passed a certain point on the wheel and it would work out which quadrant the ball was most likely to land in and the other person placing the bets would have enough time before the cashier called no more bets to cover the 4 numbers that quadrant covered.

It didnt change the odds so they got it right every time, far from it. It was something like 20% in their favour but that is massive when gambling. It basically meant that they were betting $10,000 an hour they would be winning $2000 per hour. Over several weeks they won hundreds of thousands of dollars from the casinos.

I love ready about smart stuff like that,
 
joey1211 said:
Did it end with being give the option of the door or the money and the hammer?
Click to expand...

I cant remember whether it was the casino heavies or the FBI who brought them down in the end or that they had proved their maths and computers worked and stopped doing it and just wrote the book on how they did it.

Must re-read it. Its over 30 years ago that I last read it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Newtonian-Casino-Penguin-Press-Science/dp/0140145931#:~:text=1991&text=The true story of how,as well as a thriller.

I was well into chaos theory at the time doing maths at Nottingham UNi and would read any book on chaos theory or using chaos theory.
 
My dad knew a guy who was made redundant from his job which he had since leaving school in total he had 30 years service and his payout ended up being 50k.

Well a year went by and the cheque hadn't been cashed. So one of the accountants rung him up and asked him why he hadn't cashed it and his answer was he just hadn't got round to doing it.

Now if it was me on the other hand the first thing id be doing would be cashing the cheque as soon as possible, luckily enough cheque's don't expire, but even if it had expired/lost I'm sure they would have issued him a new one!.
 
builder22 said:
... - .. .-.. .-.. / -- .- -.- . ... / ... . -. ... . / - --- / -- . / ---... .--.
Click to expand...
.... --- .-- ..--.. - .... . ..- ... . --- ..-. -.-. .... . --.- ..- . ... .. ... --. . - - .. -. --. .-.. . ... ... . .- -.-. .... -.-- . .- .-. .- -. -.. - .... . ..- ... . .-. ... --- ..-. -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . .. ... .. -. -.-. .-. . .- ... .. -. --. . ...- . .-. -.-- -.-- . .- .-.
 
Greebo said:
.... --- .-- ..--.. - .... . ..- ... . --- ..-. -.-. .... . --.- ..- . ... .. ... --. . - - .. -. --. .-.. . ... ... . .- -.-. .... -.-- . .- .-. .- -. -.. - .... . ..- ... . .-. ... --- ..-. -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . .. ... .. -. -.-. .-. . .- ... .. -. --. . ...- . .-. -.-- -.-- . .- .-.
Click to expand...

..- ... .. -. --. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . / .-- .... . -. / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / .- / .--. .... --- -. . / .. ... / .-.. .. -.- . / .-- .-. .. - .. -. --. / .- / -.-. .... . --.- ..- . / .-- .... . -. / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / .. -. - . .-. -. . - / -... .- -. -.- .. -. --. .-.-.- / ..-. . .-. .-. . - ... .-.-.-
 
builder22 said:
..- ... .. -. --. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . / .-- .... . -. / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / .- / .--. .... --- -. . / .. ... / .-.. .. -.- . / .-- .-. .. - .. -. --. / .- / -.-. .... . --.- ..- . / .-- .... . -. / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / .. -. - . .-. -. . - / -... .- -. -.- .. -. --. .-.-.- / ..-. . .-. .-. . - ... .-.-.-
Click to expand...

Where do ferrets come into it? :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom