All it takes to clean out your bank account is a signed check, stolen from your outgoing mail, and the chemical acetone? like in nail polish remover. A crook just steals an outgoing check from your mail box. or obtains a written check in any number of ways, puts cellophane tape over your signature both front and back, and then soaks your check in the acetone for about thirty minutes. Presto-gone-o! Anything that's not printer's ink (or that is not protected by cellophane tape) magically just fades away, leaving a perfectly ?clean? signed check ready for drying, pressing, and re-writing, with a slightly higher dollar amount—usually in the thousands.

However, there is one type of ink that acetone doesn't wash off: gel-type pens are virtually ?check washing?-proof! One of the best is the Uni-Ball Gel Impact pen, about two-dollars in most office supply stores. Get one, sign your checks in gel, and take a bite out of crime!